The Elements of Darkness: Element #1 Suffering

That same night

One thousand nine hundred and eighty-five

One thousand nine hundred and eighty-six seconds floating unfeelingly in a dark void

One thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven divided by sixty is about thirty three

I’ve been dead for thirty-three minutes and nothing has happened, no judgment, no pain, looks like nobody was telling the truth. Pride has been gone the whole time, maybe I have been judged and my punishment is eternal loneliness?

I pushed my glassesup my nose. Glasses? I wasn’t wearing glasses.

“No you weren’t judged.”

“Who are you?” At least I’m not alone

“Why don’t you open your eyes and find out?”

My eyes?

“Yes your eyes.”

I opened my eyes to a bright light suspended about three feet from my face

“See that’s better.”

My eyes adjusted to the change of scenery, myself lying down on a half bed like psychologists use wearing a three piece suit and still being unable to feel my body even though it was completely intact.

“Where am I?”

“In my home.”

I turned my head to the source of the voice, an elderly black man with the longest white beard I’ve ever seen, and asked a simple question “Who are you?”

“Oh humans, so delightfully free and unpredictable.” The black man said affectionately

I sat up and took a good look at my hands “Can you at least tell me why I am here?”

The black man laughed “Because you are mine and I can’t stand to see you be fought over like that.”

Who is this guy?

“So I’m not dead?”

“You are most definitely dead. “

I pressed my fingers across my eyes “This can’t be real. When I open my eyes I’ll find somepony leaning over me on a hospital bed or something.”

The man laughed again

“Despite everything that happened you truly enjoyed your time with those ponies didn’t you?” the black man said stroking his beard.

I thought about all the pain and death I’d seen, did I really? Then I thought about seeing Colgate for the first time and holding my own against the vampire, he’s right I did.

“I thought bringing you here would end your need for acceptance but you don’t belong here either.”

Need for acceptance? “I don’t even know where I am! How can you be so sure I don’t belong?”
“Look at your hands again son.”

“I don’t see how-“I cut my own sentence short as the sight of my rotting hands assaulted my eyes, the skin had already fallen from the muscle and I could see the tendons snapping away from the bone.

“What’s happening to me?”

“You are being called back to Equestria.”

“Called back? How is that possible?”

“It’s not possible without my permission, however I feel as if this decision is best left to you.”

“What?”

“Stop acting so dull. Do you want to go back or not?”

My fingers were barely holding on by small strips of rapidly tearing skin “What happens to me if I stay?”

“You continue to rot until all that’s left is your mind floating around like a ghost.”

“How is that even a choice?”

“Here there are no worldly needs or pains, and if you go back and die again I cannot guarantee you’ll be able to pass on a second time.”

“Whatever happened to rest in peace?”

*Clink* half of my right ulna hit the ground

“I’d hurry up before whoever is calling gets bored.”

A thought hit me like a ton of bricks

“Earlier you said that I was yours; WHY THE HELL DID YOU LET THEM TAKE ME IN THE FIRST PLACE!”

“Well there was a charming yellow dragon that said he was only borrowing you for a few thousand years and with how many souls there were to sort through I figured I was saving myself some work.”

“Laziness runs in the family I guess.” It might not be so bad here; I might not know anything about this place but if he is going to let me leave I doubt it is some sort of trap. “Do you know what will happen to me if I go back?”

“Well I would no longer have any power over you so you would be at the complete mercy of the first magic user to put their hooks in you.”

Hooks “So like what happened between Dygon and Michael when I left earth?”

“Yes, and from what I’ve read that wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.” The man said closing a book I never saw him pick up

“Well” I scratched my head with my shattered arm

The man leaned closer to me “Well what?”

“I-I“I stammered what the hell am I even thinking about? I couldn’t stand people when I was alive what would I do here?

“I see you’ve made up your mind”

“What the fuck? How long have you been reading my mind?”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that.”

“Whatever can we just get this over with please?”

“I’d love to but it looks like we’ve got some eavesdroppers who might want to say goodbye first.”

“You just keep making less and less sense.”

“You shut up.” He said reaching down and opening a freshly materialized trap door.

“Hello James!” two familiar voices ran out in unison

Of course! No delusion is complete without the two biggest failures in my life: my dead girlfriend and roommate

And sure enough a man and a woman climbed out of the hole.

“It’s me, Elisa! Don’t you remember me? Why won’t you stay?”

I couldn’t stand looking into her dead blue eyes so I turned around and looked down at my skin falling off my ribs

“We looked for you for ages after everyone else showed up! What took you so long?”
I watched my heart beat twenty times

“We had a good run, but I got over you a long time ago.” I said with a tear in my eye “And what is the point in staying somewhere that I can’t even talk to people?”

“Then stay with me. I know I can make whatever you’re feeling go away.” she said calmly touching my shoulder “It’ll be just like old times.”

“Those times are over.”

“Will you at least say goodbye properly?”

“No.”

