V2C12 - Deranged Soldier
☆The Scent of A Forgotten soul☆
Ryker gripped his sword tight. He wanted to know what was going on here. Why was the faded, poor thing so oddly familiar? It made his hair rise on the end, leaving him shuddering to the core. His eyes remained wide, unable to contract from the great shock of the eerie sense of familiarity. Was it truly what he was thinking… or rather who he was thinking? He had no idea, but one thing he was certain of was that he would find it out, no matter what.
Just like that, without wasting time thinking twice, he went right ahead to slash it. As soon as his sword touched it, the figure was split into two. Ryker’s hand began to shake terribly, it wouldn't stop no matter what he did. Shivers gripped him tight, and a flicker of recognition and familiarity gleamed in his eyes.
For some reason, he did not want to harm this fellow. He wished to hug it, maybe it would come back to its senses. And he followed his intrusive thoughts. He loosened the hold on his sword and ran ever so slowly and hugged the creature…or a former human. Or whatever it was.
The feeling of someone punching his throat and filling it with bricks increased the more moments passed away. It was truly unlike anything he experienced so far. The familiarity wasn't helping at all, it was cutting through his heart like a sharp edge of an uncut knife.
He wanted to let go of it, kill it and be done with it. But for a reason, he cannot. He suddenly detached himself from his brief hug, and nerely whispered these words: ‘I'll deal with you later. Wait for me.’ The disillusioned figure did nothing. It stood still, as if waiting for Ryker's command. ‘Stay here and I'll come soon.’ Ryker said slightly reassuringly, and the figure shot him a confused look. Smirking, Ryker had enough of these insolent figures and decided to take them all out.
“Ugh, why didn't I do this before?!” He muttered as he dragged himself forcefully at the rest of the ‘figures’, their silhouettes creeping up the already uncanny and empty freshly mowed lawn.
The scent of the freshly cut grass was lingering in the air, filling Ryker’s nostrils, but it was overlapping with the strong odor of decay coming from the figures that were ambushing him, making his nose overwhelmed with the two distinctive types of scents mingling with each other. He felt nauseous, but held on. It looked like it never dawned here, and the sky was stuck between twilight and midnight, in the absence of any celestial body which Ryker found rather spin-chilling.
☆Finding a Light In the Lightless☆
He tried cutting the figures right in their throats and guts but nothing worked. They just multiplied in two, just increasing Ryker’s problem. He gritted his teeth, jumped a little higher than usual as he escaped the ‘punch’ of the figure. It was slowly pushing him through his boundaries, wanting nothing to do but smash something. And he chose his sword, unfortunately.
He smashed the sword on the ground.The sword remained intact, only a handful of cracks in the precious rubies that adorned the sword. He was fuming. But as soon as he glanced up, he saw six figures vanishing. His eyebrows raised and his eyes widened in surprise. Counting the cracks, it was six, too. Ryker definitely did not expect the damned Gleamlord to set this up as the solution. “I see… very calculating of him. As expected from someone as annoying as him, but I certainly did not expect it..” He muttered, unsure of how to feel.
“Tsk, whatever. At least I know what to do now.” He murmured, and with newfound determination, he grabbed his sword and collected the rubies with glowing mana in it. As the figures got closer, making a sound of a tv static that pierced his ears, he had to think on his feet while drawing them away from him. This was getting tougher than he thought. Ryker finally thought of a way to get rid of this growing problem. He took the rubies that he grabbed in his hand, and called out to the figures, “Hey, you wannabe zombie fools! Catch me if you can!” With that, he ran as fast as he could. He carefully placed the rubies in his pocket, the unharmed sword in his hand.
The figures chased behind him mindlessly, like they were being on the tap of someone else's finger. It was horrific. He ran faster than usual, until he found an empty two-storey house with glass windows, cream walls, red roofs, and a sinister silence.
He broke the window with a stone nearby lying on the ground, and jumped inside the house. “I feel like a robber trying to steal…this is getting weirder.” He sighed hopeless, as he searched for something he wanted to end this nightmare for once. And he found it. A pestle and mortar was all he needed to end it all for once and for good.
He heard an annoyingly familiar voice. “You're smarter than I thought, kid. Seems like you found the solution.” It was the Gleamlord of the Present. “I'm not superficial or dumb like you.” Ryker retorted, as he began gently dropping them in the mortar and crushing the precious rubies. As he crushed them, the mana in the rubies was slowly vanishing, and so were the figures outside. He took a breather. “Finally, this shit worked!” He whistled to himself, proud of his own wits.
As Ryker crushed the rubies hard into finely grinded powder, he all of a sudden, he remembered he had forgotten someone. He halted in his process, and had a brief glance outside. Most of the figures had disappeared and gone for good. But one stayed. And it was one by one disintegrating too.
He had to do something. And quickly, before he lost it forever. What could it be? He racked his brains, but nothing came up. Would he lose this ‘friend’ of his like this without doing anything? That wasn't going to happen. He searched the house, the kitchen where he was, the bedroom, and finally, the basement. It turned out to be a treasure trove, but he would always collect them later. The basement was like a miniature inventory where several items were kept. He skimmed through every item, until one caught his eye. A nanochip.
“NO! STOP!” Ryker yelled, and rushed outside the house. He ran and engulfed the figure in his hug, the one that felt so familiar.“Just who are you?” He whispered, his throat heavy and his eyes watery.
☆Some things Never Change☆
He made the figure eat the nanochip, and suddenly, the static noise that it was emitting stopped.
He stood apart, and watched the nanochip do its magic. The distorted appearance of the figure was melting into something more ‘human’. The corrosion of the hands was slowly vanishing, and it had a ‘humanly’ flavour to it. The eyes, once distant and lost, brought back the lively human color it had effect on. The attire, once worn and torn, began to bring back the faded color and liveliness. The aura that screamed forgotten in time, had a memorable avatar. And Ryker knew this avatar all too well.
“I'm so sorry, I was careless about you guys…” He cried, hugging.
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