Chapters Lullaby
"Darkness... Madness... The sad sad cries of the dying, and the lifeless silence of the dead. All of these things were brought before me... On that fateful day... I used to be a nobody... except to a few... Please, sit down, and I will tell you a story, the last story I will ever tell."
A little girl stood there, staring at the fires set before her, the once fruitful plains of equestria, now burning, dying. The lifeless silence of the dead echoed through the air, the girl couldn't be more than thirteen years old, it was surprising she made it out of the disasters that had previously occurred. She has vibrant red hair, and a rather slender body, she wasn't athletic, and nothing made her look it, she was just a normal girl, not smart, not tough, not fast, just normal. She sighed as she looked over the destruction, a tear coming to her eye, "the darkest dreams of man were once realized by soldiers, a weapon of mass destruction..." she sobbed as she spoke, her words soft, yet echoing with the wind, "man cried for help, help from the thing they had created..." She collapsed to her knees, sobbing loudly, "but man had no aid, for they had taken all help from themselves!" She started to cry, curling up into a ball, "and now here they lay, waste for the land..." She started to cry louder, but as she did, she could hear footsteps coming towards her.
"Strong words for a child," the voice that came through her tears sounded confident, strong, and yet she could hear a hint of sadness, for her. As she looked up she could see a man, he looked rather burly, not the toughest, but she could tell he would be able to make any fight a good one. He chuckled and offered his hand to her, "no point in laying on the ground, not much left to lay on anymore anyway," He smiled at her, she looked at his hand for a second, and after a little hesitation, grabbed it, and let him help her up. The sky was covered in clouds, but some sun still managed to pierce the darkness.
The man smiled at her, "My name is Manna, what about you?" He said, sounding a little excited, the girl just looked at him, hesitant to answer. She looked to the distance, there was the old town of ponyville in front of her, the buildings now laid to rubble, and dust. She tried to go through the events that had occurred but she could remember nothing, not how it started, only how it ended, the world around her had been destroyed. Everyone she knew was gone, and this saddened her, Manna could see it on her face. "Hey, kid, cheer up," he smiled at her as he spoke, "find a positive in any negative, as I always say," She looked up at him, confused.
"How can I find any positive in this!?" She sounded angry, her voice slightly trembling, "everyone I knew, is dead! Everything around me has been destroyed!" She looked at Manna angrily, "there is no positive!" Manna stopped her, sighing.
"Think about it like this, it's a fresh start, a new world. Let's try and make it a good one eh?" Manna said, looking rather happy. The girl looked at him, not as pissed now, she had to admit there was a little positive. A new world, but where would they find it, she looked up at Manna, then back at the town. She started walking off towards the town, Manna being more than happy to follow her.
As she looked around at the buildings she could feel sadness welling up inside her, the buildings were half crumbled, and full of large holes, like something had busted through the walls. The body's were mangled, some torn apart, others hanging off the broken edges of their former homes. This was a rather scary sight for a child, but for some reason, the girl could stand it. She felt rather calm about the situation around her, the bodies not affecting her at all, besides making her unhappy.
She felt a tear come to her eye as she walked, feeling it slowly drip down her face, she wiped it away, reluctant to show any emotion. She had felt that emotion was bad since whatever happened, it showed weakness, and for some reason she felt weakness would not be a good thing to have right now. She looked around again, she could hear the wind softly blowing through the crumbling rubble of the once beautiful town.
As they reached the edge of town they could see a cottage, it was covered in grass, so much so that it looked like a hill. Maybe a defence that was created prior. Manna looked towards the cottage, "wonder if anyone is in there" he said, heading for it slowly. He peeked inside, the girl close behind him, she also looked inside. It was dark, but they could see a hint of pink in the corner of the large room. The girl hurried inside, looking towards the slight yellow. She could hear crying, it sounded like a woman. The girl slowly started to approach the woman, trying to see her in the darkness, as she did Manna lit the lantern that was hanging on the roof. The woman suddenly screamed, cowering in the corner, she has dull pink hair what appears to be aqua blue eyes, she shyly looked at the girl and Manna. Looking horrified as she sees them, she can't seem to bring herself to speak.
