The Darkness in our Souls

by Black Light

Chapter 104

Chapter 104

I stood in front of the broken down gates of the castle. I looked at the note and sighed. Taking a few breaths I walked into the castle and started my descent down. I knew where to find the lowest part of the castle. It was a abandon wine cellar. I walked deeper into the castle until I finally made it there. The room was empty, but there was a large hole in the side of the room. Walking over I saw that it was dug in a makeshift stairwell. I began to descend further following the hole. Eventually the stairs ended and I was in a large cavern. I stopped and observed the walls of the cavern. They were a dark black and had an unnatural feel to them. A few crystals were embedded in the wall giving off a dim eerie light. While looking around the cavern I saw another hole along the wall. I began walking farther into the cavern following a series of holes acting as doors to different sections of the cave. Gradually the crystals became less and less frequent causing me to need to light my horn in order to see anything. Eventually I came to a hole that had light coming from the other side. I walked through and cut the magic to my horn. As I entered the room my gaze was immediately drawn to a river in the center of the cavern. The water was a deep black and moved slowly. My gaze began to drift from the river and towards the light I had seen from outside. What I saw caused my entire body to tense up and I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from throwing up, it was Skies. She was bound to a stone alter with chains digging into her legs, multiple smaller cuts all along her legs and body, and one large gash along her side causing her insides to be spilled out along the alter. There was no movement from her at all.

I fell back onto my haunches tears beginning to form in my eyes. "No...no..." I said quietly my mind not wanting to accept what I was seeing.

'this...this isn't supposed to be what happens. There was supposed to be a choice! This...this isn't right.' The darkness said not being able to accept what we were seeing as well.

I began to hear chuckling behind me. My rage began to boil over. I got up and turned around in one movement. Scaled Heart was standing there watching me with a smile of his face.

"You said there would be a choice!" I shouted at him.

"I did, and there still is." He told me. "We never said that the choice was for your precious sister though. You just decided to interpret the message that way." He told me.

I gritted my teeth. "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to make you beg for me to kill you. You and all your damn friends." I told him.

"Now, now. I wouldn't consider them friends. They're more like...coworkers." He told me.

"I don't care what they are, I'm still going to kill all of you!" I shouted.

"Well that's a pretty rash thing to say...You haven't even seen what we can do. You don't even know if you're able to kill us." He said with a chuckle.

"I'll find a way." I responded.

"Do you really think you alone could beat us. After all we are-"

Scaled Heart was suddenly cut off as a shout of pain came from above us.

"Brother!" I heard a voice call out.

My eyes widened and I looked away from Scaled Heart. He wasn't important anymore. "Skies?!" I called out in relief when I saw her above me. She had multiple cuts across her body and was being held by a griffin, but it was Skies.

The griffin was shaking one of his talons in pain with a scowl. "Damn brat bit me!" He said, Taking the talon that Skies had bit he reached down and took hold of one of Skies wings. "Let's see how you like the pain." He began to bend the wing backwards and Skies began to scream out in pain. Before I had time to do anything I heard a snap. Skies cried out even louder.

"BASTARD!" I called out my horn glowing with dark magic as I shot out a blast solely to liquefy the griffin.

Before I had time to blink Scaled Heart was in front of the griffin one of his arms extended. My magic impacted his arm, but it just vanished. The last remaining wisps of my magic were absorbed into his arm. It was now that I noticed the gauntlet on his arm. It was made of a black metal and had a purple gem on the palm side of it. I looked at the griffin and saw that he had a matching gauntlet with the exception of the gems color, his was a light yellow.

Scaled Heart sighed. "Such a shame. I was hoping the charade would last longer." He said.

'Charade?' My mind drifted back towards the Skies I saw on the alter. I spun around. 'Skies' was no longer there. Where she was sat a changeling, wearing a masquerade mask, the chains were no longer there and there was no sign of even a single drop of blood. On his leg was another gauntlet, his had an orange gem. 'It was all just a charade.' I said with a small amount of relief.

'That doesn't mean were forgiving them.'

My relieved expression changed to a glare as I turned back towards Scaled Heart. 'I never said I was considering it.'

"What are those gauntlet?" I asked.

"Surely you have a guess." Scaled Heart responded. I just glared at him. He sighed. "Fine, maybe I'll give you a hint." He pondered for a moment. "As you probably already know every light casts a shadow. Everything good has it's evil to match it. It's all very harmonious"

I sat there pondering for a moment before I began to piece together his hint. My glare slowly becoming a look of disbelief. "You...you can't mean-"

"Ah, are you finally starting to get it?" Scaled Heart said chuckling. "You can call us, the Elements of Disharmony." I just stared at him my eyes wide. "Oh come now, did you really think that there was only one set of elements in the entire world?" He laughed. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Scaled Heart, Element of Malevolence." He said with a mock bow. "That's Cruelty and Deception." He said indicating to the griffin and changeling respectively.

