Dreams: Humanity

Chapter 5: This is why…

July 4th, 2016. Somewhere underneath Beijing.

The sewers smelled of the streets above, the bodies which littered the sidewalks about, the buildings which burned from the bombs that fell from the metal birds that continuously flew overhead. I shook my head, commanding myself to focus on the task ahead. But something in the back of my mind buzzed constantly, nagging me to do things which made no sense. I did them anyways, because hey, it was my body telling me to do them so I didn’t argue. I scanned the floor for a small rock, which I picked up and tossed down the tunnel, listening as it collided with the wall before splashing into the knee high water ( I use the term “water” loosely), smiling as the sounds bounced off the walls, echoing throughout the small tunnels.

My smile wavered for a moment when I heard the sounds of movement ahead, and voices speaking in the language native to the country I was invading. I didn’t think for any longer than a few seconds before pulling a small carbon steel rod off my belt and I cracked it before I dropped it at my feet. I then raised my left hand, regarding the small device on my wrist with a single thought. From the small hole in the top launched a hook, maybe the size of my hand. It buried itself deep into the ceiling above, and with another thought I was up there with it, my feet firmly planted on the cold stone as I hung upside down.

The voices gradually grew louder, until I could have sworn they were right under me. They wouldn’t see me though, not in the dark and not before they could do nothing about it. I drew my pistol, and waited.

I saw them round the corner, four troops in combat uniforms carrying assault rifles. They used their flashlights to scan the water and the way ahead for any signs of the intruder they heard. Of course, they weren’t looking straight up, or straight down. I saw one of the troops step where I had dropped the rod, and I almost laughed as the water lit up with electricity, and the troops panicked before they started to shake uncontrollably, the volts coursing through their veins as the rod did its work. I let myself fall, blasting one of the soldiers square in the face with my pistol once I landed. I felt the discomfort that came with an EMP, but it hardly affected me negatively anymore. In a way, it fueled me. I regarded my right hand, the glove on it, with a grin. I lashed out, catching another of the soldiers as he began to recover across the face, and what could only be described as a bolt of lightning erupted between the two, launching the now dead man down the tunnel.

I spun, kicking out at the last soldier (the one who stepped on the rod was under the water, drowning I assumed.) who deflected the blow with his gun. I was surprised he could even move, much less fight back. I saw him take aim at me, but before he could do fire he found his gun was shockingly painful to hold. He dropped it into the water, sending even more electricity coursing through the water and into him. I was growing tired of the game though and just put a few rounds into his chest, before checking over my equipment.

Once everything was accounted for, I made my way farther down the sewer tunnel, towards my goal, when I began tapping my hands against the wall to my left. Before I knew it, I had a drum beat going. I winced as the knocks grew louder, and echoed sooner every time, warning me I was close to an exit. I couldn’t stop though, for whatever reason. I recognized the beat from a song I remembered hearing, and the memory came back to me.

It was a month ago, the first time I saw the man who I helped start a war after our first meeting. At that point, I was pissed but I knew there was nothing I could do anymore. He tried to be cool, holding out his hand as though we were friends, or peers. I paused in front of him, took his hand in mine, turned it so it was palm up, and spat in it. I heard the scuff of boots behind me as his guards turned to restrain me, but I was faster. I was trained, I was deadly, and I just didn’t care. I roundhouse kicked the one directly behind me into next week, and sidestepped the second one who was behind the man as he lunged. As he sailed past, I clotheslined the son of a bitch.

Realizing the guards were adequately out of commission, I looked at the man and saw a look of amusement on his face, as though he found it funny. I crossed my arms, and stood there, countering his amused gaze with a cold stare. It wasn’t very effective… He just laughed, looking at the men unconscious on the floor.

