The Spirit

I’m deposited a foot in the air, and land on the hard tar beneath me. I can hear a meaty smack as Discord flops on the ground. I look at him pick himself up, “You fell?”

He shrugs, “Not my fault I’m weaker here. No life, no Chaos. In case you forgot, I need that.” He somehow slithers around himself to clean himself off, “Where are we anyway?”

I turn to face further down the street, only to see a sight too familiar, “Home. It’s Egret Drive. Home!”

I immediately start to run down the street. In the direction of a dark beige house. A place surprisingly together. Home.

I can hear panting from my side as Discord runs along with me, “I definitely don’t remember- oh Larson I hate running- don’t remember these houses looking this way!”

I continue at my fast pace down the winding road. The house grows bigger and bigger as I near it. Until, I stand on the driveway. I stare at the edifice I lived my life in five years ago. I look to my side as Discord leans down, panting, “Not very athletic, are you?”

He gathers his breath, “There’s something slowing me down here. It’s in the air, all over the buildings as well. Harmony magic, tastes the same as the kind that traveled out in that big blast about two months back.”

My eyes widen a slight bit, “You’re saying that the magic from me and my friends reuniting the Elements repaired all these buildings?”

He stretches up again, and looks around, “Well, you were one of the Bearers. That magic carried bits of your will, along with its own. You must have thought of Earth, because it seems that it repaired Earth. It left its mark as well, making all of Earth carry Harmony magic. Quite bad for a creature of Chaos, as you can probably guess. My abilities have been cut in half.”

I stare at him a bit more, “You knew this, yet you came?”

He nods, “I can still use some magic. And if it’s comes down to it, I have claws for a reason. Beside, I couldn’t just let you face this all alone. Now, come on, we have things to do.”

I nod, “They’ll need to be buried.”

I walk up the pathway to my door, and open it without issue. I enter, and find the house exactly as it was before the nukes. To my left lies the computer room, with our two computers within it. To my right is the foyer, coffee table covered in dust. I walk forward, and step off the raised platform where the door lies. I move forward, past the wooden staircase to the upper floor that houses my brothers room, along with mine. I walk up to the back door, the t.v room to my left, and the kitchen open to my right. On a couch near the television is an unassuming tablet with a pair of earbuds leading out of it. I pick up the tablet, wiping the dust off of it. I open it up, and see the music app still open, showing an image of a white elephant. I close the app, and turn off the tablet.

I turn to see Discord looking around, “So this is where you lived. It’s a beautiful place, truely.”

I nod, and hand him the tablet, “Store this, with the upmost care.”

He takes it, and snaps it away. He looks around some more, “Where are their bodies?”

I shrug, “Gone, apparently. Might just be because of the Harmony magic.”

He frowns, “Harmony magic shouldn’t be able to do that. Is there anything you want me to do?”

I nod, “Go to the back, through my parents bedroom. Enter the bathroom, go to the furthest closet. There will be a gun there, don’t damage it.”

He nods, “Alright. And where will you go?”

I look up the staircase to my now right, and take the first step, “Up.”

He nods, and takes off to the back.

I walk up the stairs, the same path I used to take every night. I reach the top shortly, and turn to my left. Behind me is the toy room, nothing good there. I walk up the three wooden stairs until I step on the carpeted floor of the upstairs hallway. I decide to check my brothers room first, and walk to the end of the hall.

I step into that room, and look around. A picture of his graduation, the Airsoft AK-47 that broke five days after he got it, the twin spelling out his name, ‘Kendrick’. I lean down, and pick up his favorite item. His saber. Spent two hundred on this at a reenactment, after he convinced his friends to pitch in. I take the well kept saber out of its holder, and twirl it around. I put it back in, and strap it to my back.

I turn around, and enter into the hallway again. The floor creaks when I walk over it, as it always did. I turn to my right, and walk into my old room.

The yellow walls all encapsulate a large, brown bed in the center of the room. Near where my mask used to sit is the broken wooden sword I broke with a friend, and the stick that broke it next to it. A wooden shield with a unicorn on the front, only staples hold the two halves of the broken shield together. It lies next to the sword, and the stick that broke both of them.

My bookshelf that only reaches halfway my hight. Filled to the brim with book, the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, 12 Rules For Life by Jordon Peterson, Rangers Apprentice series by John Flanagan. On top lies my Pinewood Derby carts, and a carbon racer made for school. A yearbook next to it, open to the back page my asshole friends drew swastikas over. The cunts, best friends I had back then. I would kill just to see them once more. The other five, Discord, they beat these bunch by a lot. But, that doesn’t mean they weren’t my best friends.

*Bang!*

I jump slightly when I hear a bang from my closet. I turn to face the off-white double doored, and quite large closet. I walk over with slight caution, and open it.

As soon as it’s opened, I’m pouneced by something that forces me into the wall next to me. I hold off the thing with one hand, and grasp for any weapon with the other. I find purchase on a rough wooden handle. I grab the object, and bring it onto the head of the thing attacking me.

The swing knocks it over, and I instantly start to pummel it’s head with the stick I have grasped. The stick continued to keep its legacy of breaking things as it splatters into the brains of the thing.

I pull the stick out, and place it next to it’s other two, less alive, victims. I then get a chance to properly look at what I just killed.

I lean down, and look at the thing. It’s human... but not. Skin is a sick color. Eyes, what’s left of them, are pure white. Not even any red. Clothes are torn, and some skin is peeling off. I remember seeing something like this. A zombie.

*creak*

I hear the floorboards creak, and hear the sound of strings. A heavily accented voice speaks out, “Don’t move, demon.”