Laments of the Dimension-Stranded ⁽ᴿᵉᵐᵃᵏᵉ⁾

Branching paths split from the tunnel and wound downward or upward. It was an ancient labyrinthine network, as complex as it was dark. A thin cloud of dust pervaded the atmosphere. Deep beneath the earth, the stale air smelled of soil and must.

"Déjà vu, huh?" Vincent directed the beam of light cast from his rifle's flashlight attachment to the path they followed. Occasionally, he swept it aside to investigate the unremarkable clattering of pebbles as they loosed from the ceiling or walls.

"Sorta. At least this place isn't as cold. And at least there's no scary giant monster in here." Rainbow paused as she reconsidered. She shivered frightfully. "I hope."

"There probably isn't. And if there is, well... we'll be fine, I promise. Everything worked out fine last time, didn't it? We just have to stick together."

She looked up at him and nodded firmly, reassured. "Okay."

Light spilled from an aperture ahead. They glanced at each other and nodded to affirm they were ready. Vincent led with his rifle raised.

He stepped through the entrance and waved the beam cast from his rifle in a wide sweeping motion as he passed it over the chamber. Situated in the center was an intricate altar painstakingly chiseled from stone, and, around its base, was a carpet of bones. At the very top laid a hooved, horned creature—quite similar to his friend in profile alone—inert, either dead or comatose. Above it, tethered via a thick, opaque cord black as ink, rose a golden specter, like a grand spirit who levitated on angelic wings. Its fantastic form projected copious quantities of light that illuminated the chamber of worship clearly. Its small, shiny white orbs appeared to regard Vincent with curiosity as he approached.

"Holy Jesus..." He gawked in awe of the macabre display.

The silence and lack of comment from his companion gave him pause. He looked in her direction and discovered that Rainbow was frozen. Her head was glued in the direction of the altar, and her eyes were glazed and unfocused.

"Hey, you alright?" Vincent kneeled and reached to touch her. He planted his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her, but she was still and unresponsive.

Without so much as a reply or any gesture to indicate she was alright, Rainbow proceeded to advance. She stepped clumsily, and she teetered and appeared to be at risk of toppling over.

Vincent's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he observed her walk past him as if he were invisible. "Hey!" He hugged his rifle and jogged forward with the intent to physically stop her.

Three creatures who had once prostrated in reverence before the altar stood and neared. With their manes, tails, hooves, and long, elegant legs, they resembled his friend with their pony-like features, though they lacked wings and cutiemarks. Their twin curved, spiraling horns looked exceptionally sharp.

Vincent halted and examined the newcomers. "Uh, hello? Who are yo—" He cut himself off and abandoned his query. Their faces displayed no obvious signs of intelligence or awareness, and their eyes, or, rather, the space where the eyes had once been, emitted a swirling purple and green haze.

"Ah! It has returned! At last, her sapphire is ours!" One of the sisters neared Rainbow and delicately removed the pendant that dangled from her neck. She raised the sapphire before her vacant eye sockets, and a thin crack of a grin broadened across her muzzle. She lifted the chain and slipped it over her horns and ears to suspend it from her own neck. Meanwhile, Rainbow mindlessly plodded past the three sisters and sat in prostration before the altar.

"Hey! Don't touch her!" Vincent pointed his rifle threateningly.

The three sisters rotated in synchrony. Their vacant eye sockets locked onto him as if they hadn't noticed his presence before. "Interloper!" They howled in synchrony. "Leave!"

"Get the fuck away from my friend!" Vincent raised his voice and shouted firmly. Unfortunately, he knew, judging by their attitude, they had no interest in negotiation. But neither did he.

The three sisters scowled, and their bodies tensed as they threateningly inched closer. In turn, he stepped away and retreated until his back touched the wall. There was a moment of perturbing silence as they eyed each other steadily and calculated and predicted their next moves.

Then, together, the sisters pounced.

