The Elements of Darkness: Element #1 Suffering

Consequences

We have to find Colgate before he does!

“We can’t just leave his leg here. What if he can reattach it?”

Any ideas on how to get rid of it?

“Poison.”

Eat it

Eat it? You can’t be serious.

How else can we be sure he can’t reuse it?

It’s the best idea so far.

Putting the leg in my mouth I was greeted by the taste of cherries and something else

Tobacco?

“That bastard”

What?

“A cherry flavored cigar.”

I don’t get it

“Do you remember the crash that killed your first girlfriend?”
Crash?

It was the day you told her that you loved her.

I don’t think I want to remember

She found your cherry cigar in the glove box. You told her that you quit and she just laughed and started smoking it.

Shut up! I don’t want to remember!

You have to! She took a few drags then handed it to you. You couldn’t keep your mind off of her.

I tipped my head back and swallowed the leg whole
There I ate it! You can stop now!

You didn’t see the semi drifting across the median. She died instantly while you came out of it with only minor scratches.

Minor scratches! I was in the hospital for two weeks!

You were in the hospital because your heart kept on stopping. YOU couldn’t live without her. Then something snapped in your head. I was made. You couldn’t have lived if you didn’t separate yourself from your emotions.

A single tear travels down the side of my face

It’s been three years. Elisa wouldn’t have wanted me to die because of her.

“That’s right”

Come on guys lets waste this bastard.

Running straight for Colgate’s house proved to be an almost fatal mistake

“Aww, the whelp has finally come to ruin my fun.” said the vampire from his perch on Colgate’s roof

“Oh so you can tell the truth after all.”

“You laugh at me now but just look at me”, the vampire did a little twirl showing off his freshly regenerated body, “I’m the picture of health. There is no way for you to win.”

“What have you done?”

“Not much. I couldn’t let my last bit livestock die so easy. You understand don’t you?”

Rage filling my mind I turned to bite my flank above my cutie mark, which had changed to three diamond shaped oozing sores, after I got a good grip I ripped as much skin as I could off.

Pride! Lust! Use as much blood as you want to keep him busy while I save Colgate!

“You’re the boss”

I felt a great deal of blood being pulled out of my wound but I didn’t care. I had a mare to save.

She is my last shot at happiness and I won’t let her go so easily!

Aww

Running through the house proved fruitless

Damn him! Where is she?

A scream pierces the night.

“COLGATE!”

“MR. SHIELD BUTT!”

Mr. Shield butt?

I raced to the door and tried to turn the handle, but it was locked.

The window

Jumping through the window took less force than I expected and I ended up landing on my face

“WHERE ARE YOU?”

“UP HERE!” shouted a voice from a grove of trees in the neighbor’s yard

Running over I saw Colgate tied up to the branches of a tree bleeding from countless bite wounds

“My face hurts.” she said softly her head falling to her chest

That liar! There is no way she could survive that!

I closed my eyes and focused my magic at her to be sure of my assessment. I could feel not just her blood but her essence seeping out of her body in a steady rhythm.

Thump….Thump…Thump……….....Thump

I have to do something!

Lifting her blood from the ground I felt pain start to stab at my mind

I have to concentrate and get this right; this’ll only work once

I forced her blood through the tree gathering as much sap as I could. Then I wrapped soul in the sap infused blood.

The pain increases and my ears are filled by Colgate’s screams

Just a little more

I used the blood to apply pressure to the sap and take out the moisture forming it into a heart shaped piece of amber interspersed with blood and able to hold the whole of Colgate’s being.
One of my back legs is torn apart by what feels like a thousand tiny blades

I can’t lose my concentration now! I’m so close!

I pressed the amber into my chest until it broke through my ribs and settled next to my heart.

Done

My other back leg twists into an impossible position until it finally tears itself off. I don’t care as long as Colgate is safe. The skin of my belly falls away and rots before my eyes.

Pride! Lust! How are you guys doing?

“Just fine until the blood dried out”

What have you done?! Your body is a mess!

Probably the only decent thing I’ve ever done.

We are too tired to fight Him any longer! We’re doomed!

No we’re not

“You just couldn’t stay away could you?”

“No.” I said softly I’ve lost too much blood there is no way I can keep this up.

“I thought it would be fun to kill you myself, but watching you die for the one you loved will be just as entertaining.” The vampire said confidently as he limped into view half his face torn off and a black liquid covering his left leg

You guys sure did a number on him

“Damn straight”

“Yes clouds of whirling blood can be quite dangerous when it is traveling too fast for me to absorb.”

“You can read my mind now?”

“YOU STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND! I AM YOU!”

“You’re right.”

“Excuse me? Say that again?”

“You are right. You are me.”

“Oh sweet victory!”

“But you know what that means.” I said as I lifted the last of Colgate’s blood with my magic

“What are you planning to do with that?”

“You’ll see.”

I sent the blood forward with all the speed I could muster. It pierced his skin but was stopped by the underlying layer of muscle.

“Ha! Pathetic!”

“Now die.” I used Colgate’s blood as a reference and took control of the dark fluid moving through his veins. My mind started to fog over. No! He has no power over me! I sent his black blood flying in all directions tearing his body to shreds.

“Love conquers all” Lust said pulling me back into my mind

Someone has to keep Colgate in the amber!

Don’t worry Pride’s got it

One more thing to do

I pulled Wrath out of my subconscious still nailed to the board and quite rotted from his ordeal

You are released

Wrath smiled and faded into nothingness

How did you know he wouldn’t try to kill you?

I didn’t

“Something’s happening boss”

I returned to the pain and suffocation of my body to find it floating out in empty space

What the hell?

A yellow dragon and a dark alicorn were speeding toward me

You have to stay awake!

A dark force wraps around me as I drift off into nothingness.