A Gathering Darkness

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

All at once the gunslinger was running, his lithe frame tearing away from some ominous force that nipped at his heels. The foundation on which his boots skipped, barely touching down, was a gravelly barren expanse dotted only occasionally with somewhat larger rocks. The horizon offered nothing in the way of respite, meeting the sky all alone in the distance. The vast expanse above was an inky black; any semblance of normal celestial light seemingly blotted out by some otherworldly machination. The cloaked man shot a glance skyward, noting this absence of the stars that normally stirred in him such comforting thoughts.

“Vincent!” a familiar female voice cried, jerking his attention to his left.

It had been so long since he heard the voice, yet he knew it immediately. The ex-Turk’s head spun toward the call while his feet churned rhythmically, maintaining their pace despite the interruption. At his side sprinted a small girl, not quite 4-feet tall, dressed in simple blue jeans and a plain black tee shirt. Her auburn hair was styled in a pageboy cut, her bangs slightly obscuring her almost luminescent blue eyes. “Shelke!”

“Enough stargazing, we need to run!” the girl responded, grabbing the ex-Turk’s dangling hand. She charged forward with superhuman speed, tugging at the Prime’s appendage. “I don’t know what that is, but I’m not really wanting to find out.”

The pale Prime quickened his pace at these words, turning his head to catch sight of his foe. His eyes searched behind the dashing duo, looking frantically for any sign of their pursuer. His optics caught sight of nothing but darkness, a shadow as one might see cast by a tree on a sunny day. This blackness, though, looked to be darker than even the pitch black sky above them, and seemed somehow to be following, gaining on them. As his head swiveled back toward his companion, the gunslinger’s ears were met with a sinister cackle from his rear. “Mister Valentine…” a raspy voice called through the darkness.

“Don’t listen to it, we’ve got to escape!” Shelke responded, her voice uncharacteristically frantic.

Though he knew nothing of what was calling his name or why they had taken flight in the first place, a cold, heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach told him he need to put distance between himself and the entity. He doubted whether his ward had even her own reason to flee, or if this being inspired such a fear in everyone. Still, he had to ask.

“What are we running from?” He inquired, air whipping through his black mane.

“Something,” the technopath responded, “something bad-”

As the words left her mouth the youth seemed to lose her balance, her petite frame crumpling to the ground. The ex-Turk stopped in his tracks, spinning around just in time to see the shade nearing his companion. “No!” Vincent sputtered impotently, extending his gloved hand as his feet struggled to right themselves. Even as they found their places, he found himself unable to move.

“Vincent!” Shelke cried once more, attempting in vain to scamper to her feet. She failed to move more than a foot, however, as the darkness pooled over her like like a dark tide, ceasing the frantic function of her lower extremities. The entity slithered up her abdomen, forcing what little air she had left from her lungs.

“No!” The prime repeated, ice pumping through his veins. His body felt rigid as he watched the dark tide rise against her pale skin.

The girl’s mouth hung open as the darkness consumed her form, her airless lungs unable to force out another cry. The last the Prime saw of Shelke Rui was her brilliant mako eyes fading beneath the inky sea.