Vincent's finger twitched as it eased over his rifle's trigger. He maintained his composure and aligned the rifle's iron sights with the first sister's chest, then squeezed the trigger, which loosed a burst of three accurate shots. One bullet ricocheted audibly off of the hard sapphire that adorned her stolen pendant, but the remaining two bullets hit their target squarely, which elicited a yowl of agony from the unicorn's throat. She reeled from the recoil, stumbled, and slumped, twitching, to the ground. The two remaining sisters swiftly leapt forward and brandished their horns.

There wasn't enough distance between them for him to continue shooting. Vincent resorted to using the rifle as a melee weapon. He firmly clutched the handguard and receiver with both hands to utilize the heavy buttstock as a bludgeon. He waited for the perfect opportunity as the second sister approached, then swung an uppercut into her jaw, using all of his might with a grunt of exertion. She staggered, which provided enough time for him to raise his rifle overhead and cleave its heavy buttstock directly into her nape. It was a devastating blow, one that produced a loud snap and made her collapse limply to the ground with a sharp yelp.

The final sister charged, intent on goring him. Vincent gritted his teeth. He raised his rifle and fired a quick burst of three inaccurate shots. Two bullets sailed ineffectively over her shoulder, and the remaining bullet punched through her leg. Undeterred, she stubbornly persisted in her charge. He knelt, clutched his rifle like a baseball bat, and patiently waited for the opportune moment to strike.

"Aagghh!" He swung, and the rifle's heavy stock collided with her head. One of her horns shattered with a ghastly snap, and she screamed in agony. With a furious snort, the third sister counterattacked with a swift, inaccurate stroke of her horns and sliced a gash into Vincent's cheek. She thrusted her horns again, but Vincent clutched his rifle with both hands, ducked, and thrusted the rifle up. He deflected the unicorn's horns upward overhead, but while he had successfully protected himself, the maneuver made him lose his grip. The rifle hit the ground and skidded several feet away, out of reach. "Shit!"

He retreated and unsheathed his hunting knife. He clutched it tightly in his right hand and curled his left hand into a fist as he assumed a tactical stance as he prepared to receive the charging third sister, who rushed like a furious bull. He utilized his left arm to shove her head aside to deflect her incoming horns, then jabbed his blade into her torso, which elicited a yelp of pain from her.

They retreated from one another and panted wearily. As they planned their next moves, they examined each other keenly. Vincent adjusted his grip of the hunting knife, the blade slick with the third sister's blood. With every blow he deflected, he felt he rapidly lost energy and morale. She, in contrast, appeared to have no limit to her resolve.

She had observed his fighting style and adapted accordingly in their next skirmish. The third sister threw a flurry of rapid bucks that Vincent couldn't compete with. He extended his arms defensively and occasionally dodged successfully, but a final buck struck his armored torso hard and cracked the plastic shells of the two remaining full magazines in his chest rig. He staggered and fell to the ground in a heap. Even with his combat helmet strapped on, still, the impact rang his skull like a tolling bell. He choked, tasting blood after he probably bit his own tongue.

The third sister leapt on top of him and straddled him. She withdrew her head and thrusted her horns downward, aimed for his jugular. Vincent dropped the hunting knife and used both hands to firmly grasp her horns mere inches before they pierced his throat, and with a herculean effort, he firmly shoved her off of himself.

Vincent's eyes widened as he eyed the third sister as she waved her horns threateningly. He sensed terrifying impending danger. He managed to scramble to his feet and grasp her horns when she thrusted them, but she had predicted such a maneuver. In one swift motion, she jerked free of his grip and thrusted her head again. That time, her effort was finally successful. Her horns, one long and the other a sharp shattered stump, jammed deeply into his unprotected abdomen below his armored vest.

Vincent swayed on his feet. He wobbled, then finally collapsed backward against the rock wall of the cave and slid down until he was seated. He instinctively clutched his hands over the puncture wound in his stomach and released a moan of agony. His fingers smeared with his blood.