I heard Elisa leave. Am I really over her? It doesn’t matter does it? I’d rather be in the Void than in a place where the only thing I would be able to do is stare longingly at people living normal lives.

*Silence*

“Are you going to ask me to stay too?” I asked

“I just wanted to say thank you.” my roommate said calmly

“For what? I ended your life.”

“No you saved it.”

“I gave you a knife and walked away. I don’t see how that could possibly have helped you.” I said angrily

“And I held on to that knife until the paramedics got there.”

“I’m also the reason you were out shopping in the first place.”

“Who cares why I was there? I overheard the EMTs talking about how screwed I was and how I wasn’t going to make it to the hospital, but you let me get out on my own terms, you gave me the strength to act amidst the chaos, to change my fate.”

I am definitely imagining this. I must be still in the void and I’m just imagining all this to pass the time. His views of suicide match my own word for word.

“Well your delusion is about to become reality.” The black man said as he stood up in a cloud of dust “I hereby banish you from this realm until your heart knows true peace!”

I braced myself for the worst, but nothing happened

“I knew this was nothing more than an illusion! What will my imagination cook up next? A torture chamber? A harem? A morally questionable squirrel who speaks only in haiku?”

“Oh it isn’t anything that serious I just missed my cue.” The man said as darkness engulfed my vision

Hey that rym-

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The darkness was quickly replaced by a soft green glow coupled with a soft conversation between two faint voices

“Infinite cosmic power and I can’t save one life.”

“It wasn’t your job.”

“As soon as we led him into this world he became one of my subjects and what is the use of a monarchy if they can’t protect their subjects?”

“You shouldn’t put so many shooting stars out at once; somepony will realize something is wrong.” The second voice responded trying to change the subject

“Is this what it felt like when we killed your wife?” the first voice asked unfazed

“I seem to remember the death of my wife as a punishment for some sort of mass murder I committed and not simple negligence.”

“We had to do something! You wiped out two settlements in less than a week!”

“And you killed thousands with your ‘eternal darkness’”

“I was insane! Possessed by my own power! A slave to the whims of the moon! How can you compare that to your glee filled rampages?”

“I was the king of the dragons! I deserved respect! Those ponies did nothing but laugh at me and my riches! They deserved what they got! Just like the pony you put on death row!”

“If I’d let Celestia deal with him he would have gotten nothing more than a slap on the hoof. What I did I did for the betterment of Equestria.”

“No Luna, you did that for revenge.”

“What are you even doing on the roof Dygon? Aren’t you supposed to be back in your cell by now?”

“I’m simply doing a little bug collecting, nothing to worry your pretty little head over.”

“If you are not back in the dungeon I’ll scoop those new eyes of yours into your specimen jars and send them into the sun.”

So it seems I’m back in Equestria and Dygon has me but isn’t telling anyone.

“James?”

Pride?

“MY NAME IS JOHN!”

Yeap, I’m definitely back. Do you know what’s going on?

“Dygon snatched me right before you died. Then he trapped your spirit in a jar and went to the roof to blast it with cosmic energy from a super nova.”

That is oddly specific information, are you sur-

“That’s enough talking both of you.” Dygon said interrupting my thoughts

So Dygon what is the point of dragging me back here if I’m just a spirit in a jar? Didn’t you need me for some sort of ceremony?

“Oh Lust can take your place, I need you to be the first general of my new army.”

I find it hard to believe that you’ve regained the right to have your own army in the time I’ve been gone.

“You’ll see, by this time tomorrow I’ll be wearing the skulls of a hundred ponies as a bathrobe.” A scraping sound assaulted my ears as my vision cleared from a field of green to the inside of Dygon’s cell, except this time instead of bear walls and cobwebs it was covered in circles of blood and discarded royal armor

I like what you’ve done with the place

Dygon turned my jar to face the wall opposite the door. It had a human skeleton nailed to it in the middle of a golden pentagram

That wouldn’t happen to be for me would it?

“Indeed.”, Dygon said as nerves grew around the bones, “and it seems to like you.”

I should have known that I’d end up being a boring human

Dygon laughed “Oh you’ll be a lot more interesting than just human.” A circulatory system began to form on the wall as Dygon picked up my jar and dumped me into the newly formed heart “This might hurt a bit.”

Fuck, I would have screamed if I had any lungs however the only part of me that worked were the nerves sitting out in the open air and the sheer amount of pain coming from them made me feel like I was burning alive. WHY WOULD YOU PUT ME IN NOW? I asked but Dygon was too busy removing premade body parts from some jars to notice.

When I get off this wall I’m going to kill you.

“You most certainly are not.” Dygon said calmly walking over to place eyes in my skull “You are going to be bound to me in the same way I’m bound to Celestia.”

How is that even possible? You said that required a soul.

“You seem to have picked one up in the brief time you were dead, how unfortunate for you” he said laughing heartily at my apparent misfortune. He then leaned in close and started spiting a yellow liquid onto my face. “Do you know what this is?” he asked when he had finished coating my entire head.