“Well, that definitely shows me something. I need to hire better help, no?” He joked, tapping one of the guards in the ribs with a shoe. “Or I need to hire less effective mercenaries.” He looked at me, the smile gone from his lips, but no less amusement in his eyes. “Anyways, you’ve been successful up to this point; I have no reason to believe you won’t continue to be so. So, I figure I should give you a few toys, make your job easier.” I was slightly angered by the statement, but I had seen it coming. What I didn’t see coming was what came next. “Also, I already sent the payments, along with a little bonus, along to your mother, and you’ll be able to go home to her once the war is finished. Which, if this next part goes well, will be very soon.”

I was ready to ask him what he meant, but he pulled out a pair of gloves, tossing them to me. I caught them, surprised at their soft silk-like feel, when I expected something rough like usual. I turned them over a few times in my hands, noticing the spattering of circles on the undersides of each glove. I looked up at the man, an eyebrow raised in question. He nodded to the gloves, then to me, and smiled.

“The rest is in the bag, here’s a thing you’ll need,” He paused, tossing me a parachute. “Have fun!” He kicked a duffle bag into the door behind me, and it sprung open at the blow, sucking the bag, and me, out of the opening. I cursed to the wind as I began my descent into Beijing. The capital city of the country I started a war with, with nothing but some gloves and a duffel bag containing god knows what. I already had the gloves halfway on, so I pulled them the rest of the way on, judging at least 1000 meters till I became paste. I got ready to put on the parachute, when I noticed something off. Well, two things. The first thing I noticed was the buzzing in my gloves as I ran them over the cloth of the backpack, and the small sparking of electricity. The second thing I noticed was that I didn’t have a parachute in my hands. Motherfucker.

I opened the back, flinching as a small triangle attached to a pole was produced from the back. I grabbed the steel pole, ready to scream with rage, when I saw a small red button in the center of the pole. Curious and willing to try anything, I pushed the button and hoped for the best. The triangle shook for a moment, before unfolding into a much large triangle, namely the one that would be normally seen on a hang glider. I would have been slightly impressed if not for the fact that I had never used a hang glider. I had to hope it was like a wingsuit, only bigger, but with my luck I wasn’t counting on it.

Not that it mattered once I saw the missile speeding towards me.

Fuck.

*--^--*

The forest was quiet as the morning slowly rolled in, the singing of the birds the only discernible sound in the forest so early in the day. The animals were going about their business, though tense as they recalled the strange creature they had seen the day before walking through the forest, talking like a pony but looking nothing like one.  They had followed it until it came across the laughing flower, the Poison Joke as it was called by ponies. They had watched it study the flowers, they even tried to help it. It seemed friendly enough, and they tried to tell it what the flowers did. It didn’t seem to understand what they meant, though it did address the flowers more than once, so they figured they had managed to get something across.

The strange creature disappeared for the rest of that day, returning later in the evening with some apples and several long vines. It tied each vine between two trees, surrounding the clearing. The animals watched as the creature climbed one of the taller trees, disappearing into the dense canopy above. They didn’t see it again until early morning, before the sun had even risen, when it descended from the many branches above, before it disappeared once more into the forest. The more daring creatures tried to follow, though they always lost track of it around Fluttershy’s cottage. Eventually, (at least an hour) they decided the creature was gone and would never come back, probably eaten by one of the many dangerous creatures in the forest.

That is, they thought that until it did. It was accompanied by a zebra, Zecora was her name. They seemed to be having a friendly conversation, for the most part.

Zecora gave the creature an odd look, “Of many things seen to this day, another like you I cannot say.” She shook her head, taking a moment to look around the clearing. “All I have seen in this land, none are called human.”

The human cleared its throat, “Well, thanks anyways. Is it alright if I stay in the forest at least?”

The zebra shook her head. “If you stay Eden, you’ll surely be eaten.” The human, Eden, looked at the Zebra in mild irritation, before they parted ways.

Then, before any of the animals could figure what was happening, there was another of these “humans” with a pony. The two humans, surprised by one another, fought. Eden beat the other human, but not before getting hurt and running away.

The animals didn’t follow, instead they curiously sniffed at the new human.

