Laments of the Dimension-Stranded

Vincent took a step forward, raising his Kalashnikov rifle as he scanned his surroundings. He waved the beam cast from the flashlight attachment on his rifle in a wide sweeping motion, passing it over the sea of skeletons. "Jesus."

When he spotted Rainbow Dash's unconscious form at the base of the altar, he hugged his rifle and sprinted forward, prepared to grab one of her legs or wings in case she attempted to escape again.

The Heart pulsed, vibrating. Its antennae jiggled. An explosive clap of thunder shook the cave system, triggering dust and loose pebbles to rain from the ceiling, creating a cacophony of clattering stone against bone.

Before Vincent could reach Rainbow, a swirling mass of obscuration appeared to physically impede him. He recoiled backwards, not accustomed to witnessing the obscuration move or appear from thin air.

The shiny, colorless haze transformed into the shape of a small bipedal dragon that launched forward and attempted to chomp its jaws around Vincent's ankle. A tall, werewolf-like bipedal creature formed and roared threateningly, brandishing its claws in preparation to strike.

Vincent retaliated quickly, maintaining his composure. He fired three shots, and the creatures burst apart violently like broken glass, shattering into shards that rained onto the rock ground and melted into nothingness.

More clones of creatures spawned from thin air. The Heart's antennae hummed and vibrated as it defended itself by summoning fragile duplicates of the creatures it had fed upon.

Vincent fired rounds and destroyed the haze clones until the firing pin of his rifle clicked, indicating he had depleted what remained of his ammunition. He resorted to using the rifle as a bat, tightly clutching the handguard and receiver with both hands and clubbing creatures with the heavy buttstock.

When the tide of clones composed of obscuration subsided, Vincent dared to feel a fleeting sensation of hope. He clutched the rifle's pistol grip in his right hand and reached for a new magazine in his chest rig. He tapped the magazine release lever with the new magazine, permitted the empty magazine to fall onto the ground and inserted the full magazine, chambering a round. His hands were shaking with anxiety.

"Dash, are you...?" Vincent took a few steps forward and placed a hand on Rainbow's shoulder, shaking her. She was unresponsive. There was a brief pause, as if the Heart had finally calculated that the human interloper was a true threat to its sustained survival.

Vincent raised his rifle and fired a shot at the monstrosity, but neglected to aim properly. The bullet whizzed past the Heart and impacted the rock wall behind it, missing it by mere inches. He began aligning the rifle's iron sights to execute a well-aimed second shot, but was interrupted by a powerful buck in the chest that threw him backwards forcefully before he could depress the trigger. Vincent somersaulted once and slid along the rock floor, slamming against the rock wall of the cave with a grunt. He groaned, disoriented.

A haze clone of Rainbow Dash herself had bucked him in the thorax. Fortunately, it had struck his steel armor plate and not his unprotected abdomen. Its colorless mane and tail composed of obscuration glistened and wavered like a heat mirage, yet failed to sway like real hair. It resembled an animated statue.

"Dash...?" Vincent dared to raise his voice and address the haze clone that currently hovered before him, flapping its wings stiffly. It vaguely resembled his friend, but its eyes and facial expression were nightmarishly emotionless.

The clone responded by accelerating rapidly and shooting forward, intent on bucking his head clean off of his shoulders. Vincent hugged his rifle and leapt aside, raising his head in time to witness the clone's rear leg smash into the rock wall he had been resting against mere seconds prior. The force of the impact cracked the soft rock, causing it to crumble slightly.

Vincent rolled onto his back and aimed his rifle in the general direction of the haze clone, entirely aware if he didn't react fast enough to the incoming threat, he would probably be decapitated. He fired a spray of bullets in the clone's direction as it soared toward him at maximum speed. One hit home and struck the clone as it sped toward him, while the rest of the rounds ricocheted uselessly off of the rock ceiling. The obscuration shattered into pieces and melted.

Vincent lied still for a moment, panting. For a brief moment, he wondered if by destroying the clone he had killed his only friend. He glanced at Rainbow's limp body lying before the altar. She was still and looked as lifeless as a statue.

Vincent rose to his feet and aligned his rifle's iron sights with the Heart beyond the altar at the rear of the chamber. He squeezed the trigger.

A swirling mass of obscuration appeared midair to physically obstruct the burst of bullets he had fired. Frustrated, Vincent huffed. He quickly glanced over his shoulders to assure no surprise attacks came from the rear.

The obscuration descended, touching the rock floor delicately. It finally coalesced. Vincent's eyes widened.

The haze clone of Vincent himself stretched its fingers and bent its joints, unaccustomed to its new, unfamiliar form. Its body was naked and mannequin-like. It raised its head and gazed at Vincent with a dull, blank facial expression.

Vincent gritted his teeth and raised his rifle, firing bursts of shots until his gun clicked empty. The bullets punched through the obscuration, but the clone persisted, its lazy amble forward transforming into a speedy sprint. Vincent clutched his rifle by the handguard and receiver like a baseball bat and patiently waited for the opportune moment to strike.

