Author's Note
Well I finally decided to write something on this site. I've never written anything I wasn't forced to write before, and I certainty have never published anything. This had no editor but lil' old me so be EXTRA critical.
Prologue
The old creature, older then he’d care to admit, spoke softly. Though not soft enough, it seems to escape the coughing fit that inevitably came every time he spoke aloud.
“Oh, it’s about that time, then?”
After a few tiny lungs, literal lungs, escaped his lips he started chuckling to himself.
“Ah Discord, dying, but still using your precious magic to do a visual gag that no one’s there to see.” He began coughing again. “Maybe if I’d followed the Trees advice all those years ago I would’ve had a better plan for this.”
Discord mustered his strength to pull himself from the final chair in his home. All the other furniture had vanished, or simply became fragments of the object that they were supposed to be. The couch, for example, was just a cushion, and a few legs floating around the spot that the real couch had been. The bed upstairs had actually turned into just the word bed, the blocky text hovering a few feet from the floor. The paint and the carpeting had also vanished, leaving the home looking like a grey, empty shell of a house. With nothing but the simple wooden chair, and a few odds and ends floating about it. He started toward the window with a slow gait. He would have summoned a walking cane if he’d had the energy for it, but as he stood now, he had to focus his mind on the wooden chair in the room just to keep it from falling into pieces like everything else in the house. Once he got to his window he leaned on the wall for support. With a snap of his claws, that single chair slowly, so slowly it barely made a sound on the floor, came to his side at the window. He ceremoniously plopped himself into it. He stared into the black void of his scrying window.
“I shouldn’t waste my energy on this…” Discord chided himself before placing his lion paw on the window. The window glowed blue with magic as the picture of a small cottage appeared before him. Outside the home a small yellow Pegasus was tending to beaver who had a splinter in his tail.
“There she is…” Discord’s face grew a small smile. “Of all the lifetimes to find a friend Discord, you chose this one.” He chuckled again. A slightly tinny voice came through the window.
“There you are Mr. Beavington, all better. Now you remember what I told you about looking before patting down your logs.” She gave him a playful smile. Then the beaver hugged her muzzle, and ran off. She giggled at the animal’s antics, then went off to do some of her other chores. The scry failed to follow her, because it simply didn’t have the energy too.
“Lucky little rat.” Discord said with a hint of malice and a scoff. “Well, best if I get to work” He pressed his Paw onto the glass again, causing it to glow blue once more. This time, there was a lake in view. It looked to be somewhere in the deeper parts of the Everfree.
“There’s a big chance this won’t even work, but it the only choice I have.” Discord begin pouring the Chaos magic he had stored for this moment days ago into a spell. He knew that a Schism was bound to open somewhere near to the lake, all he had to do was make it open somewhere he wanted it to. Normally he would have picked an exact spot for it to open, or better yet open his own portal, but not this time. He simply didn’t have the strength for that. All Discord could do was pick the reality, and the world, that it happened to opened on.
“I have no idea where this Schism will open on that world, but at least I know there’s Humans on it.” Humans are the most common creatures really, it took almost nothing to create them. To get Lizard men you needed heat, but not too much heat. For Serpents, large oceans with just the right fish. But Humans? All they need is an atmosphere with some basic gases, and a few common plants and animals. They are, in a literal sense, the most basic intelligent creatures in all the multi-verse.
Discord scoffed again. “I suppose I will have to have faith, then. Faith that by some random streak of blind luck, the entire world can be saved.” He started chuckling once more, then it became a low laugh, then a bellowing laugh so loud you could hear it though the empty walls. So loud, it echoed though the crumbling world outside.
They were laughing their fucking ass’s off.
“Yeah, real funny assholes!” I yelled at the two intruders laughing at me from my new position on the floor.
“WAKEY WAKY EGGS AND BAKEY!” Markus blew his airhorn, before laughing again. The kid next to him was laughing too, and in-between breaths managed to cough something out as I got to my Feet.
“Di-did you see his Fuckin’ Face!?” Jakub took a second to laugh before continuing “He’s all ‘OH SHIT!’, then his ass falls right out a bed!”