"Don't worry," the girl smiles reassuringly at the woman, "we aren't here to hurt you," but the woman still doesn't reply, hiding behind her hands, the girl diverts her eyes to her body, trying to see if she has any visible wounds, as she does she notices the woman seems to have large clawed hands. The girl jumps back in fright, horrified, "wh-what is that!?" She points to the woman's hands, looking towards Manna. The woman abruptly stood up.
"l-leave me alone!" *she yells at the top of her lungs, her form seems to twitch, like as though she were glitching. Her face suddenly disfigures, falling apart, leaving behind a mass of muscle and bone, the rest of her body soon follows, the clothes tearing. She ran for the girl, readying her clawed hands as she charged at her.
"M-Maanna!" The girl looked at Manna, he quickly jumped on the woman, trying to pin her down. The woman tried to claw at Manna, but he was holding her so she couldn't. "What do we do!?" Screamed the girl, she looked at the woman on the floor. Manna tried picking her up and throwing her through the window, but she charged back through, making a larger hole in the wall than was made when she was being trown through the wall. She charged at manna, her feet making slapping noises on the ground, the wind seemed to sing an eerie tune in the house. Manna had no choice, he picked up the nearest sharp object, which happened to be the pole of a lamp, and rammed it into the woman's chest, she gasped. Breathing heavily, her form slowly came back, a beutiful woman, no older than maybe twenty, tears streaming from her eyes. She looked at Manna, horrified, "I-I-I... I... I'm scared..." She grasped the pole that was stuck in her chest, "I... D-don't... want... to... di-" She couldn't finish her sentence before her breath stopped. She slowly fell to the floor, the pole sliding out of her, she landed on the floor with a loud thud. Blood slowly started to pool below her, the horrified look still on her face.
The girl looked at the body on the floor, tears appearing in her eyes, she fell to the floor, eyes wide open. She stopped breathing, everything around her started to spin, the room fading in and out, each time it faded out she could see a face, staring at her, its eyes were pure red, black sludge coming out of its mouth. She couldn't do anything, or say anything, as her mouth was filled with the same sludge, pouring out of it, soon her nose started to fill up, then her ears started to spew out the sludge as well, the face laughed. Then everything went black, as she came to she could see Manna shaking her. She sat up suddenly, coughing, "are you okay?" Manna looked worried as he spoke, "you suddenly collapsed and... and stopped breathing," she nodded to tell Manna she was okay. She could see a forest in the distance, deciding it might be safer she heads for it.
Manna doesn't stray too far from her, keeping to her side as they walk towards the dark forest. "so anyway, what IS your name?" He asks, looking towards her after they had been walking through the forest for about a minute.
Sonata
“My name?” She asked, thinking for a bit, “well that isn’t very important right now is it?” She looked around, examining her surroundings, the trees blocked out most of the sunlight, only a small patch allowed the forest to be lit. She gasped as she looked towards the centre of the sunlit field, a woman was laying there, probably only in her twenty’s, she didn’t move, lying there, lifelessly. She ran over to the woman, quickly checking for any vital signs, Manna was close behind her. “Is she alive?” He spoke fast, a little worried for the woman’s life.
“… Only just” said the girl, “b-but… I don’t know any first aid” she sighed, wishing she had listened during first aid class. The woman lying on the ground had bright rainbow hair, she looked athletic, but the girl knew she wouldn’t last long, no matter how tough she was.
“Wh-what can we do then?’ Manna asked, more worried now.
“We can ease her passing… I am afraid that is all we can do…” The girl let a tear shed as she spoke, “no one should have to die like this,” She looked over the woman’s body for a second, admiring her physical stature. After a bit she stepped back, trying to think of a way they can make her passing less miserable, “We should get her out of here…” She spoke fast, hurrying to get something made to carry her out, Manna could see she was struggling, and decided to help her, after some effort they got a, rather crude looking stretcher to carry her, “I think she would rather stay here than ride on this,” he chuckled at his joke. The girl face palmed, clearly finding the joke stupid.
