The First And Only Chapter
He runs to every cage and writes on his paper.
Only ten cages remain to be checked.
He arrives at the next cage.
The pen and clipboard hit the ground.
If he had a body then blood would boil in his veins right now.
Something inside him breaks and something new is born.
A flame.
A desire.
To kill the mares in the cage.
If looks could do harm then the three mares in the cage in front of him would be turned to ashes.
Clenching his skeleton hand into a fist he shouts.
“WHERE IS HE, YOU STUPID HORSES?!”
*
So the buddhists were right.
There is life after death.
The only problem was…
An ‘X’ was marked across his right hand.
He was among the few that were cursed.
Ones who were supposed to guard…
A prison.
One that he heard even when he was alive.
Some would say it was worse than Hell.
A deep, dark pit that was beneath the underworld. A place where the wicked were condemned to eternal suffering.
A prison that was on a different plane of existence.
A name that brought fear even to the bravest warriors.
Tartarus.
Death.
Death was the one who taught him what he was meant to do.
To never let the creatures that were there to see the light of the day ever again.
He was devastated.
Friendship, happiness,…. love.
Those concepts were a thing of the past.
Alone he was and he would never encounter these things again.
Death saw him and then spoke.
“Do your job right for six millenia and you’ll be free again”
“Fail or refuse… then you shall never be born again”
He accepted the offer with no second thoughts.
Sitting in a chair wasn’t anymore a man that looked forward to life.
Instead of him there was a skeleton that didn’t know what to do anymore.
One who lost the will to live.
And yet he had to continue this.
What choice did he had now?
He was immortal.
Food and water were needs of the past.
He missed the taste of wine. Especially that of bacon.
Maybe he should had refused that offer.
But…
There was no going back now.
Alone he was.
Speaking to the prisoners was his only choice.
Most would spit on his face.
There were few with who he could have a normal discussion.
Perhaps this was the only thing that kept him from going insane.
Hatred. Anger. Disgust.
Those feelings were all he could feel for centuries.
He was disgusted by what these prisoners had done to get here.
Mass enslavement.
Wars.
Genocides.
The destruction of planets.. of whole dimensions.
And yet these creature felt no remorse for the actions they made.
And the ones who did…
They only felt remorse because they didn’t kill much more creatures.
He couldn’t understand how they were maintaining their mental health.
The gates of Tartarus were opened.
'Must be a new prisoner'
Going further in the darkness in front of him was imposible.
Chains were the only thing that stopped him from seing the light of the day again.
He heard something.
There was a box with a note.
'Death'
He opened it and a little dog with three heads jumped at him. Every head licked him.
He couldn’t stop laughing.
His first laugh since Death met him.
His eye sockets were wide.
'This can’t be happening...'
A riot…
Started by a mad goat.
Almost every prisoner was out of his cell.
He managed to close in time the gates of Tartarus.
Many prisoners suffered but no one escaped.
Those who stay in Tartarus as prisoners become immortals during their stay.
The only difference was that they could feel pain.
And there was a dog.
One who never attacked him.
Always helped him.
Who was always loyal to him.
The dog listened to his every command.
It was even named.
A name that was fitting.
Cerberus.
The prisoners couldn’t be changed.
And yet…
He still tried.
Many years were lost…
In which he tried to explain them that what they did wasn’t good.
To change them…
So that they could leave Tartarus.
It never existed a sentence.
There was only one way to escape Tartarus.
You truly change into a better a person by seeing that what you did was wrong.
They never listened.
The prisoners were treated the way he wanted to be treated.
He respected them.
And yet...
He was hated more and more by them.
That hate never got to him though.
Cerberus was there to support him.
For years.
For decades.
For centuries.
He had Cerberus and that was all that mattered to him.
Only two months and he’ll be finally free.
Sad thoughts take root in his mind.
He’ll actually miss his dog.
'I should let him wander outside for some days'
It wasn’t the first time he did that but it’ll be his last.
After closing the gates and coming back he is tackled by some prisoners.
“We got him boys!”
