The single moon illuminated the castle grounds
The freshly cut grass, the two limp bodies.
One burnt to a crisp, smoke rising
The other with a swollen, bloody face
The moon illuminated everything except
Bob
In the middle of the night, Bob stood oddly still
As if waiting
His dark silhouette seemed to absorb the light
Bob's hair washed forward into his face, mostly covering his black, hollow eyes
A dark aura evaporated from his skin like smoke
Finally, a faint neigh was heard
Instantly
Bob tilted his head to the right
His hair shifted, revealing one of his hollow eyes piercing through the darkness
Nothing
The horse neighed again. This time, faint galloping was heard
Bob twisted to the left
The sounds filled the air.
Coming from all angles
It was like they didn't have an origin point
The galloping slowly eased into a trot, like hooves walking on stone
Soon, the castle grounds weren't as visible
Bob looked up
The moon was slowly disappearing behind the dark sky
As if fog or clouds were covering it
All of the faint glow from the land disappeared
Then he heard it: sudden snorts from the horse
He turned instantly
Fog slowly enveloped the castle grounds.
It surrounded him, but Bob stood still
Watching as the grass slowly lost its glow
The trotting stopped
Bob raised his head, looking forward.
There he saw it
Trotting through the air, slowly descending
The fog moved with the beast, most of its silhouette hidden
It landed on the ground
Exhaling sharply
Its body was mostly hidden, except for the lower half of its front legs
Its snout was visible as it continued to exhale.
At the top of its head, a long black mane flowed to the left side of its face
Even though the eyes were hidden
Its purple eyes allowed the fog to glow
The horse's gaze pierced through so deeply
That even the fog mimicked its infinite swirl
The moment Bob locked eyes with it,
He began seeing traces
A small explosion
Fire for a moment, then a huge purple glow
Then silence
Ashes began falling like snow
They fell into a broken cabin, half the house shattered into piece
And in the standing half
Was the black horse, fanning its tail, as it stood over a body that lay limp
The body was a man
Eyes rolled back, mouth wide open—his skin wrinkled and pale
His hair was withered, his bones pressed against his skin
A single drop of blood was on the man's cheek
The drop floated upward onto the horse
"You piece of shit..." Bob muttered as his true reality returned
A darker aura began flaring from him
The fog began to disperse around Bob
Bob slowly raised his hand toward the beast
A dark, compacted ball began forming into his palms
The fog swirled around it
But the silhouette moved
The fog was now empty
Bob stopped charging
Bob took a step. The ground cracked.
He zoomed forward
To where the beast originally was. The fog dispersed around him.
Silence
Dark matter trailed from where Bob had come from
Bob zoomed left
Then right
The fog was empty
The black energy ball he charged vanished
Bob began walking while scanning
He looked left, right, behind, and forward,
Nothing
Suddenly, the fog stopped moving
For a heartbeat, the mist froze completely
Then he felt it—a massive displacement in the air above him
The sky was falling.
Bob looked up
The horse was descending from the dark sky
Its feet galloping on thin air
Bob could feel the pressure and velocity of its descent
Its snout snapped open into four jagged sections
It stretched wider and wider—a five-foot abyss of glowing purple flesh and interlocking teeth
Bob reacted instantly
The dark energy he gathered didn't vanish
It violently compressed in his palms
Even absorbing the mist around him
The energy compressed into a dense spinning sphere of absolute blackness
He thrust his hand upward as the beast came crashing down
Silence
A memory flickered
"Dad?" a soft voice called "Why do you keep chasing monsters?"
A little boy tugged on the man's sleeve at the door
The man chuckled and knelt
"Because if no one does... they'll keep hurting families," the father answered, patting the boy's head
"Are you gonna be home soon?" the little boy asked
The father's smile faltered for a bit
As if pondering his words
"You betcha!!" he grinned again
Suddenly, a woman picked up the little boy
"Come now, Nina has a surprise for you"
"What? Mom!"
The little boy's cheeks flushed as he was lifted into a tight embrace
The memory ended
Explosion
THOMAS' POV
They were moving through a small tunnel-like path inside the castle
Richie was leading quickly, taking the different corners
The underground tunnel was almost like a small village itself
Autumn flew behind them at their pace, gripping a small sword
Thomas panted loudly as they jogged
At one point, he was limping, sweat pouring from his face
Richie suddenly halted, looking around.
