Keeper of Life - NaPoWrMo Entry

Coal raised her head, the world a smudged canvas before her. 'Just lie down, just stop,' a voice seemed to tell her. She wanted to, she wanted it to all be over. Every muscle in her body screamed for release, the scales on her left side were completely torn off and the flesh underneath continued to cook. The piercing pain in her chest told her ribs were broken, and the lack of air caused her head to spin further.

Blood distorted her vision as it poured over her face. With a raised hoof that screamed of shattered bones she tried to stop the blood. Her mind still dazed, her focus no better then her body. 'Give up, you can rest now, sleep,' the voices told her again. Oh how she wanted to. 'You're done, you're tired, sleep Coal,' they continued.

“There!” a voice rang out. It snapped her into focus. Her mind slammed into her body and with it all the pain. It overwhelmed her and ordered her to stop, it screamed at her to die.

“No, I'm not done yet,” she said through gritted teeth. She could taste the dull metallic tang of her own blood as it continued to run. Her legs denied her and she toppled forward only catching on her knee. It had taken almost every last ounce in her just to get that far... “I'm not done yet!” she said again, as if ordering her body.

The young mare stood over the rod and as she raised a hoof panic filled Coal's mind. 'Not yet!'

Silence hung in that moment as everything sped before Coal. Her life in the caves, her deformed brood. Miles of dunes ran in front of her from the days as a sandwalker. The same sands that had brought her here, sands that blew in the barrier as she broke it with the strength and life of another. And the lives under the barrier. Those she had taken and those she had met. Like this one. Air filled Coal's lungs as Solar's hoof plummeted down.

“Your mother!” Coal cried. Solar flinched and missed the rod as she turned abruptly to Coal.

“What did you say?” she demanded, the fire being fed fuel. “What do you know about my mother, what would you ever know!”

“I know old age didn't kill her,” Coal said with all the calm her injuries could allow.

Solar scoffed, the rod still under hoof. “Well your wrong, and if that didn't kill her, what did.”

“Look behind you,” Coal told her, though she didn't move.

Now Solar smirked. “A tree killed Mom. The Tree killed Mom,” she said trailing off with a chuckle. “Valor was right, you're nothing but lies. Well, it's all over now.” She turned back to the rod and looked down on it. So frail, so weak, and yet it was designed to kill the most powerful existence in the land.

“You asked why once,” Coal said. “I didn't give you an answer.” Now her voice denied nothing, the pain and suffering behind it amplifying the words and warping them into breathing creations. Solar's face opened and awareness filled her. 'The trolly,' she mouthed.

“The Tree is why. That tree has taken everything from the land, it's taken the very soul of the earth. It has bled every river and every lake, it has dried the oceans and killed the great plains. Mountains have toppled under its sway and the forests have long since withered and died. We've all paid tribute to The Tree,” she said.

“You're lying, The Tree is the keeper of life!”

“Yes, it is the keeper of life. It has bled the land, and those who live within it.”

“Lies, all lies, you wanted the city for yourself, you wanted to take everything!”

“We fought together once, against griffons on one side and dragons on another. We used The Tree's barrier for protection against their spells and against their armies. We ate the fruit that it bared. Yet even we did not understand the cost then, not our Queen tried to kill it,” she said. “Look around you, the barrier, and the life under it. Even magic comes from somewhere, nothing is free. The roots run deep and to the far reaches of the land. It soon will burrow into our tunnels and caves, and into the highlands of the griffons. Soon it will bleed us from the land as well and when we are gone, only you will be left.”

Solar's eyes moved from understanding, to belief, to disbelief then to anger.

“What lies you spew,” she shook her head as she spoke. Her horn glowed threateningly, she wanted to snuff this demon from the world.

“It's already convinced you that life is short, that what lies beyond is unnecessary that the stars are not worth seeing. It is a parasite and we are the host. Have you ever wondered if it's keeping us out, or you in?”

“No, no! Your full of lies, you want us dead, you have to. It can't be true.” Images of Clover flickered in her mind, of the collapsed tunnels, of the pact and of the old map.

“It's been three hundred years since we were expunged from the city. Our kind is weak and dying. Our broods come out twisted and deformed from the sands, we have no strength left. No matter how I return to the land our kind will likely not survive.”

“Then why?” Solar asked.

