A dark void. So dark that
any observer would see nothing. A light hadn’t been spotted here for a thousand
years. And without it, the surface of the shadow world had gone unseen for
centuries.
That was, until this
moment. A tiny flame, flickering so wildly it would suggest there was a wind
flowing. flickered to life. It was green, a pale sickly color that looked as dead as the land it
illuminated.
It was a light so small
that on any other world, it would hardly be given that designation. On this
world, it shone brighter than a thousand stars, pinpricks of green illuminating
a jagged plain.
The light brightened, the
flame solidifying as the flickering began to reduce. The color shifted,
starting to look more vibrant, tones of a brilliant emerald-green swirling
faster and faster within it. The light shone brighter.
The jagged plain gave up
more of its long preserved secrets. Veins of translucent grey running through the
surface, flowing to an unknown point. There seemed to be movement down in the
veins. Tendrils, blacker than the void that surrounded them, twisting and
turning with no recognizable pattern.
The light solidified, the
flame shifting smoothly into a beam of light. It was now a brilliant emerald
green. Right as the brightness reached its peak, the light split, a jagged crack
spreading through the beam as darkness seeped between the light.
The crack widened, the
edges smoothing out the wider it got. It expanded until the edges straightened,
the gap between the light now several feet in width. A man stepped out from between
the light.
He looked out of place in
this world. Faded jeans that could’ve been any color, now glowing green in the
light, a hoodie that proudly stated, “Dark Lord To Be” and a hat that looked
like it was stolen from a pirate costume. He took a few steps forward.
His walk was far more
commanding than his attire. It was the walk of someone who had walked slopes
more jagged and demanding than even this, one who didn’t even care that they were trampling
over shadowy tentacles that had been slumbering for millennia. Behind him, were two more figures.
They blended in better to
the environment, almost. One of them was clad in a long robe, only it was white
and the tie across the middle suggested it was clearly a bathrobe. The man’s hair
was in a long ponytail, and the violent shade of pink was pink enough to shine through the
green of the portal they had stepped through.
The other was slightly more
dignified, in a long, black trench coat, His face was covered up with a pair of
star shaped sunglasses and a more traditional hat, one that did not have
cartoon pirate symbols.
The trio began a march,
following the translucent membrane like structure. Their portal and its glowing
green light followed behind them obediently, slowly illuminating this dark
world, one crack at a time.
Their journey did not take long. A mere ten minutes in, the membranes got denser and denser until at one
point they appeared to converge, all meeting on one large circle on the ground.
Below it, the movement was
the strongest, hundreds of the shadowy tentacles, moving in a dizzying chaos of
motion that appeared to have no pattern whatsoever.
Pirate Hat smiled,
like he’d just spotted a rich vein of gold. He barked something at the other
two who promptly fanned out, the three of them together forming a triangle. A
word was uttered by Bathrobe, conjuring a glowing orange ruler that spread
between the three, marking out a distance until they were standing equally far apart from each other.
The ruler dissolved into
darkness.
There was an audible gulp
from Bathrobe and Trench Coat. Pirate Hat barked another order and the two of
them brandished a coin each, as Pirate Hat did the same.
Pirate Hat began to chant,
his voice echoing across the perfectly silent plains of the shadow world, enveloping
it like a harsh wave that engulfs a hapless sinking ship. It cut through the
plains like a hot knife through butter, bringing sound to a world that hadn’t
heard a single one in centuries.
As he chanted Bathrobe and Trench
Coat joined in, their voices adding to the cacophony of sound. The sound rose
higher and higher as the spell went on, their voices rising in pitch until by
the end it was indistinguishable from a shill shriek in the dark.
Right as they reached their
apex, the membrane at the very center suddenly cracked. It was small, barely visible
in the light, hardly as wide as a hair.
It seemed to be their goal
however, because the chanting ground to an immediate halt, Pirate Hat leaning
down to inspect the damage even as Bathrobe and Trench Coat leapt away from it.
Pirate Hat outlined the
little crack, watching as the tentacles down below suddenly changed their tune.
The chaos seemed to shift and swirl, and the shadows that had meandered suddenly had a pattern,
all the tendrils yearning and twisting toward one tiny spot.
The rupture in the membrane.
Pirate Hat smiled, a genuine
smile that seemed too pure for a land like this. He gestured towards the other
two, before doing what appeared to be some sort of contorted victory dance, jumping
up and throwing his hands in the air as he did a spin.
Bathrobe and Trench Coat
exchanged a look that suggested this was not an uncommon occurrence as she they
shrugged and moved towards the portal. They stepped through, never turning back
as they dissolved into the shadow at the center of the light.
There was a loud “harrumph”
from Pirate Hat who gave a disappointed look in the direction of the portal as
he finally stopped his victory dance. He turned to blow a kiss in the direction
of the shadow, muttering something under his breath.
He turned, storming towards
the portal. He swung an arm behind his back like he was swishing a cape before
he stopped, kicking the ground and muttering a curse. Muttering something under
his breath, he stepped through the portal, looking less like the experienced dark lord to be and more like a petulant child.
The portal began to close
as slowly as it had opened, the horizontal door, turning jagged and cracklike,
and the light starting to dim, the color paling. Soon, it was back to the sickly green flicker,
before it went out altogether.
It was a dark void once
again, the silence restored to a world previously undisturbed for millennia. And
then.
A crack.
Points: 237
Reviews: 80
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