“Jesus , you guys couldn’t just wake me up?!” I yelled at them.
“Hey, to be fair” Markus started “TQ woke you up a half’n hour ago, but you wanted more beauty sleep. So, me and J took things into are own hands.” He finished with a turn to Jakub who added his own comments on.
“That’s right. Now you remember what the taught us back in the engineering academy, you see problem, you face it head on.” Jakub turned his head back to Markus who responded in kind.
“Yes, I do concur with this notion” Markus spoke with a haughty Englishman’s accent “and with that information in mind” He blew the airhorn once again right in my face.
“Ah, Christ!” I yelled as I turned and Covered my ears.
“WAKE UP AND GET READY! Were gonna’ be late for the flight!” Markus yelled at me.
“Fine” I sighed “what time is it anyway?” I said to them as I unzipped my bag for some clothes to wear.
“Its… Um? J what time is it?” Markus said back.
“Its 5:45, or close to it anyway, flight leaves at 7” Jakub looked at his watch to confirm the information.
“Yo, you boys done waken up sleepin beauty yet?” TQ called out to them from outside the cabin bedroom door.
“Yeppers!” Markus called back with a goofy tone.
“Good” TQ gowned, probably for exertion.” then help me move this!”
“Oh, sowee Masser, I get to work, masser, you see! I be good, masser!” Markus called back to him. Jakub and TQ started laughing, before TQ responded in kind. “Yeah Fuck you too Markus.”
Jakub pushed Markus out of his way before leaving the room, Markus followed him and closed the door behind him. “Those guys, man” I thought to myself as I looked myself over in the mirror. My green eyes matched the color of Jakub’s, unlike Markus’s Blue or TQ’s brown. I picked up the comb and styled my dirty blond hair. I didn’t bother shaving, because my pale face lacked any scruff. I put on the T-shirt I’d grabbed from my suit case along with some black cargo shorts. I went back over to the bag to zip it up when I noticed the photo of me and my friends laying on top the cloths. It was taking at are eighth grade dance. Jakub was kissing his, at the time, new Girlfriend Kara. Markus was behind them, with a goofy face and his index finger suck through a hole he was making with his other hand. I remember how Jakub chewed him out for that. Said he couldn’t even use the picture because of it. In fact, that how I ended up getting it. Next to the two lovers was me, standing there with an awkward smile on my face, just as oblivious to Markus as they were, but not TQ. He was standing behind me just about to start laughing at Markus when the took the picture, gave him a big smile in it.
I closed the suitcase and carried it out of my room. Jakub was helping Kara with her suitcase, while Markus was helping TQ with fitting everthing in the car. I was walking out the front door when Kara called over to me.
“Good morning, Ken!” She said in her usually peppy voice
“Yeah, I mean if you don’t include the multiple airhorns to the face.” I said with a smirk, Then I heard said Airhorn go off, and the smirk died. I turned toward the sound to see Markus in the doorway with a shit eating grin.
“Just tryin' give my pal the best morning he can have.” Markus said from the door way. He walked over to Jakub and offered out his hand. Jakub thanked him and gave him one of the bags he was holding. The two of them walked back out to the car, Kara and I followed behind.
“I can’t believe my Mom let me go on this trip with you guys!” Kara said to me.
“Well you have known us for 5 years Kara” I told her
“Yeah well, it’s more about the distance yeah know? I mean we just graduated. Florida to Hawaii is a long way. You think they would be a little nervous about us being so far away.” She looked over to me with a questioning look.
“Kara, I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a clean record. I mean its not like we’ve ever gotten caught doing anything. As far as are parents know were just some studious honors students going on a safe little trip together.” I gave her a knowing Smirk and raised my eyebrows at her. She giggled in kind
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, what they don’t know won’t hurt them.” Jakub grabbed her waste from behind, and she leaned back to give him a kiss.
“Exactly” Jakub said
“Aww, how sweet” Markus called from inside the car. His voice sounded like an old grandma that smoked her hole life. “Come on Cuties, its time go!”
“yeah fo’ real lets go” TQ said “ ehay, Ken you driven?”
“Yeah let’s head out guys” With that I jumped in the front seat, and started the Car.