"Arrggh!" Vincent swung his rifle like he was on the home plate batting for an American baseball team. The haze clone jerked downwards, ducking beneath the swung buttstock, and counterattacked with a swift uppercut into Vincent's chin that threw him off balance. He staggered momentarily, shocked by the speed of the blow.

The clone dashed forward without hesitation and spread its arms wide in an attempt to disarm him. Vincent leapt backwards and counterattacked, butting the rifle stock forcefully against the clone's chest. It staggered briefly, providing Vincent enough time to raise the rifle overhead and cleave its heavy buttstock downwards directly into the haze clone's nape. For any normal human, that would have been a lethal blow.

The haze clone wasn't hampered in the slightest. It raised its arm and prepared to strike Vincent with a hook of a punch. He clutched his rifle with both hands around the barrel and stock, utilizing it as a shield. While it did protect him, the blow was so powerful it warped the barrel where the clone's fist had stuck, creating a u-shaped dent. Vincent lost his grip and teetered, almost losing his balance. The destroyed rifle hit the ground and skidded several feet away. "Shit!"

Vincent took a few steps backward, unsheathing his bayonet. He clutched it tightly in his right hand and curled his left hand into a fist, assuming a tactical combat stance. While he was professionally trained for close quarters combat with a blade, in truth, he had no actual experience in real fights. Regardless, the training wasn't entirely useless. He knew a few dirty tricks. Unfortunately, most were rendered ineffective when fighting a being with incomprehensible magical powers.

The haze clone was fast and utilized unnaturally-powerful force, but lacked technique. Vincent was capable of employing a few tricks and dodging its slow, predictable attacks, but he couldn't fight forever. The clone was seemingly invincible. He needed to devise a plan.

The haze clone charged at Vincent like a furious bull.

He utilized his left arm to deflect an incoming fist and jabbed his blade several times into the clone's torso, but to no avail. It was like stabbing water. The clone failed to react in any perceptible way.

They traded blows, deflecting and blocking. Vincent panted, growing weary. He was losing energy fast.

A weak, rapid blow directly into Vincent's gut made him cough and forcefully evacuate his lungs of air. He choked, leaping backwards to dodge the clone's second attack.

In the disorienting frenzy of the battle, Vincent had unintentionally navigated beside Rainbow's unconscious form. He glanced downwards at the sapphire pendant suspended from her neck by its gold chain. He recalled how she explained the necklace was somehow powerful, that it possessed magical energy. He certainly wanted any strength he could get to help him resist for just a few moments longer.

He knelt and grasped the sapphire pendant with his left hand, ripping the chain forcefully off of Rainbow's neck. He backed away to avoid a punch the haze clone threw and held the pendant aloft like a holy string of rosary beads designed to ward off evil. He attempted to use the magical artifact as Rainbow had instructed, but despite his best efforts, nothing happened. "Piece of shit!" Frustrated, Vincent swore. "Why won't you fucking work?!"

He tossed the pendant away to free his left hand and reassumed his combat stance, ready to receive the charging clone. It threw a flurry of rapid blows that Vincent couldn't compete with. He blocked or deflected most, dodging backwards occasionally as he ascended the steps leading to the top platform of the altar, apart from two. One struck him hard in his armored thorax, cracking the plastic shells of the two remaining full magazines in his chest rig, and the final uppercut struck him powerfully in the chin.

Vincent staggered backwards onto the top platform the altar, dizzy. He grunted, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his blurry vision. He choked, tasting blood. He had probably bitten his tongue. "Fuck!"

The haze clone dashed forward and leapt, tackling Vincent and sending him hurtling off of the altar to the bed of skeletons and bones far below.

His head struck the rock ground hard, and even with his kevlar helmet strapped on, the force of the vibration was still painful. A sharp bone pierced through his clothes and into his thigh from the force of his impact with the ground. Vincent yelped.

The haze clone was on top of him, straddling him immediately. It curled the fingers of one hand around his throat and raising its other hand into the air in preparation to deliver a punch. Vincent used both arms and his uninjured leg to firmly shove the clone off of him. He rolled to a side and rose, clutching his bayonet securely. His boots slipped on lose bones and he nearly lost his balance, but he persisted, struggling desperately to resist the urge to limp. His injured leg was screaming in defiance.

When the clone charged forward and raised its fist, Vincent kicked the clone hard in the stomach with his uninjured leg, sending it careering backwards. Finally, he had knocked the clone down onto the ground. While on the ground, however, it had located a sharp bone sufficient to use as a weapon. Vincent's eyes widened as he noticed the clone clutching the improvised blade. He sensed impending danger.

The haze clone performed a move Vincent didn't predict. It slapped him across the face and threw a punch directly into his nose.

