Not Another Good Guy

I double checked the maps again, then threw them into the truck's back seat in frustration. Where the hell is he?

The fields of Kansas are extremely flat. Because of this, you would assume that it would be very easy to find a specific point on a specific piece of land. You would be wrong. Each piece of land looks exactly like the past eighty pieces of land you drove past, and asking for directions doesn't help at all. I found that out when I asked an old man for help at one of the information kiosks at a rest stop.

"Excuse me," I asked, "do you know where I can find a man named Alvar? He runs the company that just started drilling near here."

His face brightened considerably. "'Course Ah do!" he shouted with an outrageous accent. "Ol' Al and Ah go way back. Why, just the other day Ah was tellin Lilly about the time..."

I nodded and smiled while silently fuming. I should have just grabbed a local map. Ten minutes later, he got around to giving me equally unhelpful directions.

"Take a left at the barn that Jim built with the boys, then a right at the place where the mayor crashed his car last year. Straight past the stump Timmy set on fire on his sixth birthday ya'll find a big fence that Jacob built for Billy last year. Take a left there and go straight until the Jackson's farm is in sight, then take a right. Alvar's work site is on the left. Can't miss it."

"Thanks," I said, taking a map and a small pamphlet on local natural gas sources. Alvar was always near his work. His natural gas and oil company was his pride and joy, and it was also my ticket to finding him. The info it had on drilling locations, combined with the local map, gave me enough knowledge for me to think I could find him on my own.

Oh how wrong I was.

I just began to lose all hope when I saw a truck pass me on the road with "Alvar Natural Gas" emblazoned on the side. With a sigh of relief, I followed it the rest of the way to a small trailer home. Alvar himself stepped out of the truck and stood waiting for me in front of the trailer. I parked a good distance away before grabbing my backpack and stepping out.

"I know why you have come," he shouted.

"I expected nothing less, Truth," I shouted back.

"You aren't worthy of addressing me by my title, traitor!" he yelled as he walked towards me with brisk steps. "You corrupted the Light and you think you can just show up here to kill me? I've known you would try this ever since you took to the shadows. The others already know about you, too! You won't succeed, monster!"

"I knew you would be the first to see the truth, no pun intended," I chuckled to myself. "You really should have sent an email instead of a letter. Letters can be stolen from the post office and burnt, but emails aren't so easily destroyed. As far as the others know, I'm the same as I've always been."

His face contorted into a sneer as we got closer. "It doesn't matter. I won't let you do this to the Light. You leave me no choice."

At about thirty feet away from each other, we both stopped from some unspoken cue. No more words were needed for what we had to do next. The only thing left was to act.

Alvar acted first. He pulled out a small handgun cleverly hidden in his jacket, proving that he had been prepared for this conflict for some time. He aimed and pulled the trigger with speed and accuracy that would have made gun enthusiasts shed tears of joy. Alvar was truly a master of his weapon. However, so was I.

Before he had ever acted, I had begun building up power within myself. The power of hate starts out slow and subtle, very small and direct. It is difficult to force hate into existence, but I had practice. I brought to the forefront of my mind the hate I felt for Alvar specifically. It was a mild hate, but it was enough.

Just as he pulled the trigger, I stepped into motion. I did not have much power yet, but I nudged the safety mechanism to lock the trigger just in time.

Alvar stood there awkwardly for a few moments, repeatedly pressing the trigger with no effect. I grinned as he dropped the gun. His scowl only deepened. "You think you can control darkness? You have no power. You are only a slave to evil!"

I could feel more hate filling my veins. "I beg to differ." I thrust my arms forward with a burst of dark energy that blasted a small trench into the ground between us and threw him backwards.

The hate was building faster and faster inside me, like an out of control train picking up momentum. I focused on my hate for the Element of Truth. I wanted to crush the bearer. I hated him.hate. I hated Truth. I hated Alvar. I hated!

Alvar picked himself up as my powers took their toll on the air around us. The sky darkened and my vision flooded red. I could see the object of my hate picking himself up. He glowed with a soft light emanating from a ring around his finger, like a puny candle before a hurricane of HATE. In contrast, the sharp darkness emanating from my necklace almost completely snuffed out his light.

Truth drew a switchblade and rushed me in a futile attempt at striking me down. The knife was fitting for his element; it was as sharp and as harsh as Truth could be ever be. Fitting, but pointless.

Hate him kill him I dodged his thrust and summoned a burst of energy to disarm him and snap his wrist. In an extreme lack of forethought, he tried to tackle me to the ground just as I attained the full power of darkness.

I sidestepped and let him fall to the ground before me, where he belonged. Wasting no time, I picked him up by the neck and let him struggle as his lungs failed him and he suffocated in my grip. I put his face to mine and forced him to see me as the last thing he would ever know. The lights finally faded from his eyes and he hung limply in my grasp. I snapped his neck without ceremony. It was clean, quick, and efficient. With that done, I let go of the hate.

The darkness disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. A few dark clouds lingered above, leftovers of energy from the dissipating dark power. I threw Alvar's body into the bed of his truck after taking his ring. His dead eyes still seemed to linger some of his anger, and they stared at me in silent accusation as I took his gun and knife as well. The Element of Truth had been my goal, but I would be a fool to turn down good weapons.

I placed the Element of Truth into a small box I had obtained for holding it. It would not work for me, but I still needed it if I was to keep up my end of the bargain. The gun and switchblade were stowed with the box in the hidden compartment in the backpack. It wouldn't fool the TSA, but it would be safe from prying eyes until I needed it to complete the deal.

With my task completed, I got back in my truck and got out my maps again. Joy and Charity were closest to my current location and they shared an apartment, so taking them out would be much easier. I-

Suddenly, a sound like an old reel in a movie theater breaking down filled my mind and the dream stopped.

"I think you've seen quite enough. Too much, actually."

With a flash of light, I found myself floating in half-conscious space. I could feel the presence of the voice, but he seemed oddly subdued.

"Tell me what that was. I want to know what kind of bargain I struck, why I killed that man, and what the hell the Element of Truth is. Start talking," I said, feeling oddly calm for having just witnessed myself murder someone.

"If only it were that easy," he muttered. There was a deep sadness in his voice that I had not expected. He continued before I could dwell on it for long.

"You weren't supposed to see that memory. Not yet, at least. As you remember, the spell I brought you to Equestria with was a twisted fragment of a spell with heavy modifications. One of the parts of the spell that I changed was the ability for you to keep past memories."

"I already found out that I'm a killer. Why is it such a bad thing that I regain the rest of my memories?"

"That would be one of those things I cannot say."

I could feel my hold on the dream world beginning to slip away as I woke up.

"I think you owe me an explanation after everything you've done!"

He was silent for a moment before bursting forth with rage. "How dare you speak to me with such insolence on matters which you know nothing about! You have no idea what I have gone through to keep you alive and sane! YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

Just as quickly as he fell into rage, he returned to a state of misery. "You know nothing of my pain. You know nothing of my sacrifice. You don't know me."

The last of the dream slipped away. I awoke violently in cold sweat, saved from a fall to the ground by the straps of my backpack. The sun had not yet risen, but I could not bear to fall back into sleep for fear of watching myself murder again. I stayed awake admiring the beautiful night sky, longing for answers that seemed about as reachable as the stars.