She hauled the woman onto the stretcher and tried lifting up one end, struggling even when Manna helped with the other end, “she is REALLY heavy,” it was clear in her voice that she was struggling, only being a child after all. She slowly continued progressing through the dark, moist forest. After what seemed like hours of walking, Manna suddenly collapsed, the girl gasped and carefully put down the stretcher. As soon as the stretcher made contact with the ground it turned into what appeared to be a black mass, engulfing Manna. The girl fell on her back, crawling away from the mass; the forest around her seemed darker than usual, slowly starting to spin. “Wh-what’s happening!?” She was now horrified, she could see ghostly figures forming; they began to dance, humming a dark tune, some starting before they formed.
She screamed for help, but knew no one would be able to hear her, the sound of her scream echoing through the dark, empty forest. The ground around the ghostly figures started to dissolve, slowly crystalizing, forming a soft white light as it falls into a never ending abyss. It slowly started to get closer to the girl. She suddenly started shaking, everything around her being torn apart, replace with a little lighter version of it, then suddenly a loud crack was heard as everything change slightly, Manna was shaking her harshly, it seems she had another episode, ‘but it felt so real’ she thought to herself. She took Manna’s hands off her, “I’m ok…” She said, a little unsure if she really was, “just… Another episode,” she looked at Manna as he sighed in relief, quickly picking up the stretcher again, she could see a light in the distance, ‘we must be near another clearing’ she thought, picking up the stretcher and hurrying for it.
After a while she started to notice something, the light wasn’t getting any closer, as though it was running away from her, she stopped and looked back at Manna, “do you see that light?” She asked, he replied with a simple shake of the head, as she looked back, it was gone. A tear shed from her eye, was she going insane? She continued walking, desperate to get out of this accursed forest, the silence of the dead sent a piercing pain through her chest every few seconds. They came to another clearing after a bit, putting the stretcher down. The girl could hear something in the bushes nearby, she quickly looked towards it, fixing her eyes on the bush, there was a pair of red glowing orbs in the bush. She gasped and ducked, hoping the thing didn’t see her. But to her dismay the thing had seen her; it slowly exited the bush, unlike anything she had seen. Its tail was spiked all the way, the body sharp and covered in what appeared to be metal, the legs were tipped with sharp pincers, and the head was distorted, an orb sitting right in the centre of it. The girl jumped back as the creature pounced at her, landing right next to the woman on the stretcher. The woman suddenly opened her eyes, looking at the creature, “hey!” She yelled, “what do you thi-” She didn’t have time to finish her sentence before the creature plunged its tail right through her skull. The girl looked terrified, fear flowing through her.
She tried to avoid making eye contact with the creature, slowly moving back, Manna was on the far left of her, keeping an eye on her and the creature. Neither of them thought it smart to say anything, they just slowly started moving closer, trying to regroup. She didn’t know what to do; this creature just killed someone in less than a second. She was breathing heavily, her heart pounding. The creature suddenly charged at her, its sharp pincers ripping through the woman, the girl jumped to the side, letting the creature run into a nearby tree, she suddenly ran for Manna, trying to get him to run the same way. He knew exactly what she wanted him to do and started to run, jumping to the side every time the creature charged at them. Manna stopped, suddenly, he grabbed for the creature but its sharp back cut his hands, they had no choice but to run. The girl quickly scurried up a tree, Manna, though, seemed to have trouble. The creature charged at him as he tried to climb his way up the tree, it was inches before he managed to get above its height, the creature suddenly stopped. Looking to its sides, the girl looked confused, why isn’t it coming after us, she thought. After a while of looking around it turned and went the other way.
“Phew,” Manna wiped his brows as he spoke, “that was close…” He seemed happy to have survived; He looked down to the ground, hopping out of the tree, the girl followed after him. Together they decided to head off in a random direction. The trees seemed to be getting less dense, the foliage letting more light through. She could tell they were getting close to the exit, the girl smiled and looked back at Manna, but he was nowhere to be found, she could have sworn he was right behind her. She started to panic, looking around frantically, but he was still nowhere to be found.