“This land used to be beautiful, and it used to be home. If we, if I, am to die, I want to know I gave the land hope again. I'd like to think that if we did survive our broodlings would see color again. Could smell the flowers as they grew in the millions. I want them to live a full life without needing to bleed themselves to stave off the sand's poison. Our kind's choose our own champions, our own heroes, but then land has no one. Today I fight for that which cannot fight for itself.”

Solar shook her head. “No, no, no, no!” she cried. “Lies, all lies, stop filling my head with lies. What would we do huh? If you destroyed all this, what then?!” she demanded.

“It would not be easy, and most of you would die. We would offer refuge to those who made it, and together we might survive. I offer it to you if your kind could ever accept. Our kinds will both suffer.”

“Then why? Why?! Do you hate us, do you want us to suffer too?”

“No, I want a world without the need for suffering, a better tomorrow,” Coal said. “For a world that's worth dying for.”

Tears flicked off Solar's face as she shook her head as if to shake the thoughts away. “You're stupid, this is stupid, no,” she said.

“You can choose,” Coal said. “For the first real time in your life, you can choose.”

“What right do you have huh? To just take everything away, we're happy here, like this. You could have been too if you stayed here. But you didn't. Why is it fair to us?” she asked.

“It's not, it's not fair to anyone,” Coal said bluntly.

Solar refused to accept anything yet it was beyond her to crush the spear that rested at her hooves. “I can't,” Solar said. “I can't accept that.” She turned to the spear with renown vigor, and finality. She raised her hoof then twisted her head in surprise. “Valor?”

Coal burst up with strength she didn't know existed. A light pop of magic sent Solar backward, she regained her footing quickly. The spear glowed, lifted and began forward when Coal slammed against The Tree. Her head slammed back and her ears rang. Stars swam in her vision as it shifted from white to black to something in the middle.

Solar made for the spear.

An injured Valor lumbered over the roots with heaving lungs. There was little evidence of her original color. What was not burnt off was covered in dust and dirt. “You... Miserable... Pest...” she said.

She neared Coal, her horn glowing at the ready. “I'm going to kill you,” she paused to breath, “so many ways.”

“The Tree will kill you all in the end,” Coal replied. She didn't know where Valor was, the images danced in front of her.

Solar stood behind Valor, pinning the spear down.

“That may be so,” she said, “but I will kill you first. Then it will kill the rest... of you...” She now stood before Coal. With a faint chuckle she said, “The land belongs to us, as it always did” she paused for air, “we only took what was ours by right.” Her cracked horn glowed then popped and as she pushed forward she flinched back in pain, billowing curses. Coal wanted to move, wanted to strike out but her body would no longer move. There was no feeling below her neck.

“Valor!” Solar cried out and made toward her. Valor raised a hoof keeping her at bay.

“I'll kill you with my bare hooves,” she said spitting blood.

“Do it coward,” Coal replied.

Valor stood on her hind legs her hooves raised high. “You shall never leave this place!”

A faint smile crossed Coal's lips as her horn glowed. “I never meant to.” She pulled every bit of her remaining life into one last pull. The rod rattled on the ground as Valor's hooves came down. Solar dove but the rod thrust forward piercing Valor. It ran through her chest and into the side of Coal's neck.

The tall unicorn staggered back with lifeless eyes, then her body crumpled.

“Valor!” Solar screamed running toward her.

Coal's ears rang, and her vision blotted as it started to fade. Her lungs stopped working, and her heart stilled until the blood stopped pouring from her wounds. She could feel the tree behind her twist and churn as if thousands of worms writhed under the skin of bark. What could only be described as the sounds of death wailed from the grove and roots began cracking. Splinters jut up like splitting earth and leaves began raining with dull brown embers.

Solar turned to Coal, vengeance spilling across her face. Her horn glowed as she approached and made ready to lash out when a crack tore the night apart. A sharp wind gusted in bringing a wicked chill. The fury picked up the leaves as if they were never there leaving only the cobweb of ancient branches. They too were withered and shrunk into themselves. Small fragments of reflective barrier showered down and landed soundlessly on the ground below.

Solar only looked up dumbfounded as the last of the barrier collapsed and the light of the solstice moon poured in.

“It's beautiful isn't it?” Coal asked with blood choked words. Valor turned to her, tears filling her face. Death granted Coal her last words, her heart had long ceased functioning, her lungs ornaments. “It's your land now, take care of it,” she said as her world filled with darkness. She was just happy to see the stars, one last time.