*--^--*

Eden

“Fuck!” I swore under my breath as breath stumbled around trees and through bushes, hoping to find Zecora again. The zebra had experience with healing; she would be able to help. Instead, to my annoyance I found myself at the edge of the woods, staring at a small blue house, just on the edge of town but far enough away for me. A light grey pegasus was hunched over a bag, digging through it, completely unaware of his surroundings. I caught a glimpse of a grey mane as he poked his head out of the bag for a moment, dropping a pair of red tinted goggles on the ground beside him before continuing his search.

I looked back, hearing movement behind me, and I decided to take my chances with the pegasus. I approached silently, biting my tongue as pain lanced through my shoulder. Hopefully the pony would have some bandages or something, but the fact that he seemed to be moving in made that unlikely.

I tightened my grip on the metallic weapon I had recovered from my fight with the other man and, after looking it over for a moment, determined it was some sort of gun. Though it looked more advanced than my double barrel, it still looked like it could do some damage. Just hope anything I have to shoot has the body structure of a dead guy…

The pegasus must have been really focused, because I had the gun to his head before he could even move. I saw his wings tense up, and smiled. He was strong, maybe 150 lbs with strong wing muscles, similar to a bird, or more appropriately a gryphon. The body structure seemed off for a normal pony, as though it was the cartoon joke of one. His leg muscles seemed weaker than they had any business being, but he did have wings, so for him to fly more than walk wasn't totally strange.

I wonder what horses taste like… I cleared her throat, “Listen, I don’t know what your experience with guns is, but the one in my hands can kill you within seconds, so let’s stay calm and go inside.” I fought hard to hide the pain, but couldn’t bit back a whimper as the pain intensified with the movement of my other arm when I pointed at the blue house in front of them. The pony must have understood, because he nodded and started to move towards the house.

He moved to open the door, but he found a smoky black tendril in his way. The length wrapped itself around the door handle and pushed it open, before it retracted into its host, me, who nodded to the door. The pegasus shook his head in disbelief, before he walked into the home.

My vision began to blur as I took the first few steps into the house, not being invited, and asked as politely as I could muster under the pain, “May I come in?” The pony nodded, and the added pain subsided, though the bullet in my shoulder quickly came to the front of my mind. “Bathroom?” I asked, as the pony flicked on a lamp in the living room.

“Down the hall, last door on the right. I don’t think you’ll be able to use it tho—and she’s gone.” He turned to find his captor was gone, and he shook his head. “Just wanted one bucking day…. Just one…”

I hurried into the bathroom, not bothering with the door as I flung open the medicine cabinet, and pulled out what I had been hoping to find: Bandages. Next was the hard part, though, the part I had come to hate. I braced myself on the sink, which was lower than I would have liked but I had no room to complain, and closed I eyes. I shivered as a chill ran up my spine, pinpointing the wound and the offender inside it. With a single push, the bullet shot out of my shoulder and hit the wall, disappearing into the new hole in the barrier between the ceiling and floor. I screamed as the pain became too intense for me to handle, my legs gave out and I tumbled to the floor. I blacked out for a few moments, but recovered long enough to wrap my arm in bandages before passing out again, for several minutes.

I woke up on the couch, pony hunched over here with the corner of a blanket in his mouth. He pulled it over me before he realized I was awake, when he then jumped away, a curious stare on his face.

“What’s your name?!” He asked, relaxing slightly at the lack of hostility, though he didn’t take his eyes off me for a moment.

I considered making a run for it, or even killing him, until I saw the handgun he held to his side with a wing, barely visible behind the avian appendage. He followed my gaze and nodded.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to kill me or not. I know what this thing does, and I know what it did to you.” He said in a straight voice, though he visibly shuddered as he thought of exactly what it would do to me if he had to use it.

I rubbed my bandaged arm and a thought came to me. “So, you’re afraid of me…”

“Not afraid, cautious.” He interjected irritably.

I sighed, “Right, cautious… So why did you bring me to the couch, and bother with this,” I threw the blanket off, silently regretting it as the cold air made me shiver. “When you don’t want to be near me, even with that?” I pointed at the gun, and then added, “Why would you even bother letting me live?”