She hurried back into the forest, searching frantically for him, yelling out his name, “Manna!” She screamed, but there was no reply, she tried again, even louder this time. After a while her throat started to hurt. She felt something cold wrap around her shoulder. “So you want to find your… Friend...” A cold voice spoke, chilling her to the bone, "maybe you should follow me," she could feel the hand slowly slip away, the wind blowing behind her, she turned around, but no one was there. She seemed a little confused, but headed onward anyway, she slightly hoped that she wasn't heading the right way, bit feared what may happen if she disobeys whatever the thing was.
She felt like she had been walking forever before she came to what appeared to be a forest house, it looked rather odd, twisted even. She could see a figure by the door waving her over, it was wearing a cloak so all she could see was the bony hands. She sighed, looking around, trying to note down any possible escape routes. After a little while of waiting she headed for the building.
Inside looked even more messed up than outside, it was riddled with potions from the roof to the floor, they were hanging from hooks, which made it hard to walk without cutting her leg, the thing with the bony hands was right in front of her. It looked at here, piercing red eyes flowing behind the hood. "Take a step and see, a hidden mystery, a secret kept so well, you will find it oh so swell," the thing says, the girl can see a hint of a smile appear on its face. She steps closer, and notices a pool of water on the floor, it looked more like a mirror. She looked into it, suddenly the water started spinning, the girl felt like she was going to be pulled in, but she stood her ground, soon she could make out a figure in the water. But before anything interesting could be shown she heard a bang behind her. The door suddenly went flying across the room, Manna was standing there, looking rather unhappy. He walked at a rather fast pace up to the bony figure and removed the hood, all that was there were two beady red eyes.
The eyes looked up at the now horrified Manna, he backed away from the thing, not sure what it was. "Don't try, don't try, to know quite why, you see, you see, it's really easy... DIE!" The thing lunged at Manna, he quickly grabbed its arm and swung it across the room. The thing hit the wall with a large thud, making a crack in the timber. It lunged again, wrapping one of its claws around Manna, the girl looked shocked at what was happening, she knew she wouldn't be able to defend herself.
Manna grabbed the creatures hand and ripped it off of his throat, trying to rip it off, but instead ended up throwing the thing into another wall, the potions behind it smashed, causing an explosion of light, raining down little silver balls of glowing dust. The thing threw one of the bottles at Manna, it hit him square in the chest, sending him flying across the room. He pulled one off the wall as well, throwing it at the thing, it smashed on one of its eyes, corroding it away. The creature wailed in pain and lunged at Manna again, trying to rip into his chest, Manna quickly grabbed the things arm and rammed it into the floor, kicking it in the side and sending it flying across the room.
The creature came back again, trying to punch Manna, he dodged it, throwing a few punches himself, they were faster than the creatures but only a few of them landed with a satisfying crunch. He went in for a side punch, landing it in just the right spot, the creature was suddenly ripped in two, one half flying into a wall, the other half just standing there. After a bit it topples over, now just a useless corpse. Manna stands there for a bit, panting, he looks over to the girl, "are you okay?" He asks her, smiling a bit. She just replies with a slow nod, she seems to be shaking from the events that passed.
Manna looks around, it seems it is now night time, he thinks to himself that it might be best to stay the night somewhere else. He picks up the girl on his shoulders, chuckling to her, she chuckles as well, holding him tight. She ducks as they go through the door, Manna looks around, as does the girl. They can see a light in the distance, the girl looks back to the twisted house, but it doesn't seem to be there, like as though it never existed, replaced by a large tree. She shrugs it off, slowly getting used to all the strange happenings, the girl looked ahead to where Manna had now taken her, it was what appeared to be a small abandoned cottage. It looked liveable, but not in the best shape, Manna went in first to check it out, and after a while of inspection decided it was safe. He gave the girl the only available bed, taking the floor for himself.
After a bit they got up, Manna first, then the girl, the two of them headed out, they could see some light over in the distance. They quickly ran to it, this time it wasn't fake, it was the way out, the girl smiled as soon as they exited, giggling a bit, Manna close behind her.
Moon Song
She stared up at the sky, glad to be out of the accursed forest. A smile appeared across her face as she finally got a breath of fresh air, but in an instant, it was gone. It was replaced with the putrid smell of death and decay, “why can’t we ever come to a happy place,” She sighed as she spoke, her words trailing off, and the wind non-existent.