The drive wasn’t to long, but it was filled with many games of satirical ‘I spy’ from Markus, and a lot of cuddling and kissing from Jakub and Kara. We all walked to the baggage check and started toward are gate. A few stops here and there for varies reasons but the walk was almost uneventful.
The Ticket man checked are tickets, and told us to wait a second. While we were waiting, a black-haired man with a white shirt and a leather jacket came up behind us. Then the ticket man came back and gave us are seat numbers. The man walked right into the plane behind us, but I didn't see him show his ticket. All our seats were close to the center except for Markus's, which was in the far back, next to quite the hefty fellow. TQ gave Markus a grin and just said ‘shoulda picked your own seat.’ The Man I noticed earlier sat one seat from the front row.
“Man, I can’t wait to get some Hawaiian chicks. You think they seen many Black guys out there?” TQ asked me
“I mean probably. Were not going to Asia.” I said as I looked out the window.
“Yeah but I mean, do think its still like exotic and shit?”
“Man, I don’t know!”
“Well, what do you know?”
“I know Jakub ain’t gotta be asking any of these questions.” As I said that I gestured back to the couple that had already started cuddling up.
“Yeah, well not all of us gotta Fast pass to pussyvile like Jakub does” TQ said as he leaned back in his chair. “You know what I do know though? I know Ima be able to sleep a little with Markus’s nigga ass stuck in the back”
Jakub looked up “I here that, this man is a savior!”
“I know, like, Markus is wild, but sometime’ he just too wild” TQ Closed his eyes as the plane started to take off. ‘I should probably get some sleep too’ I thought to myself. With that I laid back in my seat and started out the window before I slowly fell asleep.
“Yo, Ken!”
I was awoken by the sound of TQ’s Voice, and the shaking of the Airplane.
“Wha-What, What!” I managed to say through to grogginess that was fogging my vison and mind.
“The Captain sayin’ some shit that don’t sound to good man!” TQ looked a little frazzled, and he sounded panicked. The ring of the PA system and its accompanying lights signaled us to a message.
“Ah, At-attention passengers, um, please return- “Heavy turbulence cut him off before he continued “Return to your seats and fasten your seat belts, we seem to be suffering from some minor turbulence-“A middle aged man stood up cut him off again.
“You said that 1o minutes ago!” There were a few nods and some groans of agreement. A woman next to him, presumably his wife, started trying to calm him down, but he put his arm on her and gently pushed her back into her set. He started talking to her, and shaking his head a lot, probably saying something along the lines of ‘I know what I’m doing’ or ‘I’m just trying to help us’, but what ever it was, it wasn’t removing the fear on her face. The Stewardess sternly asked the man to remain seated, but he didn’t seem to keen on complying. I lost interested in the in the commotion, because concern for my friends overpowered it.
“TQ, are Kara and Jakub- “
“Were up.” I heard Jakub respond from behind me, so I looked over the back of the seat. Kara was hugging Jakub’s side and looked pretty shaken up. I could tell Jakub was putting on a brave face for her, but he looked scared too.
“Everybody’s up, Man” TQ looked at me and nodded his head.
“Even Markus?” I responded. TQ looked at me for a second without responding. His lack of an answer was enough. I immediately started unbuckling my seat belt.
“He ain’t a kid, Man, he fine!” TQ tried to stop me from getting out of my seat. I tried to look for Markus in his seat, but the crowd of Scared people was blocking my line of sight. Jakub chimed in.
“Ken, this is fuckin’ stupid man, he’s fine!” Kara was next.
“The captain says to stay seated. Markus isn’t an idiot, he’s going to be fine! Its dangerous to be walking around!” Despite their words, I stepped into the isle anyway. The man who had been shouting before had practically started a riot at this point, men and women alike were standing up and shouting. Claiming they had the right for this, and the need for that. There were so many people up at this point I had to push my way through the crowd to get to Markus’s seat. When I got there, He was fiddling with his seat belt.
“Markus!” He looked up when he heard me call out to him.
“Ken? What the hell are you doing up?” He gave me a look before shaking his head and going back to his seat belt. The clip itself looked slightly bent. No mater which way he tried to get it in, it wouldn’t go into the slot.
