09-26-2017, 06:38 PM
“W-wha?”
Ebony blinked rapidly, trying to clear the flash from her eyes. Her body swayed side to side while she rubbed her forehead. Taking a step forwards, she winced. It didn’t hurt as much as before, but even after being removed the bullet left a dull ache. At least the bleeding had stopped.
Huh, why was I bleeding?
She called out, dreading the reality: she’d been separated again – but from whom, her memory eluded her. Everything was fuzzy. She turned around, hoping to get better luck looking behind her, only to be met with a dull rocky wall.
Ebony shivered, reaching up and pulling her hood down to her chin. The fabric stretched against her face, but she could breathe through it well enough. With quivering fingers, Ebony let go, moving her arms to hug against her chest while the hood snapped upwards. It still covered the tops of her eyes, allowing shadows to drape across her face in the scarce light.
“Whooah! Are you…” A childish voice, full of awe. Ebony recognised it from somewhere, but she couldn't quite lay her finger on it. Regardless, she spun around in the direction of the voice, her cloak twisting before swaying back as a consequence of the momentum. Identical vibrant green eyes locked briefly before hers flickered to examine the child.
The girl had long blond hair, slightly shorter than Ebony's but much messier. It looked like she'd taken 3 years of bed head and thrown them all into one hairstyle. A baggy yellow dress hung over her body, just covering her thighs – the fabric was littered with grass stains, as were the girl’s knees, which was strange considering the cave setting. She wasn’t much shorter than Ebony, perhaps four to five inches at most, but almost half of that was due to Ebony's boots.
A big toothy grin donned the blonde's face; some of the lower back teeth were missing, adding to the childlike nature of the smile. “You’re Ebonywood Hellscythe!” She fumbled about, pulling a book out of a compartment in the wall. Under her breath, she mumbled to herself, loud enough for Ebony to hear, “I’m prepared for this.”
The Further Adventures of Ebonywood Hellscythe: Volume I
A sketch of a flaming scythe was pinned to the leather cover.
Ebony tilted her head slightly, confused, still not comprehending the situation in full. The girl continued looking at her with starry eyes. Moving forward, she guided Ebony backwards, lightly pushing her down onto a previously unseen wooden chair.
“I know this is a lot to take in, but… you’re actually a fictional character.” She grabbed one of Ebony’s hands with her own and clasped it with both of her palms. “Don’t be scared, but I wrote you.” Flipping the book over revealed a short, handwritten blurb, and beneath it a neat cursive name: Catherine Windsdale.
Shuddering under her cloak at the memory that identity brought, Ebony’s mind clicked. She was talking to herself – from years ago. She wasn’t quite sure where they were exactly, but the girl in front of her was the Catherine she used to be. Somewhat confusingly, but understandably, the girl thought she was Ebonywood Hellscythe. The real, or actually unreal, Ebonywood Hellscythe.
It was mentally jarring. Talking to one’s past-self, especially one buried so deep in the back of her mind despite the relatively short number of years that passed, wasn’t something she ever expected to encounter. Ebony just stared at her counterpart’s eyes, letting the seconds pass without saying anything.
“I knew I should have explained it more gently,” Catherine whispered to herself, apparently thinking aloud, before speaking up – her hands clenched slightly around Ebony’s as she did so. “My name is Catherine, and I’m your biggest fan, Ebony! This might be a bit confusing for you, but this is like my dream come true!”
Ebony had distinctive memories of wishing for Ebonywood Hellscythe to climb in through her tower window and take her, Catherine, on adventures. Catherine’s comment about this being her dream come true was undoubtedly an understatement. And Ebony didn’t want to crush that. Thus, she found herself playing into the act.
“You’re… You’re my… fan?” The girl had crouched slightly, allowing Ebony to speak at eye level.
Catherine grinned. “The biggest!” She released Ebony’s hand, getting one last touch of the glove as she did so.
Ebony tried to raise an eyebrow but ended up twisting her face in an odd manner. “You don’t look very big.” She grinned.
“You know what I mean, silly,” Catherine pouted, puffing out her chest and standing up straight. “Someday I’m going to be like you!”
