One-Shot: It's Time
Inspiration: It's Time by Imagine Dragons
It's a cloudy night, a storm slowly churns in the sky; threatening to turn deadly without a moment's hesitation. The landscape was a bleak desert; a valley showed the remenments of what used to thrive in this wasteland. Bits of rusty pieces of ancient buildings pierced through the dusty surface, tethered flags hung in shame. What vegetation was left in this dull and lifeless place was also dull and lifeless; no leaves, no lush green colors, no life.
Atop of a tall cliff that overlooked the little valley, stood four teenagers, each wearing dirt-colored cloaks that hid their true figures.
"Are you sure about this?" Asked a girl with lavender eyes. Her face was paler than the moon, some strands of her raven black hair peeked from underneath the hooded cloak. The 'supposed' two leaders glanced with each other, sharing words of silence between them before the shortest one of the group spoke.
"I'm sure." Said the young teenage male, his light sapphire eyes dazzlingly even in the lack of light. "If we don't do this, then how are we gonna stop those ghosts?"
The word 'ghosts' seemed to perk up everyone's attention. Eyes of all colors rested on the shortest member, emotion swirling like countless tornadoes. Determination, hatred, and fear shone through everyone's pair of windows.
All they ever wanted is for the ghosts to disappear….literally.
"Then let's not dawdle anymore." Said a teen with chocolate colored skin. Dark wire framed glasses jutted through his hood. Almost as if it was a command, the group began their descent to the remote valley below. Each teenager shared only one goal:
To get rid of the ghosts.
You see, ghosts live by eating the souls of the living. They also happen to gain power through the living person's soul. Even nature cannot escape the ghosts' rampage. Nearly every animal on the planet is facing extinction because of these ghosts. It seems like no matter how many souls ghosts eat (human or not), they are never full. Sure, there have been cases that ghosts have exploded from the inside out because of overeating; but it isn't very often. Besides, even if everything living on the planet has died, ghosts would still thrive; for they would turn on one another. And that would be a very bad thing, for if a ghost absorbs another ghost; ghost that had absorbed the other would gain all of the other's powers and souls that they had eaten, making that ghost even more powerful.
That's why ghosts need to be destroyed. Or else, everything will be lost.
The teens approached the bottom of the valley, where carcasses of trees stood unmoving. Rusty metal I-beams punctured through the gathering dirt, the windows were nothing more than broken glass. Faded bloodied bricks rose half-heartily from the ground, forming a pathetic excuse of walls.
"Um….Little Bro?" Asked the tallest member of the group; her feminine voice bordered on fear. The little brother angled his head slightly over his shoulder. "Where exactly are we going?"
The brother opened his mouth, about to answer when confundalment clouded his face. His mouth closed itself into a thin line; his expression still in confusion. The others sighed in disappointment. The teen male huffed in irritation.
"Just follow me." He grunted, striding forward. The elder sister's thin eyebrows came together.
"Why? I thought you-"
"Yes, I don't really know where we're going, but my gut tells me to keep pushing forward." The young brother snapped at his sister. Then he turned to face the bleak landscape in front of him. "Something tells me…that something good is gonna happen. ….Soon." He finished, still striding forward.
The teens walked a few more minutes before the shortest member halted, the others instantly copying his action.
"Here." He said, his stomach twisting and turning. The others stared down what was in front of him.
A little pile of dirt and dust has collected itself in the open area. They frowned, confused at what their 'supposed leader' was leading to them. The leader crouched, his bare bony hand gently touching the surface of the pile. Then, his hand clawed its way into dirt, retracting some of the substance out. He continued this process, now using both hands, until a decent circular void was created just under the surface. One of his dirty hands gestured towards the others, impatience flickering from his hand movements.
The raven-haired teenage female reached into her cloak and pulled out a box.
Something was glowing inside of it.
She handed the box to the male, everyone gathering around as they watched as their leader grabbed the box away from the female and brought it closer to him. Then, the male slowly, almost painfully, lifted the lid open.
Inside was a great ball of green energy that swirled around in its spherical cage. An ungodly power radiated from the sphere, promising great power, responsibility, and death.
It is said, that this ball of ghost energy (along with another one), is the outcome of the huge battle between the Ghost King, Pariah Dark, and the six ancient ghost mages.
About four hundred years ago, Pariah ruled the world, conquering the world with his ghostly army and gained power just for himself. It got to the point that the human population was almost entirely wiped out by then. Most fought against the Ghost King, but all perished in the battles. However, the last few remaining humans were constantly squandering for food, shelter, protection, peace; but most of all, hope.
Then, at the darkest hour, when Pariah almost had killed the last of the humans, six figures in green robes came out to stop him. These six figures were the ancient mages, known only to the ghost world. They were very powerful beings, ones with power like no other. Power, that can up seized the corrupt king.
An epic battle was fought; both sides equal in strength and power; but no one could win, for the Ghost King had grown too powerful for the ancient mages to be able to destroy. So, instead, when the mages had managed to weaken the Ghost King, they cursed him with a powerful spell; one that made all of his ghostly energy turns against him. The Ghost King, then, had a conflict within himself, his energy rapidly destroying him from the inside out. The Ghost King let out a wail before his form had completely disappeared from existence. Pariah evil power, then, became a sphere-like prison, sealing his power away forever more.