Vincent dropped his bayonet and staggered backwards, cupping his broken nose with both hands. He managed to grasp the wrist of the haze clone's right hand when it attempted to drive the improvised blade directly into his neck, but the clone had predicted such a maneuver. It effortlessly threw the sharp bone into the air, caught it in its left hand and thrusted the blade forward, jamming the sharp weapon into Vincent's unprotected stomach twice below his plate carrier.

Vincent swayed on his feet, wobbling. He fell backwards against the rock wall of the cave, sliding down until he was sitting. He instinctively clutched his hands over the puncture wounds in his stomach, releasing a moan of pain. His fingers were becoming slippery with fresh blood.

He managed to jerk aside and dodge a fist that came flying at his face, then a knee. He hyperventilated, his eyes darting around the chamber. To his left he saw Rainbow's unconscious body, and to the right was the Heart, the unsympathetic monstrosity that perceived Vincent as nothing more than an irritating pest that needed to be eradicated.

He gazed downwards. Nestled among the bones carpeting the rock floor was the sapphire pendant he had tossed aside earlier. Vincent hesitated, failing at first to comprehend the significance of the magical artifact in his daze of overwhelming pain and fear. He reached for the pendant and grasped the scratched gold setting, presenting it like it were a shield. He prayed to all of the Earth gods that he knew. He chanted Psalms and other Bible verses he knew in the vain, desperate hope for a miracle. He clenched his eyes shut, refusing to stare at the sharp bone that came flying toward his neck. He inhaled a final gasping breath that he suspected would be his last.

"'I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart—I have overcome the world.'"

The sharpened bone that came soaring toward his neck was swiftly halted with a muted thump.

Vincent dared to crack open his eyes.

A wide magical forcefield had been summoned between Vincent and the haze clone. He gasped aloud, his eyes widening in shock. "Holy shit...!" He wielded the sapphire pendant in a hand and raised it aloft, communicating with it and sending an order: for the Heart to be totally, wholly annihilated.

The human haze clone was shattered into shards of obscuration that melted into nothingness as a magical blast exploded the Heart, showering the surrounding area in a mist of blood. No longer capable of supporting the Heart after it had exploded, the roots once anchoring it to the rock wall hung limply like noodles.

Vincent wheezed, releasing the pendant and causing it to fall and rest against his armored chest rig. He clasped his right hand over the puncture wounds in his abdomen, but despite his best efforts to the contrary, his blood leaked from his body, irreparably staining his clothes and dripping down onto the rock floor.

In his peripheral vision, he noticed movement. His eyes flicked in the direction of the stone altar, observing Rainbow Dash twitch as she finally regained control of her body. She inhaled great bouts of air to compensate for her earlier state of asphyxiation and choked, overwhelmed. "Vince...?"

Vincent groaned in pain. He relaxed his body and gazed up at the ceiling where the mystical crystals emitted their faint blue glow, struggling merely to remain conscious.

"Vincent!" Rainbow sprinted forward, leapt over piles of bones and came to a screeching halt before her companion. She placed a hoof on his chest atop his steel armor plate. "What happened? Are you okay? You—"

Vincent focused on her huge bright cerise eyes. He spoke, interrupting her mid-speech. "Dash. I - I'm a... believer. Jacob was wrong. I never thought..." He trailed off, leaving his sentence incomplete. He was breathing short, shallow breaths and was barely capable of enunciating each individual word he uttered. "It was a miracle."

"What? Believer in what?"

"Listen. One - one more thing I... want you to do."

When Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, he firmly shook his head. She understood the message and remained silent, gazing into his eyes with a concerned frown. She brushed her hoof against his face along the scrapes and contusions he had received during the fight.

Vincent reached with his right hand and grasped the chain securing his dog tags to his neck. With a grunt of exertion, he ripped the chain and placed the twin dog tags against the hoof Rainbow had used to touch his chest. They simultaneously cradled the dog tags together as one for a moment, gazing into each other's eyes. Vincent released his hand and returned it to his abdomen as he clutched his wounds.

The final symbolic gesture was so touching, Rainbow's ears folded sadly and lied flat against her head. "N - no... keep them. Take them."

"No." Vincent stubbornly shook his head, shoving aside Rainbow's hoof when she attempted to return his dog tags. "You're gonna need 'em as proof. Tell your friends what happened here. Tell 'em what happened to you. Tell 'em what you did." He released the breath in his lungs with a soft exhalation, managing to offer a weak smile. "All this t - time... we've had together... You made me really happy while it lasted."

He had promised to keep advancing forward against opposition. He'd promised to keep pushing until his body finally broke. Well, he sure as hell pushed.

Vincent's body felt weightless. The world was swirling and spinning despite the fact he lied completely still. His eyelids fluttered and closed. For a brief moment before he lost consciousness, he thought he sensed the familiar parching heat of the Arizona desert and heard the inherent growls of motor vehicle engines and indistinct chatter of the residents of his home city.

Darkness collapsed upon him and deluged him. Unexpectedly, it felt warm and comforting.