One of them uses magic and he losts his vision.
*
The pink mare faints upon seeing him.
The others get beetwen him and the one that fainted. Both of them frowning.
The white one starts talking.
After she finished he couldn’t take it anymore.
He falls to his knees.
'This is not happening. It can’t be. I thought it was IMPOSIBLE to escape from Tartarus'
'Such a fool I was…'
He clenched his fists.
'I’M GOING TO KILL YOU TIREK !'
Something behind him appears.
A shadow with claws.
The shadow grabs him by his neck.
He is startled and he looks at the shadow.
It was Death.
“Such a shame… I’m surprised you lasted this long. Well… All good things must come to an end”
The pink mare wakes up and upon seeing them faints again.
Death touched his skull with a claw.
Suddenly Death is surrounded by chains. A lot of them.
“What? So it finally happened”
He looked at Death. The latter started laughing. He didn’t know Death was able to laugh.
“I’ve got good and bad news for you”
“The good ones…”
“I’m not going to kill you and I don’t have anymore to look for cursed souls ”
“The bad ones…”
“Tartarus found its first and only warden. Congratulations on your promotion”
“We’ll never see each other again”
Death vanished.
All prisoners heard a scream that echoed through the entire prison that day.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Tirek shouted.
He couldn’t believe he was defeated by ponies. They used the power of friendship.
Just the name was enough to disgust him.
He hears moving chains.
Tirek looks and sees the skeleton.
“Ha ha… You are the worst guardian I had ever seen. You are pathetic.”
The skeleton sends chains towards the centaur. The cage bars are broken and the centaur is brought in front of him.
The skeleton shouts. His voice echoed through Tartarus.
“LISTEN TO ME, YOU ANIMALS”
All prisoners looked at them.
“FROM NOW ON I AM THE WARDEN OF THIS DAMNED PLACE”
“YOU WILL SPEAK ONLY WHEN SPOKEN TO”
They started all laughing.
“YOU ARE GOING TO ADDRESS ME BY SIR ”
They started laughing harder.
“FROM NOW ON YOU ARE ALL EQUALLY WORTHLESS”
“IF ANY OF YOU DOESN’T DO AS I SAID THEN HE WILL GET THE SAME PUNISHMENT THIS MORON WILL RECEIVE”
“What are you going to do? Kill me? HA!” Tirek said.
The warden turned to him and spoke quietly enough so that only Tirek could hear.
“Oh… After I am done with you, you’re going to WISH you could talk to Death”
Tirek started shaking and his eyes were wide.
“Wait. What are you going to do to me?!”
If someone were to enter Tartarus that day, he would think that he entered an asylum.
“Tirek. You have visitors.” The warden said.
“Yes... sir” Tirek said, trembling a little.
Every man’s patience has a limit.
So when you reach that point…
Bad things tend to happen.
He tried for six millenia to help them.
To change them.
He finally sees it now.
No one changes truly. It is imposible.
And now he pays for these foolish ideas he had.
The warden sits in his throne.
If someone were to drop a needle then every prisoner would hear it.
The things that he did to those prisoners…
'I am worse than them…'
'I am the one who should be in a cage right now'
A mare is approaching him.
And yet...
He felt too tired and he wanted to be left alone.
He didn’t care anymore.
The last piece of his soul died along with Cerberus a year ago.
Poisoned by a cloud demon.
It all happened too fast.
He couldn’t believe his eyes when the dog released his last breath.
He thought it was immortal.
But Cerberus wasn’t neither a prisoner nor a guardian.
Only a gift from Death to help him because he was weak at that time.
The mare talks but he doesn’t hear her.
'The fool that killed Cerby only wanted revenge for what I did to him'
'Now he can’t even talk anymore'
Silence was the warden’s only friend.
Untill…
He is shaken out of his thoughts when the mare touches his knee with a hoof.
He looks at her. In front of him is a white mare.
She spoke softly.
“Can we talk for a moment ?“
Author's Note
Just a little idea I got stuck in my head for a while and I decided to write a short story about it.