Maybe I was as terrible as I thought, because a look of horror crossed the pony’s face, and he took a step back. “K-kill you? Why in Equestria would anypony kill a pony? More so in this case! I mean, sometimes it happens, but not like this.”

I felt hurt for a moment that the thought of killing the pony had ever crossed my mind, as innocent as he was. For a moment, I wondered if the world I was in was as bad as I had thought. Beats dead guys and rapists, I guess. I shook away the thought, then looked up at the pony, determined to calm him down. With that goal in mind, I looked around the small house. The walls were mostly bare, except for a small photograph of two ponies, a gray pegasus with a straw colored mane and yellow eyes which seemed to look in different directions who was leaning against a tan colt with blue determined eyes. They were standing in front of a blue phone booth which looked like the old police call boxes they had in Britain before the police weren’t around to be called.

“So…” I said, not looking to the pony. “Are those friends of yours? Family?” I nodded to the photo, looking back at him.

He shook his head, “The Doctor was, but I never met his friend. I heard she was a train wreck though.” He smiled, “Or maybe she was in a train wreck, I did always wonder about her eyes whenever he would show me pictures. This is their house, or it was until he gave it to me and left. My name’s Solar Flare.” He took a step forward, holding out a hoof.

I paused for a moment at the bold move, then I took the hoof into my hand, cracking a smile. “My name’s Eden, nice to meet you Solar.”

*--^--*

The sewer tunnel stank of shit and other waste products which had accumulated over the last year, making me cringe my nose and stop. In my head, I kept hearing the song I heard on the plane. It had got louder as I walked, until I could focus on little else, the smell bringing me back to reality. He didn’t kill me, the missile didn’t kill me. Why am I so focused on that moment? I had figured out the gloves without a problem once I had dodged the missile, my wingsuit barely saving my ass (actually, it almost didn't my ass; it saved the rest of me well enough though. It still hurts a little every so often.)

I looked ahead, and I stopped. I took a step back, surprised by my head’s collision with the wall in front of me. My confusion subsided as anger took over. The path I had been given was wrong, or maybe it was a trap. My thoughts jumped all over the place, until one jumped to the forefront of my mind: Look up.

I heard the hammer of the pistol go back, and I couldn’t help but mutter, “It’s a god damn trap.” I looked up, four barrels of the assault rifles the soldiers held staring back at me.

*--^--*

The ruined house sat, undisturbed since the man’s departure early the previous morning, in the small clearing in the woods. The man in the long black coat had watched him leave, before investigating the surrounding area and hunting in the process. A few rabbits later, the man decided the other was not returning soon and opted to sit on a boulder. He drew a longsword from the sheath on his left hip, stroking the shiny clean steel absent mindedly as he waited.

As the sun began to set, animals emerged from the surrounding woods, approaching the man in the coat with the sword, sniffing curiously at his boots. He regarded them with a nod, before he looked towards the setting sun. He looked the opposite direction, towards the full moon as she slowly rose into the sky. The moonlight shined against his black hair, illuminating his young unshaven face and old grey eyes.

“As the end comes, the wolf walks alone.” He began to sing, the animals watching him curiously.

“As the fires burn, the wolf loses no home.

As the end grows nigh, and the fires burn high.

The wolf walks alone…” He looked back to the animals to see them watching him intently.

“As the end comes, the pack will survive.

As the invaders charge, the pack will not die.

As the end come soon, and the invaders loom.

The pack will survive.” The man once more looked back to the animals to see the crowd had grown to well over a hundred.

“As the end comes close, the coward will flee.

As the invaders charge, the mighty will fall.

As the fires rage on, the innocent will burn.

As they all die around, without a sound

Vaelyn will fail them all.” The man looked down, the sword clattering to the ground as he went limp, sleep overtaking him. “And I did fail them all, time and time again, to the end of time…” Vaelyn fell into the crowd of animals, and was caught as they crowded around him, keeping him warm through the cold of the night. Despite the ages old song repeating in his head, he slept well. As well as one as old and guilty as him could sleep.