He hyperventilated, and his eyes darted around fearfully. In the confusion of the unremitting battle, he had, coincidentally, stumbled upon the position of the first sister's corpse. Nestled against her neck, still attached by its chain, was the sapphire pendant. He hesitated at first in a failure to comprehend the significance of the magical artifact, due to the stupor of overwhelming fear. His bloodied fingers curled around the gold setting, and he ripped it forcefully from the first sister's neck. He then presented the pendant as if it were a shield. If it contained any magic at all, if Rainbow's assurance that anyone could use magic was true and not a white lie, if his time spent with her as he witnessed her incredible feats meant anything at all, then, perhaps, he had a chance, however miniscule. He clenched his eyes shut as he refused to stare at the sharp horns that soared toward his throat to deliver a brutal final blow. He inhaled a gasping breath that he suspected would be his last.

He held his breath, and, for a brief moment, all was still. But when the time came for him to finally exhale, and he found himself still alive and breathing, he dared to crack open his eyelids.

A magical shield had been summoned between him and the third sister. He gasped aloud, and his eyes widened in shock. He wielded the sapphire pendant like a holy string of rosary beads designed to ward off evil, raised it aloft, and communicated with it to send an order. At once, the sapphire responded. A huge blast of dark magic erupted from the gemstone. In a blinding purple-and-green flash, the third sister was incinerated instantly. The scream of the enormously-powerful magical explosion echoed in the confines of the chamber of worship, and the accompanying shockwave soared across the surrounding area, which blew everything into the air and showered the chamber in a cloud of the third sister's fresh dust.

The silence that followed the fury of battle was deafening.

"Hhhnngghhh!" Vincent wheezed in pain. He released the pendant and clasped his right hand over the puncture wound in his abdomen. Fresh flowing blood stained his clothes and trailed down to pool on the ground.

In his peripheral vision, he noticed movement. His eyes flicked to the side to observe Rainbow convulse once she had finally been freed from the prolonged hypnosis from having been slammed against the rocky wall from the powerful shockwave. When she regained control of her body once more, she inhaled bouts of air to fill her empty lungs, squashed from the impact, and she choked, overwhelmed.

She spotted his limp form, and she gasped. "N–No! No! What happened?!" She scurried to him, and her hooves hurriedly raced across his body. When she located the vile rent in his abdomen, she exhaled sharply and raised her head. They locked eyes and communicated silently. Though a sea of flowing thoughts inundated her, they all proved inconsequential, because one rang true in its significance: his lifeforce flowed from his body at an alarming rate, and they were powerless to stop it.

"W–What d–do I do? I don't know what to do! I've n–never—"

Vincent rasped and breathed short, shallow breaths. When she opened her mouth to speak, he firmly shook his head and grunted in exertion. She understood the message and remained silent despite her intense desire to share the deluge of thoughts that flooded her mind. She tenderly cupped his cheek with her hoof where he had received a gash during the struggle.

He reached with his right hand and grasped the chain that secured the dog tags to his neck, then firmly ripped and severed it. He placed the twin tags against the hoof Rainbow had used to touch his chest. Together, they simultaneously cradled the tags and gazed into each others' eyes. In the fleeting moment of calm stillness and clarity, Rainbow's eyes widened with perception. The final symbolic gesture made her ears fold and lie flat against her head in horror. "N–No! Keep them! Take them! I promise, I'm gonna figure out what to do, just... I just need a minute! Please!"

"No." He withdrew his hand and returned it to his abdomen as he clutched his wound. He produced several feeble choking coughs. He stubbornly shook his head and shoved aside her hoof when she attempted to return the dog tags. "It's p–proof. All this t–time... y–you've been there. For me."

She gently placed her hoof onto his outstretched hand. "I'm sorry I doubted you, I just... I didn't—" She grunted with frustration at her inability to properly communicate. "I was too stupid to understand then! I'm sorry..." Her cerise eyes bulged with emotion.

Somehow, in spite of everything, he managed to smile faintly. "I–It's ok–kay..." His fingers curled around her hoof and the tags they clutched together, but as the world swirled and spun relentlessly and the definition faded from her face, the strength in his fingers waned and his wrist drooped. His eyelids fluttered and closed. Briefly, before he lost consciousness, the familiar parching heat of the Arizona desert soaked into his skin again and the growls of motor vehicle engines and the indistinct chatter of the residents of his home city filled his ears. A tender feminine voice orbited distantly, far above, and called and beckoned.

Darkness eagerly descended and collapsed upon him.