Fountain of Dark

A dark, eternal sky hung over the arboreal landscape, nary a spec of light dotting its sable curtain.

A zephyr drifted through blade of leaf and bough of bark alike, sparring none from its gentle onslaught in the calm night.

Calm, yes. The night was calm. As it always was. For this night was neverending. The hour of darkness would never fade, irrespective of how much the denizens of the land wished it so. But then again, few remained who even recalled a time in which the sky was inhabited by rays of light, shining down from high above.

The sky was home only to darkness, and to the titanic hunk of dull silver that routinely circled around the realm. Still, the calm night lorded over the world entire, and the emerald glade was no exception. ――However, on this day, something was certainly different.

The ambient glow of the atmosphere ever present across the world, today in the emerald glade, seemed to be a degree brighter. As if it was anticipating something. The very world seemed to be holding its breath.

And in accordance with those expectations, the soil began to tremor, a rumbling from deep within the bowels of the realm. At the very center of the glade, the black lake, whose surface had been perfectly still for centuries now, was billowing.

The pure darkness of the lake appeared so dark that it almost seemed to be glowing. Before long, the lakeーー nay, the geyser, awakened from its slumber.

A jet of the black substance erupted from the lake, a fountain that seemed to lance the very heavens. The radiance of that blackness was difficult to put into words.

It was a spectacle the likes of which this world had never before seen, but what the world had been waiting for was not the spectacle itself, but the boon it would bring about.

As the fountain subsided, and the rumbling settled, what remained was the surface of the black lake of the emerald glade, as tranquil as it had been moments prior, and a lone silhouette collapsed by its bank.

Slowly but surely, the man rose up, and began to ascertain his surroundings. Looking at the ground beside him, he spied a helmet forged in black steel, adorned with horns fashioned in the style of a bull.

After gazing at it for a few seconds, the man reached out one of his hands in an attempt to grab it, but froze midway through the endeavor. Was this really his hand? It moved when he willed it to, but it looked so... different.

Almost as if it was composed of the same thing as the black lake in his peripheral. Regardless, proceeding with his action of picking up the helmet, the man lightly pressed it against his forehead, and softly muttered, "Teacher..."

He wondered how much time had passed. This glade too had once been a tableaux in his memories, but compared to back then, it seemed so dull, bereft of the verdant sheen that had once sojourned here.

The final scene that scorched his memory was that of his teacher plunging him into this dark chasm, an act to save him from the encroaching onslaught of the Dragons.

At last, he were struck with the realization that, in all likelihood, he was the only one left.

The people he loved, every single one of them, was gone. Only he had failed to die.

Together with all of them, he had wished to live.

Together with all of them, he had wished to die.

But die he could not.

That was vexing. It frustrated him to no end. Still, the last words of his teacher still blazed on as a flame deep within his being.

"Can't have you dying, kiddo."

He had to live. He had to, but how could he? If he had to live in a world where everyone was gone, then...

"Then, I have to get them back." A mutter escaped the man's mouth.

Standing up fully, the man placed the helmet over his own head. It should be possible. He knew what kind of wonders this world possessed. Even if they were all gone, their essence still ought to seep through in some form. Was the luster of the atmosphere enshrouding this glade not proof of that very fact?

All he had to do was scour the world, and gather the stardust needed to make his prayers come true.

"Even if that starlight is beyond the realm of a billion, only I can reach it." The man spoke again, this time with a firm conviction.

The sentiment resonated deep within his being, as if a beacon of light housed in his heart.

After wandering the vicinity for a bit, he was able to find a few more loose pieces of his teacher's armor. Although the garments he donned were a bit more shoddy, he opted not to change out his wardrobe in favor of his teacher's. It may seem like a silly hang-up after already taking the helmet, but he viewed that as a declaration of his intent to abide by his late teacher's will and carry on his heroic reveries. He believed taking any more of his armor would verge on being disrespectful.

And so, gathering all those loose pieces up, he decided to dig a grave and pay his respects to the man who had given him so much.

In a glade illuminated in an ephemeral glow, under the eternal watch of a sky painted black, the man laid to rest the armor of his teacher, the former captain of the celestial guard. Covering it back up carefully, and placing a headstone to mark the spot, the man whispered a declaration brimming with purpose.

"I'll bring everyone back, no matter the cost."

Turning his back, the man strode away, taking the first steps to restoring the light that had once graced him.

"I'm starting now, Teacher. So that I may be myself."

Pronouncing one final comment as he left the grave behind him, the headstone inscribed "Aldebaran" sat silently as it saw him off.