Manna looked at the area around them; it was a field filled with greenhouses, in each one seemed to be pots full of dead flowers, like they had never been watered. The greenhouses had rips and tears in them, and the ground, was littered with the bodies of the dead, all of them covered in cuts and bruises, some completely torn apart. It was clear this was once a beautiful flower farm, but now was just a graveyard of man, and nature, “Looks like we have stumbled upon a flower farm,” he looks down at his necklace is he speaks, his words trailing off, the necklace was of a rose.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Said the girl, looking up at Mana, she noticed he was looking at his necklace, her face suddenly filled with sadness, she could tell this place was special to him, just as his necklace was, “O-oh… Never mind…” She looks towards the ground, then sighs and heads into the farm. Manna follows her slowly. The girl could feel the sorrow and fear of the dead lying around her, the pain they felt as they were torn to shreds by the monsters that had attacked, at least she now knew what they looked like.
“Where do you think they came from?” She asked Manna, sounding genuinely curious; Manna’s only reply was a shrug. “Maybe well find another clue here…” Manna looked at her.
“Or maybe we will meet our fate, like the rest of these poor souls…” Manna’s words sounded odd to the girl, she wasn’t used to him being so sad. Find a joke in any situation was his motto, and here he was, turning a bad, into an even worse. She tried to take her mind off it, thinking back to when the attack first started. She could remember a bright light, the creatures coming out of it, the ones like the one that had attacked her in the forest, they were chasing after something, she could hear a woman screaming something but it was all distorted, the rest was illegible.
She looked to the side, a small house had come into view, it had solid brick walls, most of them were chipped and broken, and a hole in one side, the house looked old and unstable, with holes all through the roof. The chimney was mostly broken; the rubble had broken off part of the roof. It looked worse than all the greenhouses filled with dead flowers, and the bodies lying around, “what could have caused all this?” Asked the girl, now more curious than ever, she looked at the bodies, they all bared the wounds that the creature had inflicted on the girl with the rainbow hair. She slowly approached the house, as she did she noticed a light by one of the blown out windows, it was coming from inside, she looked inside curiously, there was a woman walking around the room, mixing potions, she had long dark purple hair, with a pink stripe near the middle of it.
The girl slowly walked to the door of the house, grabbing the knob as to turn it, but as she did, the door turned to dust, leaving behind just the knob. Right behind the door was a body hanging from the ceiling fan, the girl jumped, gasping, she accidentally fell down the porch steps, landing on her back. Everything started to spin, the last thing she could see was Manna standing over here, worried, she blacked out.
The girl woke up to a beautiful night sky, there was a soft melody playing, she sat up and looked around, “The moon song plays,” said a voice, it sounded angelic, “its voice cries above the sound,” the girl looked around for the source of the voice, it sounded like a child. “The moon song sings, the sound unheard,” said the boy, “The lullaby, above the herd,” his voice distorted every now and then, “I hear, I hear, I hear, your cry,” a boy came into view, falling from the sky at immense speed, landing in front of her, leaving a crater, his voice suddenly became dark, “the Lullamoon, the Lullamoon, it doth cry,” he started to speak louder. “We called, we called, for, your aid!” He got closer, “but run, but run, but run, you did!” He stepped over her, “Lullamoon, Lullamoon, we cried, we cried, Lullamoon, Lullamoon, you died, you died,” he drew a blade, and swung it towards the girls head, a stroke of fear went through her, then suddenly, everything changed, she was back at the flower farm, Manna sitting beside her. She quickly sat up, looking around, there was no crater, no sign of the boy.
The girl sighed and looked at Manna, she suddenly screamed, his face was not there, he fell backwards, landing harshly on his back. She scurried back, running into something solid, it was a brick wall, just one, sitting out from all the rest. She could hear chanting, runes started to appear on the wall, it quickly started to build up around her, surrounding her. She screamed, crying for help, no one replied, there was no one but the insane person in the house. The wall eventually closed off at the top, blocking out all light, the girl screamed, crying at the top of her lungs and curling up into a ball. “I-It’s just another episode,” She kept telling herself, but it didn’t go away, she was still enclosed in the wall, the air slowly running out.