“Here, let me help” I put my hand over his and we both forced the clip into place.
“Thanks...” The PA system came on again with the Captain urging passengers to stay seated, and that the problem was being resolved. Of course, this seemed to only legitimize the mob leaders claims that they were not being told essential information. The crowed seemed to get even more out of control. The man with the black-hair, from when we had boarded, was standing with the Stewardess. They were trying to calm people down.
“Jesus, what’s with these people?” I asked Markus, but the Fat man sitting next to him chimed in with his own comment.
“You’re not exactly helping anything by running around the damn place!” I turned to him
“Listen her fat ass- “I would had continued, but Markus cut me off
“He’s right, Ken. You need to get back to your seat.” I gave the guy one last glance before I turned around, but Markus stopped me.
“Hey Ken? Thanks for checkin’ up on me” He gave me a small smile, before he let me go. I started walking back to my seat when the plane shook hard. I stumbled and had to grab a seat near me to stop myself from falling. The lights flickered as I got back into my seat, the fighting almost stopped completely when the lights flickered. The yelling was replaced with nervous murmurs and whispers. TQ spoke up once I was bucked back in to my seat.
“How’s he doin”?
“He’s fine now. His seat belt was fucked. I had to help him get it on.” TQ looked away from me after I said that. The Instigator was still standing, though there were not many now, still trying to broker for some gambling piece he thought he didn’t have. The PA system came on again, and the pilot started talking.
“All passengers NEED to remain seated! We are flying through an abnormal thunderstorm that I can’t seem to evade- “
I was distracted by something in the corner of my eye. I looked out the window trying to make anything out in the darkness. The blinking red light at the end of the wing was the only thing I could see. The light flashed a few times before I noticed a flash of a shadow on the wing. It was tall and strange. The shadow had what seemed like mismatched animal limbs. It raised its claws to the air and looked like it snapped its fingers. With that the shadow disappeared, and in its place a bolt of red lightning struck the wing. The engine burst into flames, and the whole plane shook. The Aircraft jutted to the side, causing people to scream. The middle-aged man was flung to his side, and his head smashed straight into a window. He slid to the floor leaving a small line of blood, and a crack on the window.
The black- haired man caught the Stewardess, and they both rushed through the curtain. The Captains voice still echoed through to PA.
“This is flight number 815, I’m going down! My left turbine is burning and I’m losing control of my Yaw, I think my rudder might be unresponsive- “
Whatever else the Pilot had to say was cut short by someone shutting the PA system off. TQ had braced himself. His face looked more scared then I’d ever seen it look. I heard a large metallic groaning noise, and I looked the window again. There was an almost constant flash of lightning now. Giving the sky a sort of swirling appearance. The Engine was blazing, lighting up the surrounding area of the wing. The metal had been ripped apart when the engine first exploded, and the drag of the wind and the heat of the metal were causing the split to grow even bigger. I watched in horror as the wing started to be ripped from its position on the plane. Soon the GeForces became too much for the warped and melted metal, and the wing broke off the plane. At that instant, the whole craft rapidly shifted to its side, throwing all the luggage down at the windows. A simple old-style suitcase with metal corners fell out of the compartment directly across from the cracked window. One of the metal corners slammed straight through it, causing the window to begin rapidly sucking all the air out of the cabin. Luggage was being flung at more windows, breaking more of them in the prosses. Everyone was screaming in terror as we cam closer to the ground. I heard another groaning, this one so loud I had to cover my ears. I watched as the whole front of the plane was ripped off, sending our half spinning out of control. My body felt like it was floating. My body was tossed against the wall. My head slammed onto the windowsill, and then everything suddenly stopped
I shot awake. There was throbbing pain on the side of my head, and one of my eyes was stinging from the blood that had gotten into it. There were strange, animalistic sounds echoing from the outside. Things that sounded vaguely of birds, and the air was muggy and hot. I looked over to TQ to see that he’s asleep. A large chuck of glass has stuck itself straight through his left forearm, and another has lodged itself in his left leg.