No, the pain spread from the hanging nerves to their newly attached organs

“Concentrated yellow dragon flame, the most powerful magical component in all of Equestria, it can only be produced by a dragon of the royal family by their own free will and I’m going to use it to make you my slave.”

Muscle began to form and pull against the nails holding me to the wall

And what if I kill you before you finish the binding?

“Why fight it? What have these ponies ever done for you?”

What have they done? One poisoned me and caused my death. No I chose death to save Colgate.

”Ah yes Colgate! The one pony you have any emotional ties to. Have you ever thought as to why that is? Why was Colgate the only pony in Michael’s fake Equestria who was completely made up? Why is it that she was the last one alive?”

I have no Idea but at least she isn’t trying to take away my freedom!

“Foolish boy! She was put there so you would have the will to live through that hell! Michael wanted us to come and save you, so that means he wanted you two to be together in this world!”

And why is that a bad thing? I never knew Michael and I don’t think you did either.

The pain faded to a dull throb as the only thing missing from my new body was skin and fluids

“I don’t give a shit about him or what his plan was; I only argued with you so that you’d be too distracted to try and stop me from finishing what I’ve started.”

Shit, I pulled against the nails but it was no use; I couldn’t get any leverage against the wall with my arms and legs completely immobilized.

“By the power of my blood as king of the dragons I claim complete dominion over this soul!”
Dygon said biting off his wings and laying them in front of my body. He then pushed his claws into my shoulders and pried me off the wall. The pain was negligible compared to before as many of the nails in the larger bones stayed in while the nails in the smaller bones, like the ribs and hands, tore all the tissue as they remained deep in the wall.

I gotta get out of here. I thought frantically but it was too late Dygon’s wings had wrapped themselves around by body and I was trapped once again.

“You know ever since I found you I thought you were crazy. Let’s hope what’s left of your sanity lasts through the war.” Dygon said with a smile

As if responding to his words the wing’s membranes tore themselves free and slowly formed an armored skill around my exposed flesh.

“Now that you are complete I need your left eye.”

“Fuck off.” I responded my voice hollow and week

[Give me your left eye] the command echoed as I raised my broken hand up to my face. “What the hell are you doing?” I asked unable to stop myself as I pulled my own eye out.

Dygon pulled out his own eye and switched it for the one in my hand. “Oh I’m just keeping an eye on you. Now [put my eye in your socket].”

As soon as his eye touched my head my vision was filled with floating red glyphs. “Whoa! What are those?” I asked temporarily forgetting my situation.

“Those are the spells currently active in this room. Did you not know that dragons can see magic?”

“No.” I reached out to touch one of the glyphs but it evaded my hand easily

“That is only the beginning of your new powers.” Dygon said pointing to a pile of bones “Now eat. I need you at full strength for tomorrow.”

I looked at the bones and shrugged. How am I going to eat those?

[Eat] Dygon’s voice once again assaulted my mind forcing me to start walking toward the pile.

Wait if the command is simply to eat why not eat Dygon?

“So you did retain some cleverness then” Dygon said laughing “[Eat the bones]”

I picked up the first bone tentatively eyeing it for a second before placing it in my mouth. Then I bit down and much to my surprise my teeth cut through the bone without any resistance slamming together painfully. The taste was not unlike that of clay but I couldn’t stop myself from eating the whole thing. I reached for the next one but something was different this time. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. That’s it! I looked down at my hand and quickly discovered that my broken bones had fixed themselves. It’s just like what the vampire did when I beat him the first time.

“To be fair it is a skill that many creatures have.” Dygon said walking up to me “Now [come] I have a present for you.”

Maybe this won’t be so bad. I thought as I followed him to the corner of the room and down a grate into a small holding cell whose only occupant was a well fed sheep. “Is this it?”

“Yes, [get rid of it for me]”

An odd choice of words I looked down at the terrified sheep I guess I could eat it too…

[get rid of it for me]
My hand raced down toward the sheep’s neck and straight through it killing the sheep so fast it didn’t even have time to make a noise. I then placed my mouth over its neck and started to eat its delicious muscle. A strange sensation overcame me not unlike the buzz of magic.

“Yes [leave nothing behind]”

I began eating with a fervor tearing through tendon and bone indiscriminately enjoying every bite as the sensation grew stronger. I didn’t even flinch as I swallowed the hooves whole and the buzz withdrew to my veins as if they had suddenly been filled with raw power. If this is what a sheep feels like then what does a dragon? I jumped at Dygon aiming my teeth at his neck

[Stop]

My body tensed up and I fell to the ground

“You might as well give up trying to attack me; I hear all your thoughts now.”

I wonder how that works and why is it that my body is first to respond if he claims to have dominion over my soul? Shouldn’t my mind be affected as well?

“We don’t have time for all your incessant questions! [Sleep] for you have much to do tomorrow!”

“But-“ I couldn’t finish my sentence as my eyelids closed but I did get a glimpse of something familiar. On Dygon’s left ear there was a glass earing with five simple black letters floating above it

PRIDE

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