“Oh?” Even in her second attempt, Ebony still butchered the raising of an eyebrow. There was a surprising amount of truth to that statement, both in what the girl meant and from Ebony’s perspective.
“Yeah! I’m going to be able to do magic someday, and I’ll get a cool scythe, and I’ll go on adventures.”
Ebony tilted her head, amused. She stood up to join Catherine.
“Where actually is your scythe?” Catherine asked while reaching up with a hand to try and flatten parts of her hair.
Pausing in thought for a moment, Ebony busied herself with pushing the air down on Catherine’s head with her magic, blowing it into a neater shape. “It’s magic. I can summon it whenever I want.”
Catherine rubbed her new hairstyle before looking up at Ebony with beaming eyes. “Show me! Show me! I wanna see! That sounds awesome!”
Ebony blushed slightly under her hood from the praise. Finally, someone understands. Although that person was also herself, so perhaps that could have been considered cheating. “Okay, just stand back. I need some room to do the magic.”
The girl stepped backwards, watching intently. For a brief moment, a small shadow shrouded Catherine’s face. And then it was gone. Ebony dismissed it as consequence of the poor lighting and weakly shook her head, blinking.
“Are you ready?”
A very large grin rose on Catherine’s face as she visibly shook with anticipation, gazing attentively.
Ebony firmly planted her feet down on the ground and stuck her left arm out to the side. She closed the open palm into a fist, creating a magical breeze blowing her cloak. Completing the motion, she jerked the arm back in, holding it horizontal along her waist while twisting her other arm up to her face. “Forces of the darkness, stand by my side; grant me a weapon, use my power from inside.” She stretched her arms forwards, feeling the forming weapon as she spoke. Her eyes flickered to red as she spun the hellscythe in the air – warm, yet harmless, wisps of magical purple flame trailed in its wake.
Catherine’s jaw dropped as she struggled for words. “C-c-can I touch it.”
Ebony considered that for a moment. It was hot, and it was only due to her gloves and magic that she could handle prolonged contact comfortably. She grinned, pulling up her hood magically, “I can do even better.”
Levitating her scythe in the air, Ebony handed her gloves over to Catherine. “You’re going to need these.” She took off her cloak, also levitating that behind her. She rubbed her arms and shoulders, unused to standing without the weight of the fabric. “And, you’ll want this.” She added, guiding the cloth around Catherine’s body. It was a bit large for her, but the back of the cloak didn’t drag against the floor, so it was good enough.
“W-w-w-w-whaaa…” Catherine reached up to raise the hood so she could see. Her eyes locked onto the floating scythe in front of her. Tentatively, she reached out, touching it with her fingertips. “It’s warm,” she whispered. Excitedly, she finished the endeavour by swiftly grabbing the staff with her new, borrowed, gloves.
Carefully, Ebony moved away, lest she get caught by the blade during the girl’s eagerness. She smiled from the nostalgic feeling it brought. While not fond of ever heading back to that time, preferring to suppress the memories and hide away her past, she had to admit it had its ups among the downs. She leant back against the rocky wall, enjoying the fiery disco.
She flinched, noticing one of the swings to be noticeably more violent than the others; shadows hid Catherine’s face, but that was only natural due to the cloak. Ebony dismissed it as her being unnecessarily jumpy, shaking her head. Nonetheless, she chose to use it as a sign to move to something else. Thus, it shifted to Ebony showing Catherine her other cool spells, reclaiming her outfit to do so.
Amidst the casting of an air spell, Catherine spun around abruptly, running to collect some of the other books, the last of which didn’t have a cover image. “That reminds me, I don’t know what point of the story you’re from!” Catherine narrowed her eyes, glancing over Ebony’s body. “Hmm… You’re older than in this book,” she waved Volume IV in the air (with the fifth being the unfinished one). Her eyes widened, “why don’t you tell me your stories!”
Ebony opened her mouth instinctively, about to describe the battle with the darklings – against Nebula, before frowning. Recent memories swam to the front of her mind. Sonny, Summer, Morene. They all needed her help. How could I forget? “I… I’ve got to go back.”
“W-what? Why? You only just got here?” Catherine latched onto her arm, weakly holding her in place.