“Fuck me…” I whisper under my breath. I start to shake him awake. A few murmurs escape his mouth before he also shoots awake. It was then that I realized waking him might not have been in my best interests. Upon waking up, he slowly moves his arm to his face, gasping as he stares at the glass that is going through his arm. He starts yelling in pain, mixing in various curses and just plan screaming. His wails of pain began awakening the other survivors of the crash, they too adding to the noise. Their own yelps and screams causing what remained of the cabin to explode into a frightful madhouse.
“TQ! You gotta calm down, Man! Everybody’s flippin’ there shit!” I shouted at him, just so he could here me over the chorus of screams, but the damage had been done. People were getting out of their seats to help those who couldn’t, and to try and calm them down. That woman, the one who had been sitting next to the middle-aged man, was looking around, presumably for him. Jakub and Kara had also woken up and were asking a million questions. For some reason, they assumed I knew more then them. I couldn’t think, there was so much noise, so much screaming. I covered my ears and tried to come up with some way to fix everything, but nothing came. I didn’t have a sudden epiphany like in all the movies, I just sat there useless. And then there was a voice. It was a deep voice, smooth and old. It told me just a single word.
“duck.”
I was still for a second. The voice was not my own, but it hadn’t come for someone else either. I felt as if the voice had some knowledge I did not, and so, I did as it asked. I slowly moved my body below the rows of seats. There was a man standing on top of one of the seats, giving a passionate speech to the rest of the survivors. He was talking about all kinds of happy things, about how we were going to get saved, and that we just had to stick together to survive. He was delegating jobs to people, and there was always a grunt or a ‘yes, sir’ afterword. Then, in the mist of his grand speech, a horrible sound echoed out. It was like if you reverberated and distorted the bass of someone breathing out heavy. The Preacher stopped his sermon. There’s just silence now, and fear. I saw TQ look forward. His face was filled with shock at what he was looking at. I was about to get up to see, when the voice came again.
“Don’t.”
And then the screaming came. A woman Jumped from her seat, and into the walkway in between them. She screamed and ran from the front of the plane, toward were I was sitting. As soon as she was in complete view, what seemed to be a giant, grey frogs tongue rapped around her waist. It pulled her back so quickly, that I’m sure it snapped her neck. There was screaming everywhere. I peeked my head up just enough to see the man who had been giving the speech, get swallowed whole by a horrendous monster. A slim woman, maybe in her late twenties, dashed out of her seat while the creature was feasting. She opened a compartment at the back of the plane, near to were Markus was sitting. She pulled out an Emergency kit, just as the creature seemed to swallow the last of its previous meal. She pulled out an orange Flare gun and loaded it. The voice spoke again.
“The glass. Grab the glass.”
My eyes settled on the fragment still lodged in TQ’s arm. Without a thought I grabbed the shard. TQ winced and wiped his head in my direction.
“What the fuck are you doing, Ken!?” I ripped the glass from its position in his arm, cutting my hand in the prosses. TQ Howled in pain, and clutched his wound. His blood was practically spraying out of it. The creatures tongue shot straight at the women, just as she loaded the Flare. In an instant, I slammed the glass into the creature’s tongue, but its momentum continued, causing the glass to slice a massive hole down the length a good part of its tongue. A black oil Sprayed out at me, and the creatures tongue retracted before hitting the woman. It screeched out an awful noise revealing flaps in its mouth covered in shark-like teeth. The black oil, that seemed to be this creatures blood had already coated its entire mouth, and it was clear that the woman had noticed this as well. She fired the flare into the mouth of the monster, causing its mouth to burst into flames. The creature Jolted back, and accidently slammed the side of the plane with its appendage. The whole cabin swung to the side, landing in a body of water. The area toward the front stated to flood and the rest of the plane started to sink. The woman with the flare gun rushed toward the airlock door and tried to open it. It seemed to be jammed and a few other people helped her force it open. Jakub came over and rapped his shirt around TQ’s Bleeding arm. He seemed a little dizzy and couldn’t stand on his injured leg, so Jakub rapped the inured arm around his shoulder and helped him out of the plane. I tried to take his other side, but when I got close TQ Yelled at me.