"Elements of Disharmony." I said under my breath in disbelief. I shook my head after a moment clearing my thoughts. "I don't care who you are, or what you are. You hurt Skies, and I'm going to kill you for that." I told them.

"I see you're beginning to fill with hatred. That's good, very good. It will make the choice between your sister and turning into a monster that much more fun to watch." Scaled Heart said.

My body froze. 'how do they know about that?'

Scaled Heart chuckled. "We've been following you for quite some time. We know all about that coin." He said pointing at me. I turned and followed where he was pointing. The changeling was now standing right next to me. Withdrawing his hoof from my saddlebags he had the coin. I turned trying to grab him, but he vanished in a green fire. He reappeared next to Scaled Heart, who took the coin. With his other hand he reached down and picked up a goblet. He knelt down and dipped the goblet into the water next to him. He turned to me as he stood up again. "This is water from the river Styx. The water from Tartarus. It's been leaking into this world for quite some time now. So here's your choice. Drink from the goblet and we'll let your sister go. Don't and-" He smiled. "I think you know."

My body tensed up. I was not ready for this. 'I...I can't choose between them.'

'Then give me control because I can.'

'No, no. There has to be another way.'

"It's okay." I heard above me. I looked up and saw Skies looking at me. "I was able to live happily because I was with you. You saved me so many times already. You don't have to do this to save me." She said a few tears forming in her eyes.

"Skies...I...you can't...you don't know what-"

"But I do." She interrupted me. "...I eavesdropped on you while you were talking with the princesses. I already know. I don't want to see you like that." She told me.

I was frozen in shock. She already knew, and she was willing to give everything to keep me from becoming that monster. "I...I don't-" My voice trailed off.

The griffin holding Skies rolled his eyes. "Please just make your choice." He said annoyed. "Either way we get what we want, after all you don't even know if they're two separate prophecies. Maybe both just lead to each other. I mean hell, just because you didn't specifically see her dead in one doesn't mean she isn't." He said.

I glared at him. "You...you're lying."

"Sorry, but I'm not. I'm cruel, lying is his job." The griffin said pointing at the changeling.

I looked away. 'I can't choose like this...what do I do?'

'...I don't really know anymore.'

"You know." I looked up at Scaled Heart. "If you want to make the choice easier. Why don't we just flip the coin and go from that?" He said as he used his thumb to flip the coin high into the air.

I watched the coin as it flew higher and reached it's peak. 'Flipping a coin. I've only ever tried to make a decision by flipping a coin one other time, and that didn't end well because the coin...the coin-' My thought trailed off. The coin started to come close to the ground. I activated my magic and grabbed the coin before it hit the ground. Scaled Heart looked at me as I started to levitate the coin towards me. "I've made my decision." I told him.

He smiled expectantly. "Well go on, tell me." He said with a wave of his hand.

I levitated the coin in front of my face. "You know, flipping a coin to make a fifty-fifty decision is fundamentally flawed." I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"It's simple actually. You assign one of two choices to both sides. Whichever side lands face up you choose that choice, but there's always the smallest, miniscule chance-" I suddenly sent the coin flying downward. Pieces of rock broke off from the floor as the coin embedded itself in the ground. It stood straight up. "-That neither of those two sides end face up, and you get your third side." I finished with a slight smile. The coin on the ground began to glow brightly and I felt the wards around it shatter and its power began to flow through the room. Right before my vision was blinded by a flash of white, I saw Scaled Heart standing there looking fearfully at the coin, and I smiled. He should be afraid.

Comments

[Amethyst Blade]

Kill the bastard right then and there, don't prolong it...although making it as painful as possible is nice

[Equinox3141]

Coinous ex machina
~Equinox_

[Alicon Glactistar]

We got Chicken Nugget, Cardboard Box, and Toaster Stroodle.

Ah, the third side..... black, white and grey all over.

Griffin, Changeling, and Dragon.
( See above)

[Black Light]

5175819
I see someone is becoming quite familiar with my writing style.
5175693
Maybe I will, Maybe I won't....but I probably will.
5176069
I enjoy all three of those things.
~Black Light

[Spyromancy]

1:25
chasing shadows,
breaking bones,
and twisting nature's limbs.
Elemental,
Wreck the gentle
Feed each violent whim.
I believe it fits with the chapter

[Black Light]

5179265
You've been waiting a long time to post that haven't you?
~Black Light

[Spyromancy]

5181037
So.
Fucking.
Long.