“My friends need me.” Ebony’s mouth curled into a grim smile. “We’re saving the world.”
Again, the shadows clung to Catherine’s face, and through them, Ebony thought she saw a dark frown. Yet, everything was back to normal so quickly, she doubted herself yet again.
Catherine let go, gesturing to a stone pedestal. A small chip rested on the top. “I made this for you; it’ll make you stronger. If you must go, take this with you!”
Reaching out an arm, Ebony’s fingers curled, almost touching it.
They snapped away at the last second.
“Take it.” The tone was oddly commanding, even if the pitch suggested otherwise.
Ebony shook her head to clear her mind, unintentionally signifying refusal.
“Join me.”
She looked at ‘Catherine’, finally seeing through the ruse. “How can you be here? This shouldn’t be possible.”
The girl’s expression turned innocent, showing fear. “W-what do you mean? I should be asking y-you that question.”
Ebony relaxed her demeanour, taken aback by the display. Yet her self-doubt was quickly squashed by the reforming of shadows around the girl; these ones remained, accenting the dark expression on the girl’s face.
“The power of Nebula allows for many things. Join us, make the choice and it can all be yours.” While not something Catherine would say, it still used her unaltered voice.
A painting of a boat materialised on the wall, yet under closer inspection, the picture seemed to be moving – the ship was slowly sinking under the waves.
“His power is limitless. Take it, and it will bend to your will.”
The implications of this were not lost on Ebony. This was her chance. She could finally take matters into her own hands. She had to make this choice.
Reaching out one last time, she grabbed the darkchip in her hand, walking towards the exit; the shade lapped at her feet. She squeezed her palm into a fist around her ‘gift’, holding it close to her chest.
In truth, she didn’t feel very different, or more powerful.
At least, not until she dropped it, crushing it under her boot. It shattered into millions of tiny pieces. There would be other ways home, and whatever that thing offered – it would never match the feeling of strength that came from its refusal.
Ebony spun around, leaning back into the gateway, locking eyes with the disguised Darkloid.
“No.”
It growled, darkness lashing towards her while her world faded to white.
She would find a way home, but not like this. She’d help her friends: all of them.
Ebony blinked rapidly, trying to clear the flash from her eyes. Her body swayed side to side while she rubbed her forehead. Taking a step forwards, she winced. It didn’t hurt as much as before, but even after being removed the bullet left a dull ache. At least the bleeding had stopped.
Huh, why was I bleeding?
She called out, dreading the reality: she’d been separated again – but from whom, her memory eluded her. Everything was fuzzy. She turned around, hoping to get better luck looking behind her, only to be met with a dull rocky wall.
Ebony shivered, reaching up and pulling her hood down to her chin. The fabric stretched against her face, but she could breathe through it well enough. With quivering fingers, Ebony let go, moving her arms to hug against her chest while the hood snapped upwards. It still covered the tops of her eyes, allowing shadows to drape across her face in the scarce light.
“Whooah! Are you…” A childish voice, full of awe. Ebony recognised it from somewhere, but she couldn't quite lay her finger on it. Regardless, she spun around in the direction of the voice, her cloak twisting before swaying back as a consequence of the momentum. Identical vibrant green eyes locked briefly before hers flickered to examine the child.
The girl had long blond hair, slightly shorter than Ebony's but much messier. It looked like she'd taken 3 years of bed head and thrown them all into one hairstyle. A baggy yellow dress hung over her body, just covering her thighs – the fabric was littered with grass stains, as were the girl’s knees, which was strange considering the cave setting. She wasn’t much shorter than Ebony, perhaps four to five inches at most, but almost half of that was due to Ebony's boots.
A big toothy grin donned the blonde's face; some of the lower back teeth were missing, adding to the childlike nature of the smile. “You’re Ebonywood Hellscythe!” She fumbled about, pulling a book out of a compartment in the wall. Under her breath, she mumbled to herself, loud enough for Ebony to hear, “I’m prepared for this.”
The Further Adventures of Ebonywood Hellscythe: Volume I
A sketch of a flaming scythe was pinned to the leather cover.
Ebony tilted her head slightly, confused, still not comprehending the situation in full. The girl continued looking at her with starry eyes. Moving forward, she guided Ebony backwards, lightly pushing her down onto a previously unseen wooden chair.
