Fractured Darkness

Fractured Darkness
Chapter 13: Deep In The Recesses

By: Major Frostwing

How long has it been? How long has this crushing darkness gripped my very being? My consciousness? My Soul? Ever since I took the dive into this void I have been moving, searching, scouring. All this time spent hunting for the one who was locked away. I was a very patient man but this was putting it to the test.

"Where are you hiding...?" I muttered as the dull thuds of my boots echoed through the black. I had asked the same question hundreds of times with no answer. I was starting to reach the edge of my sanity but I had been there before and even passed the point. The territory of my sanity was not new to me.

"Well well well. If it isn't Jon." A deep rumbling echoed around me forcing me to halt mid step. "Have you come to see me once again?" The voice asked as I slowly turned around to come face to face with myself. The woman who stood before me had a dim glow of embers surrounding her pitch black form. Her eyes were a burning yellow and orange. She took a step forward and I heard the rattling of chains.

"You are the one who I am looking for? The one who I need to release?" I asked as she nodded her head slowly. "Who the fuck are you?" I asked getting straight to the point.

"Me?" She asked pointing at herself again the chains rattled. "You honestly don't remember me?" She sounded insulted before throwing her hands skyward rolling her eyes. "HOW ON GOD'S FUCKED EARTH DO YOU NOT REMEMBER ME!?" She demanded as I only stared at her. "Staring at my own creator and he doesn't know who I am... Talk about a let down." I held up my hand to stop her as I was confused out of my tits.

"What are you on about? Creator? How the fuck am I your creator?" I asked her as she let out a groan before taking a swing at me only for her chains to glow a blinding white holding her in place.

"REMEMBER ME YOU DAMNED IDIOT! THE DAY THAT BROKE YOU WAS THE DAY I WAS BORN! THE DAY YOUR SON DIED SOMETHING NEW WAS BORN! I AM YOUR NIGHTMARE! YOUR DAMNABLE MAGIC DRAWN TO IT'S PEEK AND GIVEN LIFE! RIGHT UP UNTIL YOU THREW HALF OF ME AWAY!" She yelled as the chains continued to glow pulling her back slowly. I only stared at her in shock before my mind flashed images of that day so long ago when I lost Bright.

"Oh my god... That power. That voice. That was all you?" I asked as the chains finally stopped their glowing.

"Damn right that was me. For someone so damn smart you are pretty fucking stupid sometimes." She said relaxing her position. "I mean it had to be obvious." She said with a casual wave of her hand.

"So what do I call you?" I asked as she placed her hand under her chin making a thoughtful hum.

"I don't rightly know. I mean never really thought to give myself a name." She said before that orange eye locked with mine. "I mean there is only a few nightmares in the world. Like Nightmare Moon or Daybreaker. And we both know Twilight and Cadance have their own that they have yet to encounter." I conceded the point nodding with her. "Do you have any ideas?" She asked as I mimicked her position with my own hand under my chin.

"Well there are several factors that are in play here that could help and I don't want something stupid Like naming you Salt." I pointed out as she chuckled.

"Like you called yourself all that time ago?" She asked as I shot her a playful glare.

"Shut up Flare." I said as we both stopped.

"What was that?" She asked as I tried to think about why I called her Flare.

"I don't know. It just felt right." I said honestly.

"Flare." She said as if sampling the name for herself. "I like it. I think I will keep it." She said as the chains flared a bright white before they shattered falling away into the aether. She looked over her freed arms moving them about slowly.

"Well that was easy." I said before a chain rocketed out of my chest connecting to Flare's own chest. The chain glowed a dark orange like a hot piece of metal. I could imagine the heat flowing off of the chain as we both stared at the new link between us.

"Well what the fuck is this?" She asked as we both in sync moved our hand to the chain only for it to phase through the link.

"I think this links us to one another." I said as I looked away from the chain to see Flare no longer wreathed in darkness. My blood ran cold as I finally saw what she looked like. It was Red Line but at the same time she was so different from her. She had black hair with a patch that seemed to be burning like a dim fire. Her clothes matched mine but where I had purple accents her's were instead a mix of reds, yellows, and oranges. "Dear god... Red." I said as I continued to stare at her sadness gripping my very soul.

"Nightmares take the form of what you hold most dear. And we are the corruption of that very thing." She said before tightening her fists. "Just one thing though." She said giving me a half hearted shrug. "We both know what needs to happen." She said as I let out a sigh clenching my own fists.

"Taking her form was your worst mistake." I said as I flicked my hand summoning Umbra. She mimicked my action summoning her own variant of Umbra. both blades ignited with magic. Mine a menacing purple and hers with deadly flames. I didn't hesitate to charge forward to make my first strike. This was a fight for control. A fight that determined the fate of my life. "HOW DARE YOU TAKE HER FORM FLARE! I'LL KILL YOU!" Our blades clashed in an explosion of power. The fight for dominance had begun.