An Ant on a Battlefield

A Ruin. An orb. A flash. A new world.

“Dammit, what the hell was that!?” Said I, examining my rather grim and dark surroundings.

It was a dark alleyway, but the city I was in was loud, and smelled of filth, and other wretched things. The stone I sat upon is jet black, and feels somewhat warm to the touch as if there was fire underneath the stone, slowly roasting it. I wear short brown hair, and a small goatee, as well as side burns that form a neck beard. It was loud in this place, the buzzing of wings, and the chatter of high pitched creatures, that I could only assume were there could be heard. The moon was there, but only hardly. Black clouds covered most of it, and the light that was able to shine down was blocked by tall buildings, and these strange black creatures, that flew about, carried by bug like wings. They seemed to have very large eyes, and small holes in their bodies. They smelled like sulfur, but that may have just been the urban environment.

I wore a pair of ripped blue jeans, as well a torn black Tshirt. I only wore sandals on my large callused feet. I have pale blue eyes, and white skin covered in blonde hair on the arms, and dark hair on the legs. I stand quite tall at about six feet and two inches, and weigh about two hundred and forty pounds. The only objects I had were the clothes on my back, and a small switchblade I had been carrying when I was on that damn island.

I stood up and brushed some rubble off of myself, and began to slowly creep out of that filthy alley, and what I saw was deplorable. There were the black creatures that had been flying around, emitting that nauseating smell, but then there were these other animals, creatures, beasts, I don’t know, but they looked like horses, just with larger eyes, and they were smaller, much smaller. They were being lined up, one by one, they had many bruises and lacerations, and they looked as if they had not eaten in or slept in days. There were at least one hundred of them lined up just then, and they were lined up in front of a scaffold as swarms of those black creatures cheered for their demise at the weighted blade sitting atop the scaffold. It was a guillotine!

The first little horse walked up to the scaffold as the black bugs cheered more, they throw rotten meat and fruit at the creature as it cries and limps from what looks like a broken, or at least fractured leg. It was tied to a board and put under the blade, and then the wretched, blood stained blade cut through its head, spraying a foul smelling crimson blood. The crowds cheered more as more little horses crawl to the scaffold, and suffer the same fate.

“What the hell is this?” I think to myself, perplexed by the situation, but a combination of terror and curiosity of what these creatures were, and why those black creatures were killing those little horses kept my hiding behind a small building it what looked like town square..

“Alright, well I can’t stay here.” I say trying to creep away from the scene.

The darkness made it very difficult to maneuver the alleyways, and it was not long before one of those black creatures had found me sneaking around through those back streets. It stared at me with large unblinking eyes, and it carried that same sulfurous smell that they had, but it was much lighter since there was only one of them. It salivated slightly before walking very closely to me, and sniffing me. It backed off, as if revolted by my smell, and flew off. I began to sprint through the back roads, in true fear and desperation, I even crossed a few main roads, which were empty due to the event happening near the center of this terrible city.

I was soon stopped by five more of these black creatures, and they did not look curious as much as furious with my being in their city. They slowly walked towards me, I began to run away, but I found two more blocking my passage to where I came from. Out of desperation I took out my switch blade, and began to point it at them, making myself seem only slightly larger than I already was. These creatures were only a little shorter than half my height, but still seemed unphased by my stature. Step by step they advance on me, I try to rush past them, but one of them quickly throws itself into my chest, and brings me toppling to the ground. They started to bind me in this strange material. It looked somewhat like rope, but it was black, and much harder than any rope from Earth. After I was effectively bound, they began to drag me through the streets, even with three of them doing the actual dragging, they still seemed to have trouble lifting the comparative giant that was me.

I was silent, partially because of paralyzing fear, and partially because I had no idea if these creatures spoke english, and I did not wish to infuriate them more so than I already had. They seemed to be dragging me closer and closer to a very large spire on the north end of the city, and thank the lord that this was far from the guillotine, but at the time I thought it was more a curse than a blessing. The spire was made from black stone, and the sulfurous smell seemed to escalate more and more at this point, causing me to vomit from my already nauseated state. It seemed to have many of these black creatures standing guard outside it, but they blended in so well with the architecture it was hard to tell. It stood about one thousand feet tall, and at the top seemed to have a green orb, but my vision was blurry, and this was the only time I had ever gotten even a decent look at it.

The inside was far from luxurious as those things dragged me into the spire. The inside was stained in blood, and the smell was the same. Aside from the normal rooms within the spire, which consist of quarters, kitchens, and other such things, there were also two stair cases one filthy the lead down, and one very clean that led up. They dragged me down though, and as I descended deeper and deeper, I saw more and more things that no man should bear witness to. Mutilated bodies of those horses, and some were being tortured at random tables. Lucky ones were just imprisoned in tiny cells, well tiny for me, of normal size for them. As I went deeper and deeper, the dungeon sprawled out more and more. The smell of sulfur did begin to disappear as the smell of iron took over.