“I know this is a lot to take in, but… you’re actually a fictional character.” She grabbed one of Ebony’s hands with her own and clasped it with both of her palms. “Don’t be scared, but I wrote you.” Flipping the book over revealed a short, handwritten blurb, and beneath it a neat cursive name: Catherine Windsdale.
Shuddering under her cloak at the memory that identity brought, Ebony’s mind clicked. She was talking to herself – from years ago. She wasn’t quite sure where they were exactly, but the girl in front of her was the Catherine she used to be. Somewhat confusingly, but understandably, the girl thought she was Ebonywood Hellscythe. The real, or actually unreal, Ebonywood Hellscythe.
It was mentally jarring. Talking to one’s past-self, especially one buried so deep in the back of her mind despite the relatively short number of years that passed, wasn’t something she ever expected to encounter. Ebony just stared at her counterpart’s eyes, letting the seconds pass without saying anything.
“I knew I should have explained it more gently,” Catherine whispered to herself, apparently thinking aloud, before speaking up – her hands clenched slightly around Ebony’s as she did so. “My name is Catherine, and I’m your biggest fan, Ebony! This might be a bit confusing for you, but this is like my dream come true!”
Ebony had distinctive memories of wishing for Ebonywood Hellscythe to climb in through her tower window and take her, Catherine, on adventures. Catherine’s comment about this being her dream come true was undoubtedly an understatement. And Ebony didn’t want to crush that. Thus, she found herself playing into the act.
“You’re… You’re my… fan?” The girl had crouched slightly, allowing Ebony to speak at eye level.
Catherine grinned. “The biggest!” She released Ebony’s hand, getting one last touch of the glove as she did so.
Ebony tried to raise an eyebrow but ended up twisting her face in an odd manner. “You don’t look very big.” She grinned.
“You know what I mean, silly,” Catherine pouted, puffing out her chest and standing up straight. “Someday I’m going to be like you!”
“Oh?” Even in her second attempt, Ebony still butchered the raising of an eyebrow. There was a surprising amount of truth to that statement, both in what the girl meant and from Ebony’s perspective.
“Yeah! I’m going to be able to do magic someday, and I’ll get a cool scythe, and I’ll go on adventures.”
Ebony tilted her head, amused. She stood up to join Catherine.
“Where actually is your scythe?” Catherine asked while reaching up with a hand to try and flatten parts of her hair.
Pausing in thought for a moment, Ebony busied herself with pushing the air down on Catherine’s head with her magic, blowing it into a neater shape. “It’s magic. I can summon it whenever I want.”
Catherine rubbed her new hairstyle before looking up at Ebony with beaming eyes. “Show me! Show me! I wanna see! That sounds awesome!”
Ebony blushed slightly under her hood from the praise. Finally, someone understands. Although that person was also herself, so perhaps that could have been considered cheating. “Okay, just stand back. I need some room to do the magic.”
The girl stepped backwards, watching intently. For a brief moment, a small shadow shrouded Catherine’s face. And then it was gone. Ebony dismissed it as consequence of the poor lighting and weakly shook her head, blinking.
“Are you ready?”
A very large grin rose on Catherine’s face as she visibly shook with anticipation, gazing attentively.
Ebony firmly planted her feet down on the ground and stuck her left arm out to the side. She closed the open palm into a fist, creating a magical breeze blowing her cloak. Completing the motion, she jerked the arm back in, holding it horizontal along her waist while twisting her other arm up to her face. “Forces of the darkness, stand by my side; grant me a weapon, use my power from inside.” She stretched her arms forwards, feeling the forming weapon as she spoke. Her eyes flickered to red as she spun the hellscythe in the air – warm, yet harmless, wisps of magical purple flame trailed in its wake.
Catherine’s jaw dropped as she struggled for words. “C-c-can I touch it.”
Ebony considered that for a moment. It was hot, and it was only due to her gloves and magic that she could handle prolonged contact comfortably. She grinned, pulling up her hood magically, “I can do even better.”