“Don’t fuckin’ touch me asshole!” Kara took my place at his side. The three of them hobbled through the door. The cabin shifted again sinking further into the water, making a small puddle under my feet. I was just about to make my exit when I head my name called by Markus.
“Ken! The Fucking bets stuck!” He was trying to rip the belt from its locked position, but it refused to move. I rushed over and gave it a pull of my own, but it was no use it was completely stuck.
“Your gonna’ need to cut it with something!” He told me.
“The glass...” I thought to myself. I ran back over to my seat, which had completely been submerged at this point, to look for the glass. I took my shirt off and rapped it around my hand. I bent down to put my hand into the water, and looked up at the window. The creature slammed its burning mouth into the water to extinguish its self. I turned back to the task at hand and continued to try and feel the glass. The water was at my shoulders now. “Fuck it!” I thought as I submerged myself into the water. My eyes started to burn when I opened them, but the pain faded soon. I grabbed the glass with the shirt in my hand, and surfaced. I had to swim over the back of the plane. Water was starting to pool at Markus’s feet.
“Ken! You a fuckin’ Genus!” Markus held out the belt for me. I started cutting the belt, but the material was thick. The water was now level with the seat, and I had only cut halfway into the seatbelt.
“Oh shit…” Markus muttered under his breath. I kept on cutting through the belt as I looked up at him. His face was horrified as he looked straight ahead of him.
“What?” I asked as a started turning around. He stopped me and looked me dead in the eyes.
“You need to keep cutting.” His voice was a terrified whisper. I went back to my task far faster then I was before. Cutting myself more then I had been, the job was moving much faster. As I was cutting I saw Markus’s foot move over to the emergency kit box. It was an aluminum box filed with various things. He pulled it over as I cut the belt. He tried to pick up the box with is foot, it fell back in the water. I stopped cutting and handed it to him. He nodded, and I went back to work. He locked the box shut and held it by the handle. I was almost through the belt now. The water was over Markus’s lap. I heard a noise behind me, a slithering noise. Markus pushed my head down, almost into the water, and swung the emergency kit. I heard the metallic clang, followed by a distorted screeching. I turned around despite Markus’s protests. A wall of tentacles was stretching into the plane cabin, crawling its way toward us. In the center of the missing front, four yellow eyes were sulking in the darkness.
“Fuck me!” I yelled before swinging the glass at one of the tentacles.
“I got this, just finish cutting the damn belt!” Markus slammed another tentacle causing it to retreat. I placed the glass back into the hole, and with all my strength just ripped what was left in half.
“Let’s go!” shouted as I started toward the door. The tentacles were everywhere, and soon Markus and I were stuck slicing and bashing to just stay free of them. We heard the roar of the original monster outside. The pop of the flare gun flooded suite, presumably causing the monsters seconded roar. The tentacles quickly retreated into the water after the second roar, the yellow eyes disappearing into the water. Markus and I wasted no time rushing out of the broken craft.
The sun was bight on the beach of what I could now tell was a large lake. A jungle like forest surrounded the edges of the lake, and the crowd of survives was huddled near the sinking tail of the wreckage. The young woman was standing out in front of the crowd, reloading her flare gun. The monster was now in full view. It had three legs that resembled grey, shaven moose legs, all connected at the center like a tripod. Its torso had six small arm-like appendages, surrounding its ant eater like snout extending from its center. The creature had no head whatsoever, and was at least the size of a Giraffe. The snout opened into three, burning flaps, as the creature roared again. It pulled the same trick as before sticking its head into the water to extinguish the flames. As it pulled its head from the water, dozens upon dozens of tentacles shot out and grabbed its body. What looked to be a mixture of a small whale and a large octopus jumped from the water, opening its mouth to reveal rows of giant teeth. It chomped down on the Tripod monster, ceasing its struggles. It then pulled its lifeless form completely into the water. The roars and yelps had all stopped, and silence replaced them.
We all sat stunned. No one said anything, we all just stared at the lake, wide eyed. The flare girl fell to her knees, panting in exhaustion. The tail of the plane finally sunk into the lake leaving nothing but a few moments of bubbles before disappearing.