Suddenly there was a loud bang, and then another, and then another, a brick suddenly came apart, breaking into rubble, then another then another. Soon one whole side of the wall was rubble, a hand grabbed the girl and pulled her out as the wall started rebuilding again. She looked towards the person that had saved her, as she guessed it was Manna. She smiled at him as he chuckled and carefully pushed her off, looking towards the house. She got up and headed for the door, which is now dust.
She tried to stay as silent as she could as she walked inside, everything inside was destroyed, dust was covering the ground, tables shattered and split in pieces, as well as a lot of vases now just shards of glass on the floor. She could hear the crunching of all the broken glass under Manna’s shoes, her own not making any noise. She stepped through one of the large holes, heading for where she remembered the woman was. She could hear her talking to herself, repeating two words, “Lullamoons light,” the girl seemed confused by this sentence. She could remember hearing that before, but she decided not to worry about it right now. She slowly approached the woman, tapping her on the shoulder. The woman suddenly turns around, grabbing the girl on her spin and throwing her through the window, Manna goes flying back, by some unknown force.
The girl lands on the floor, sliding a bit, the woman jumps through the now broken window, she started to speak, her voice distorted, insane even. “You see not what is real in a nightmare,” She took a step closer, the girl trying to get up, but she was suddenly pushed to the ground again, “the mess we make as man doth try!” She took another step, seemingly glitching closer, “We cry!” She took another step, “We cry!” And another, taking a step each time she pauses, “a lullaby!”
“And once did man, see a dream!” Her figure distorted, turning to a walking skeleton, with small chunks of flesh and muscle covering some spots, for a second, then glitching back. She took another step, her legs making cracking sounds as she moves, the girl tries getting up again, pushed down even harder this time, winding her, “the moon song cries a lullaby!” She growls and jumps on top of her, a claw appearing on one of her fingers, she drives it into the girls chest, she screams in pain. “Man’s dream! Man’s dream! The Lullamoon!” She started to twist the claw inside of the girl, ripping her flesh, “let dream! Let dream! The Lullamoon!” *She suddenly arched her back, spines ripping their way through the woman’s flesh, the girl closed her eyes, screaming as the claw grew larger inside her. The woman’s arms tore apart, being replaced by large masses of muscle, two giant wings sprouted from her back, they were dripping red, covered in the blood of its host, the woman screamed. The girl suddenly grabbed the woman by the throat, “let me go!” A sudden white light flashed from her palm, blowing the thing into the air, it went crashing down into the house.
The girl sat up, looking to the new hole in the roof, then at her palm, it seemed to be smoking, the flesh in the centre of her palm was burnt. She could hear crashing inside the house, the creature suddenly busted through the wall, shattering one side of the house, it began to crumble. She could see Manna run through the other door. The creature charged for her, part of its face was burnt off, a chunk of brain flopping around, the creature looked half transformed, one of its legs were still human, along with part of its face and some of its fingers.
The girl jumped to the side, allowing the creature to run into the tree, she tried to think about how she blew it away before. The light, she could have sworn she saw it before, she tried to focus, but before she could manage it the thing rammed into her, sending her flying right into the wall. Manna ran up to the creature, pounding a fist into its brain, the thing spazzed and ran off, then came back, trying to drive a claw into Manna. He grabbed its hand, ripping it off, the thing suddenly slapped him away with its other hand, sending him hurtling into a tree. He grabbed his head, the world spinning around him for a few seconds, as he got his bearings he could see the thing charging towards him, he looked at the arm he has in his hand, and back to the thing.
As soon as it got close enough he swung it, it ripped through the creatures face, but not doing much more than that, the creature rammed its claws into Manna’s side, ripping them out, almost cutting him in half. He used the last of his strength to ram the claw into the creature’s brain, it made a loud painful noise, then after a few seconds of struggling, falls to the ground. The girl runs up to Manna, clutching the new hole in her chest, she looks at him, he has his whole side ripped out, "M-Manna?" She says, worry overflowing from her, Manna suddenly collapses to his hands and knees, clutching his side.