Levitating her scythe in the air, Ebony handed her gloves over to Catherine. “You’re going to need these.” She took off her cloak, also levitating that behind her. She rubbed her arms and shoulders, unused to standing without the weight of the fabric. “And, you’ll want this.” She added, guiding the cloth around Catherine’s body. It was a bit large for her, but the back of the cloak didn’t drag against the floor, so it was good enough.
“W-w-w-w-whaaa…” Catherine reached up to raise the hood so she could see. Her eyes locked onto the floating scythe in front of her. Tentatively, she reached out, touching it with her fingertips. “It’s warm,” she whispered. Excitedly, she finished the endeavour by swiftly grabbing the staff with her new, borrowed, gloves.
Carefully, Ebony moved away, lest she get caught by the blade during the girl’s eagerness. She smiled from the nostalgic feeling it brought. While not fond of ever heading back to that time, preferring to suppress the memories and hide away her past, she had to admit it had its ups among the downs. She leant back against the rocky wall, enjoying the fiery disco.
She flinched, noticing one of the swings to be noticeably more violent than the others; shadows hid Catherine’s face, but that was only natural due to the cloak. Ebony dismissed it as her being unnecessarily jumpy, shaking her head. Nonetheless, she chose to use it as a sign to move to something else. Thus, it shifted to Ebony showing Catherine her other cool spells, reclaiming her outfit to do so.
Amidst the casting of an air spell, Catherine spun around abruptly, running to collect some of the other books, the last of which didn’t have a cover image. “That reminds me, I don’t know what point of the story you’re from!” Catherine narrowed her eyes, glancing over Ebony’s body. “Hmm… You’re older than in this book,” she waved Volume IV in the air (with the fifth being the unfinished one). Her eyes widened, “why don’t you tell me your stories!”
Ebony opened her mouth instinctively, about to describe the battle with the darklings – against Nebula, before frowning. Recent memories swam to the front of her mind. Sonny, Summer, Morene. They all needed her help. How could I forget? “I… I’ve got to go back.”
“W-what? Why? You only just got here?” Catherine latched onto her arm, weakly holding her in place.
“My friends need me.” Ebony’s mouth curled into a grim smile. “We’re saving the world.”
Again, the shadows clung to Catherine’s face, and through them, Ebony thought she saw a dark frown. Yet, everything was back to normal so quickly, she doubted herself yet again.
Catherine let go, gesturing to a stone pedestal. A small chip rested on the top. “I made this for you; it’ll make you stronger. If you must go, take this with you!”
Reaching out an arm, Ebony’s fingers curled, almost touching it.
They snapped away at the last second.
“Take it.” The tone was oddly commanding, even if the pitch suggested otherwise.
Ebony shook her head to clear her mind, unintentionally signifying refusal.
“Join me.”
She looked at ‘Catherine’, finally seeing through the ruse. “How can you be here? This shouldn’t be possible.”
The girl’s expression turned innocent, showing fear. “W-what do you mean? I should be asking y-you that question.”
Ebony relaxed her demeanour, taken aback by the display. Yet her self-doubt was quickly squashed by the reforming of shadows around the girl; these ones remained, accenting the dark expression on the girl’s face.
“The power of Nebula allows for many things. Join us, make the choice and it can all be yours.” While not something Catherine would say, it still used her unaltered voice.
A painting of a boat materialised on the wall, yet under closer inspection, the picture seemed to be moving – the ship was slowly sinking under the waves.
“His power is limitless. Take it, and it will bend to your will.”
The implications of this were not lost on Ebony. This was her chance. She could finally take matters into her own hands. She had to make this choice.
Reaching out one last time, she grabbed the darkchip in her hand, walking towards the exit; the shade lapped at her feet. She squeezed her palm into a fist around her ‘gift’, holding it close to her chest.
In truth, she didn’t feel very different, or more powerful.
At least, not until she dropped it, crushing it under her boot. It shattered into millions of tiny pieces. There would be other ways home, and whatever that thing offered – it would never match the feeling of strength that came from its refusal.
Ebony spun around, leaning back into the gateway, locking eyes with the disguised Darkloid.
“No.”
It growled, darkness lashing towards her while her world faded to white.
She would find a way home, but not like this. She’d help her friends: all of them.
Quote:2000 words (MS Word)