It took about thirty minutes to reach the bottom of the dungeon, and I was shoved in a tiny cell. It was covered in stained blood, and the smell of urine was strong within it. I was untied, and locked in, and almost out of instinct I sat against the wall, and began to calculate what had happened.

“This is not good.” Said I, leaning against the wall, looking around the dark area. I could hardly see through the thick darkness. There were no windows at this point, which only made it more difficult to see. One tiny torch lay at the end of the hall, but with me being at the front, it did not help much. I guess they did not want me to be able to see. I guess they wanted to be very cautious with me considering I seem to be the only human in the city.

I couldn't tell the time, hours could have passed, days, weeks, it was impossible to tell. I could only tell by the meals they brought me, which was a mix of wretched mush, and dirty water. I did not become sickly though, just a natural aversion to disease I would guess.

One day one of those creatures that had imprisoned me, came to my cell, and bound my arms, and began to lead me out of the dungeon. It was brighter this time once we reached the point where windows were used, and I saw one scene that will haunt me for as long as I breath.

A little horse was tied up, and gagged on a splintered wooden board. The small pricks of wood cut into her flesh, but that was not the worst part. I saw a small stake driven into each hoof, causing bone to shatter, and blood to pour out in extravagant amounts. The wound was welded shut before she could bleed out entirely. The black being that had done this to this mare, also began to cut little slices into her chest and pour salt into the wounds, and also force feed blood down the mare’s throat. This act of violence was too much for me, as I began to tear up a tiny bit at the sight, and felt pity for the poor mare that was subject to such tortures as I had only been imprisoned for god knows how long. I let no creature see me cry for her though, I thought that showing weakness here would be the worst thing to do.

I had made it to the top with that creature, and the smell of sulfur had taken over the smell of blood once more, and it made me falter and flinch. The creature bucked me in the chest though, and forced me to keep moving as I began to ascend the spire. The more I climbed, the more I began to think of my predicament. I was in another world, whether it was in the universe I reside in or not, is still unknown. I had no connections here, I had no family, no friends, I was completely screwed if I did not make myself useful to these creatures. I had to play nice with these horrid and wretched beings. There was no other choice.

We had made it to a large room at the top of the spire. It smelled strongly of incense, and perfume. It was a welcomed change from the smell of sulfur that had been so prominent in the air up to this point. There was a crimson red carpet that lead to a throne carved in gold and jewels, but the velvet cloth that sat upon the gold was lined in black, so there was a massive contrast between colors making it stick out. The walls had torches as well as candles sticking out as well as windows to let in light revealing a creature, that looked similar to the other creatures, but much larger, and obviously female.

She seemed to stand at about six feet tall, much larger than the other creatures, but I still stood a small bit taller than her. She was black with holes all around her, they were clean, and there was no blood of any kind. She had a much larger, and more jagged horn sprouting out of her head, and much larger wings. She had one short fang that came out of the left side of her mouth.

One of the small black creatures forced me to my knees, and made me bow to this larger being. The larger one stared at me, looking curious to what I was, and then it spoke in a somewhat regal tone said, “I am Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, and I must ask what are you? I must say in my many years, I have never seen a creature such as you in my many years of life in this place, and when I heard you had been put in my dungeon, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to summon you.”

I stayed silent for a moment before answering, “My name is Connor,” I said panting, and still in a bowing manner before her majesty Chrysalis, “and I’m a human.”

“A human?” Asked Chrysalis, stroking her chin with her hoof. “Well, then I have one more question before I decide your fate.” She said standing up, and slowly walking to me. She was then standing over me before she asked, “Be you enemies to the Equines and allies to the Changelings, or vice versa?”

“What the hell is an Equine!?” I ask with my voice becoming more escalated escalated.

“So a neutral, that is probably to be expected from a being from another world, but will you align yourself with the Changeling army?” She asked looked at me somewhat maliciously examining my large body, now much more trimmed from at least a week of not eating well.

“Yes.” I say shaking, and calming down. “What would you have me do, my queen.” I continue. The words my queen stung my tongue as I said them, the travesties she has committed would not go unpunished, but that is not what I was thinking about, I was thinking about leaving this place.

“Prove yourself, but not now, an opportunity will eventually arise for you to prove your loyalty to me and this country. For now, I will allow you to sleep in the grunts’ barracks.” She said sitting back down upon her throne.

I was led back into the barracks which was crowded with Changelings, and for the first time in at least a week I was fed a decent meal. They kept me bound though, they still do not trust me. I was forced to eat without my hands, but I didn’t care, it was bliss to eat something other than that tasteless mush. I soon slept upon one of the beds, and it was bliss, the only problem was thinking about what that wretched queen would have me do, and when she would have made do it.