The girl looks frantic, not knowing what to do, Manna looks at her, a tear in his eye, "I-I'm sorry..." He groans, collapsing to the ground. He was breathing heavily, but his breathing was slowing, the girl was frantic, she didn't know what to do, there was no one here to comfort her, no one to care for her. No one to tell her how she could make this a happy situation, so she just sat there for a while, staring at Manna.
"Manna!" The girl shakes him, tears in her eyes, she can feel the blood on her hands, a mixture of his and hers. She grabbed his hand, trying to get him to squeeze, he didn't. "Manna!" She was screaming at the top of her lungs, "please don't leave me... Please..." She starts to cry, the tears streaming down her face as she kneels over Manna, his hand stone cold. She didn't know how she could go on without him, he always helped her in every situation. She doesn't bother to look around, just kneeling over him for what seems like an hour. She does nothing but cry, her emotions to strong for her to handle. She found it slightly funny in a way, a man she only knew for a couple of days, had now meant so much to her that she did this. She felt angered because of it, furious even, and sad, sadder than she had ever been.
After a bit she stands up, "I have to be strong," she says to herself, "I-I... I can't let this get me down..." She looks back at Manna, then decides to head off, after covering him with leaves. She slowly heads for anywhere that isn't here, she looks back at Manna, then back to the path ahead. Hoping to leave behind everything that had just happened. She sighed, not letting another tear flow from her eyes, she had to be strong, for Manna, now more determined than ever.
Silent Symphony
The girl didn't look back, her fallen friend now lying below the leaves, she didn't shed a tear, for she knew tears were weakness, the girl couldn't show weakness, not now. She ran away from the house, the sadness welling up inside her with each step. "In the end... We all die alone.." She said to herself, trying not to sob. The world around her was silent, she had no one around to talk to, no one to tell her it would be alright. She glanced over her shoulder for a second, looking back at the now half destroyed house. For a second she thought to run, and never come back, but she went back, walking up to one of the walls.
She placed her hand on the wall, closing her eyes, and letting her tears stream from her eyes, "I-I can't..." She started to push on the wall, "I can't... Do this alone... Please come back..." She cried, but her cries went unanswered, nothing could be heard but the silent song of the moon. She came up with words in her head, of tears and of confusion. Of loss, and of love, She suddenly took a deep breath, opening her eyes, "give him back!" She screamed, driving all of her anger and sadness into one punch, her fist glowed with a bright white light as she rammed it into the wall, it tore right through the wall, shattering it.
Sadly, nothing else happened, she turned around, sobbing, and ran, not looking back, she ran and ran, not stopping, trying not to think about what happened. She wouldn't let it get the best of her, she had to be strong, for him. She started to run faster, and faster, passing across the large field and onto a riverbed, she ran through the water and continued. She screamed and ran faster, running into a small woods, coming out the other side covered with scratches from the trees, after a while, she stopped, looking ahead of her. There was what appeared to be a large city, it was in ruins, the buildings toppled and crumbling.
Slowly, the girl stepped into the streets, they were cracked, and some bits were completely missing, replaced instead with patches of dirt. Some of the buildings were completely split in two, others now just rubble covering the ground. No windows remained, just shards of glass on the floor. There were no cries for help, no tears being shed, no laughs of insanity, just the painful silence of the dead. The bodies all scattering the floor, the sorrow of their passing floating through the air like poison gas.
The girl looked around, trying to find any sign of life, every plant and every living being had been killed. It seemed she might have been getting closer to the source of all this destruction, the toll and damage slowly increasing. She hurried to get through the city, the maze of the streets being blocked every which way. As she comes up to one building she can hear something inside, it sounds like scratching, her hopes fly up as she hears it, hurrying inside, "hello!? Anyone there!?" She calls, but there is no reply, except the soft scratching, coming from one of the upper rooms. She hurries upwards, up the stairs, and through every door, trying to find it, behind one of the doors however, she finds something that she would never have expected.
The girl slowly opened the door, peeping inside, behind the door she could see a small child, laying there, scratching at the floor, the child was mostly muscle and bone, laying in a pool of blood. His nails had come off after all the scratching, the child suddenly turns back, and starts crawling for the girl. She backs away, down the hall another child is crawling for her, and another in the other direction, she was surrounded, with nowhere to go. She looks around in desperation, looking for some kind of weapon, but there is nothing nearby, she tries to think, fear consuming every inch of her body.
