The Human

A minor complication. That would describe this whole farce I seem to have gotten myself into. The same routine as normal, and it is almost a boost up, with a free escape and easier victims. It's comical if you think about it. I find myself grinning at this notion. What are the odds of alternative universes where they speak my own language? Not very good ones at that, but I seem to have hit the jackpot. Passing a pond I thought I could see another man trailing me, but it must have been my imagination. Words flash inside my head, ones kept down inside a dark part of myself I dare not touch. Scientist. It described me once, yet I push it down inside me again. The bubbling in my throat dies down, along with a feeling of giddiness. I walk silently through the trees, no leaves or grass betraying my approach, regardless of nothing being there to be alerted. I have been walking hours without tiring even the slightest, and the ground has begun to slope upwards. Walking along a linear path cut out before me, I step into a clearing and look up. Possibly the largest castle I have ever seen is on a cliff side, along with a city to accompany it. This should be fun.

Darkness drops it's veil over reality, and my senses start to thrive once again. There is such a large amount of body heat coming from everywhere it is exciting. The castle itself in particular. Gripping firmly the brick wall in front of me, I hoist myself up onto the wall and climb. The distant sound of chatter is starting to get louder, but for now the quiet click of nails against rock is what dominates. I reach and balcony and flip over the railing. Light streams into my vision and I blink several times to readjust my vision. The open glass doorway leads into a large decorative bedroom, more comfort items than a store that stocks them itself. Everything is too fancy. Treading lightly around the glassware, I step to the door inside and lean my ear against it. I do not hear anything, but I can smell horse outside. Two of them, apparently guarding the door. I open the door, slamming it quickly to the side and jabbing my fist in the one not injured. The one on my left moans, while the one on my right looks at me in silent horror as the blood from the claw marks starts to drip down his chest. He sinks to the ground as I yank out my hand, and as I pull the door back I see another pure white guard stallion cradling his snout in his hoof. I grab his neck and twist quickly, ending that nose pain quick nicely. Looking to the left, and looking to the right, once each, I drag them both into the previous room's closet and leave them there.

The hallway leads to a large staircase, which is brightly lit. I squint slightly as I look at the huge room that it leads to. A giant, seething, ugly mass of color is streaming through. The mass is of individuals, horses of many different colors, are covered with frills and mutton leg sleeves, among others. This place seems like an odd version of Victorian England, to compare it to anything. My nose is filled to the brim with the pungent aroma of perfume and warm blood, and the buzz of conversation wells in my ears. This assault of my senses suspends my emotions for a second before I leap back into reality. I move back into the shadows, still surveying the scene. One large white horse seems to be surveying the whole scene, possibly the closest to realistic one I have seen so far, except that she has horns, wings, and perpetual hair. She greets everyone with a sincere voice, but to me she sounds like a snake oil salesman. I instantly despise the smooth wavy female voice. She would make a fine prize to catch, if only I had the chance to get her. The mob will not die down a single bit, and the variety of things streaming in won't cease. Blue, red, white, orange, pink, rainbow, no end to the cheery colors. Not once before had I found myself at such a lack of an idea.

All there is to do is wait.

I'm not good at waiting. Not without a reward, or something to occupy time. I have no thoughts right now, other than to stare at the mass. That is, until I see a change of shade. A black lump moves in the large doorway, then instantly moves to the side, a corner away from the rest. It stands there, not moving, like myself. No other mass of color moves closer, like the mirror opposite of a black hole. I go into a coma like state, not paying attention except for the familiarity of the darkness across the room. At one point something multicolored came over to it and absconded with my happiness, but then moved away after a while. The longer it stays there, the more, slowly but surely, the group weans, yet too slowly to let me move in less than 2 hours. The black lump starts moving again, across the large room closer to the large white horse near where I crouch. It reaches it's target, and comes into focus more. This confrontation of ying and yang seem inversely similar, in opposites. The black horse tries to speak to the white one, and it listens for a small amount, but then the white one seems to shoo it away. It lingers for a moment, then flies into the air and heads straight at me. I snap back into focus and action, jumping into the hallway, and moving away. The horse is flying around the corner, being chased by some yelling figures behind him. I manage to remain out of view of all of them, but they are in hot pursuit. Through a maze of upper corridors and a few stairwells I end up at a dead end, a large glass window. There are still pounding hooves near me, but they seem scattered now. I wait there for a second, looking out into the dark sky. Suddenly, a yell rises up and the black horse flies past the window, being pursued by other guards. The rest still indoors start running towards the closest window to the action outdoors. The one right in front of me. I look back and forth, considering what to do as the pounding moves closer. The twitch in my mouth becomes a grin. I've always wanted to skydive.

I kick open the window, which is connected to a short deck. I climb up onto the rail of the deck, turn myself to face the horses right about to enter the room, and step off. I can faintly hear something call out "What the hell was that?", before I disappear out of view. The enhanced muscular and bone strength of my legs should cushion my fall of this height. At least in theory. That is, until, I get the receiving end of a bag of muscle. I can feel the breath knocked out of me as I plummet, along with whatever flew straight at me. I land painfully on a slope, and roll down it as the rocks rip at my back. When the spinning finally stops I slowly roll over and grip at the dirt, pushing myself up, and blinking. A small amount of blood is on the ground where I lay, and my back feels slick. A few meters away lays what I ran into, a white armored horse guard like the two I killed before, and obviously with a few bones broken. He manages to open one eye and stare at me, then it widens and he shudders to get up. He starts to wince as he crawls up and tries to move away from me as fast as he can. I move determinedly and start catching up to him as the pebbles below gnaw at my hands. He starts flapping his surprisingly undamaged wings, and he starts to leave the ground. Taking my last chance of him not slinking back to raise a larger alarm, I pounce on his back and send him sinking like a rock to the ground. My hand grips the back of his skull, and I pound his face once into the ground. He starts coughing up dirt, and I pull him over to a rock. Bashing his head a second time, his body stiffens then relaxes as the blood starts to roll down to co-mingle with the ground. Standing up, I dust my hands and chest of any blood, his or my own, and look up. The sun is coming up now, we must have been under for an hour. To the trees, I must disappear. I don't want them finding me any sooner than is necessary.

And that may be sooner than I think.