It was an intersection.
He leaned against the nearest wall
Breathing loudly, eyes wide.
His cheeks puffed slightly as he breathed
Richie was basically panting through his nose
The two caught up.
Thomas fell to his knees, coughing warm blood onto the floor
For a split second, his vision doubled
Then, a hand grabbed him.
"You're hurt."
Autumn knelt beside Thomas
"I'm fine... I'm just a little shaken up," Thomas said
He pushed himself upward and wiped the remaining blood from his lips.
"I'm good as dead if we don't find Leo anyway," he added.
Autumn didn't say a word.
She watched him walk beside Richie
Richie was pointing ahead
Thomas clenched his fists
She stumbled forward
What she saw was a door, with red lights piercing through the openings
People were chanting inside.
An indistinguishable voice that they all muttered together
"We have to stop this now!" Thomas moved
His hand ignited.
He punched through the wooden door like it was paper
Everyone stopped and turned toward him
Suddenly, Richie and Autumn rushed in
Twelve figures in regal robes stood in a circle around Leo.
On their backs, each robe had an insignia that matched a noble clan
Leo was flat on his back as Esther stood over him
Her eyes glowed cyan.
"Kill them," she said calmly "Do not stop chanting"
Instantly, six of them broke from the circle.
Some had wands some had weapons
The other half continued chanting
Richie started making hand signs
Autumn flew forward at two of them
A blade was thrown at Richie's hand, preventing his spell
Before Thomas knew it, two rushed him
He ducked a sword slash from a noble
Thomas countered hard
His flame-enhanced punch sent that noble flying through the wall
The next one appeared from the right
A moon insignia was on their cloak.
The noble threw a punch toward his face
Thomas deflected it
He tried countering
It could've been a clean hit
Until
The noble's eye glowed emerald
Mid-punch, Thomas could feel himself moving in slow motion
As the noble effortlessly moved their head to the right
The noble twisted and backhanded Thomas
Way faster than he could react
Thomas fell to the floor again
His body tingled as his pain doubled
He began coughing
The noble was getting closer to him
A nasty smirk on his face
Suddenly, Autumn flew past the green-eyed noble
She aimed her blade at Esther
One of the chanting-nobles got up, raising their hands
Golden chains flew from the ground, binding Autumn
THUD
Thomas turned
The green-eyed noble fell to the floor, clutching their throat
Choking
Thomas turned to the right. Near the entrance, in the corner
There was Richie, a golden translucent shield formed on his right hand
He raised it to block a hammer that forced him to kneel
The other noble came in with a blade
Richie blocked it with his glowing palms
The blade stabbed right through his hands
But he held it firmly.
A low gutteral scream escaped him
Breathing loudly from his nose
Thomas moved to help Richie when a scream rang out
In the center,
Leo began to twitch and shout wildly
Esther was lowering the crown onto Leo's head
While the five continued chanting louder
Leo started clawing at the floor
Nails digging through stone
Thomas stopped.
He twisted and threw a compacted flame toward them
BOOM
The explosion rattled the centre area
Dust rising
The two nobles who wrestled with Richie stopped
Everyone was looking toward the front
The chains that held Autumn withered
She flew backward instantly
"We... we won," she said, half sighing
The two nobles stepped forward beside Thomas and Autumn
All staring at the smoke
Suddenly, footsteps
Walking around inside the smoke
Everyone held their breath
The smoke was fading, but the silhouette didn't wait.
The figure stepped into view
It was Leo.
He looked at his hands
Then rubbed his face, his hair
Feeling everything
"Yes..." he muttered "Yes!"
He began laughing loudly, eyes wide.
"Yes!!" He shouted while looking up to the ceiling
The two nobles ran forward and fell onto their knees.
Bowing to Leo.
The smoke finally cleared
Everyone there was dead
In the corner Richie exhaled loudly
Autumn fell to her knees
"God... please no," she muttered, tears forming
"This isn't happening."
Thomas looked at Leo, his heart pounding.
Putting the crown onto his head.
Thomas coughed blood again.
Falling onto his back.
The ceiling in his views.
Vision blurring.
End