She looks around, frantic, thinking back, remembering what she did to that thing back at the house, "m-maybe that will help," the girl says, extending her arm to the creature by the stairs, trying to focus, and muster her power. However despite how hard she tries she can't seem to do it, trying and trying but nothing happens. One of the creatures grabs her leg, she screams and stomps on it a couple of times. After a few powerful stomps another creature grabs her, yanking her to the floor, she screams as it climbs on top of her, ripping at the hole that was in her chest, just as she is torn apart everything suddenly flashes, and she is back outside the building. Quickly examining her chest she can see a large scar spanning her whole body, she tries to calm her breathing, getting light headed, she can hear the scratching, one of the creatures scratching at a window, slowly the scratching can be heard through the whole town.
The girl runs, looking around, the creatures are slowly crawling out of the doors and through windows, some slatting right in front of her, trying to get to her from the roof, she jumps back, looking at one that now covers the road right in front of her. Covering her head she continues, afraid for her life, after a while she can see the way out, an alleyway that leads away from the city, she cheers and runs for it, but halfway through she can see a woman standing, blocking her way. The woman seems to have long blond hair, tied off at the end with a red ribbon, down one side she looks completely normal, but down the other she is a mess or sharp spikes and a giant clawed hand, the leg about similar.
"U-uhh, m-ma'am?" Says the girl, hoping she isn't one of the creatures, but being pretty sure she is.
"Mah name... Is Applejack," The woman turns as she speaks, her face is completely empty, her eyes missing and her mouth torn off, she charges at the girl, grabbing her by the throat and throwing her into the wall, "an you missy, are in SERIOUS trouble!" The girls squirms away from the wall, her back in too much pain to move, Applejack jumps on her, punching her harshly with her not so demonic fist, grabbing her with her clawed hand and throwing her down the alleyway.
The girl struggles to get up, grabbing a nearby shovel, "I-I won't back down," She readies the shovel, using it to block Applejacks next attack, swinging it at her head, as she does the woman grabs it, spinning her around and into another wall, the girl tries quickly delivering an uppercut with the shovel, but the woman jumps to the side, grabbing the girl and slamming her into an adjacent wall. Blood can be seen dripping out of her many new wounds, Applejack completely untouched, she drops the shovel, picking up a sharp pole, swinging it as fast as she can, hitting the woman on multiple sides before she can block, she performs a powerful spin attack, sending the woman flying into a building at the end of the alleyway. A shard of glass cuts right through the woman's leg, leaving behind a large hole as she runs for the girl, limping a bit, the girl picks up a trashcan lid using it to block Applejacks punches as she quickly attacks with the pole, hitting her on the head as many times as she can.
Applejack is thrown back a bit, on her next charge she rams her claw into the girls arm, using it to throw her high, she jumps and starts kicking her in mid-air, sending her hurtling towards the ground. The girl lands witha loud thud, making a large crack in the ground, she struggles to get up once more, "ya think yall can just, waltz up here, and start killin' our people!?" She runs over to her and punches her square in the chest, sending her hurtling down the alleyway and out of the city, she lands in a small river, too shallow for her to go down. Applejack runs over to her again, holding her head under the water. The girl tries to hold her breath, kicking and struggling with all her might, not having any idea why this woman has so much against her. Everything starts to go black, her body beginning to hurt from the lack of air, she looks up at the woman above her, seeing a tear roll from her eye and land in the water, as it does the top of the water turns completely white. Applejack suddenly lets go, looking in shock at the water, it slowly starts to form whirlpools. The girl gets up and hurries out of the now glowing water, looking into it she can see what appears to be ghostly figures in the water. The lake slowly builds up, the water rising in level, the girl grabs Applejack, the woman making a shocked sound as she gets shoved into the water, being sucked into the glowing pool. The girl walks away slowly, over the bridge, as she did she looked into the pool, at the now lifeless carcass of Applejack, being torn to shreds by the water, as she did, she smiled.
__________________________________________________________________________________
"Set the world to ash... And let it burn... For even the greatest of goods, hide the darkest of evils..."
__________________________________________________________________________________