The mages thought that they had bested the evil king, but they weren't expecting the side effects of sealing the king's powerful and untamable ghost energy. Their own ghost energy began to leave them, also forming a spherical prison.
Thus, the seven most powerful beings of all time were sealed into two different spheres of energy. The bloodied sphere held Pariah's demonic energy while the green sphere held the mages' power. For thousands of years, both spheres were hidden from both humans and ghosts.
That is, until now.
You see, the shortest member, the one holding the grass-colored sphere; had skipped a few weeks of the academy to find the mythical globe of raw power. He left the safe haven of the city and had trekked across the countryside with no form of electricity, running water, the commodities, no luxury what-so-ever as he searched for the power.
It took him a month to find the globe. It was hidden in a maze-like cave behind a waterfall. The teen still doesn't know how on Earth he made it out alive, already aware that people have died from the search for the mages' power. There was a huge opened area at some point of the cave, two rock-formed pedestals stood in the middle. He immediately noticed that only the green sphere was there; already betting that someone took Pariah's dark power. But he shrugged it off as he grabbed the mages' power; he only wanted the green sphere in the first place.
For, you see, it is said that once you plant the mages' ghostly energy, it will spread like poison, curing this world from the ghosts, ridding them forever more.
The shortest member gulped, delicately placing the green sphere into the ground. The others watched as he spread the dirt on top; all praying that this would work.
That all these ghosts would be destroyed once and for all…
Once the 'leader' had covered the sphere, the dirt began to glow a faint green. Smiles of happiness tugged at each teen's faces.
It's working! It's actually working! They seemed to think simultaneously to themselves; not noticing the how the eye of the storm was now above them; beginning to churn faster and faster above them, becoming more and more ominous from the ghost energy. Shadows grew unnaturally larger, the skeletons of trees were beginning to rot, the air getting steadily colder. It wasn't until the wind began to nip at their skins, did they realize how dangerous the atmosphere had become.
They all stared up at the churning storm above their heads in awe.
"What's going on?" Asked the chocolate teen.
Suddenly, gusts of wind swirled around them, ripping their hoods off of their heads. They crouched, trying to decrease the amount of air pushing against their bodies.
"Let's get outta here!" Cried out the tallest with her carrot-topped hair billowing around her features. No one needed to be told twice as they scrambled away from the center of the storm.
The shortest member, his jet-black hair messy as ever, glanced back at the softly glowing dirt; something telling him to stay near it. He slowed to a stop, unsure whether to listen to his gut or to his common sense. The others noticed the lack of their 'leader's' presence, then stopped and turned to face him.
For them, it seems like everything stilled; like a picture caught in a moment of time.
"Danny?" Asked the teen who wore glasses. The shortest teen, Danny, opened his mouth, about to say something when the ground suddenly shuddered. Each teen immediately braced them by spreading out their legs to balance themselves, their arms outstretched. The raven-haired female's lavender eyes grew as she saw huge and dark moving towards the short teen.
"Danny!" She screamed, fear overwhelming her voice. "Behind you!" Danny, being frightened by the female's voice, turned to look what was behind him.
He froze deathly still.
Where the sphere of power once glowed, now were great black clouds of billowing smoke blasting out of the ground. They moved as if they were alive, slithering their way upwards towards the storm clouds, or flowed along the dried up ground. But there was one thing for sure; the smoke was getting closer to the group of teens.
Instantly, they all began to run. The other teens didn't fear about Danny not being able to catch up, for he's one of the fastest kids from their academy.
"DAAAAHHHHH!" Screamed out a male's voice, making the teens come to a screeching halt. As quick as a Venus fly trap, they snapped their heads towards the scream, already dreading the worst.
"DANNY!" They screamed out in utter terror at the scene. The shortest teen was being dragged away from them; the dark clouds clawed him back towards where he had buried the ancient ghost's power. Without a second thought, they rushed towards the massive form of clouds, intent on saving their leader, their friend, their brother.
"AAAAHHHH!" Danny screamed as the smoke covered his sight. The teens flipped once the teen was out of their sights.
"DANNY!" They screamed once more, barreling their way to save Danny.
But, then the strangest thing happened.
A wall of green ghost energy exploded, flinging the teens backwards. They landed sprawled out on the hard, cracked ground; each sporting huge bruises on the impact areas.
They tried to move, to get up; but couldn't. Their bodies refused to respond to their wishes. So, instead, each looked up towards the spiraling form of clouds; tears of horror trailing down their faces as they realized the inevitable.
That they're all doomed.
Danny continued to scream as the solidified cloud dragged him away from his two best friends and his sister. He tried all he could to fight against it, but he couldn't free himself. Finally realizing what this meant, the teen gave up, crying softly.
"I don't wanna die…" He mumbled, his consciousness fading from him. He steadily became tired as each passing second flew by. He knew that the smoke was dragging him towards the mages' power, and that confused the teen. Why would the smoke bring him to the ghosts' power? It just doesn't make any sense.
A sense of peace and calm settled into the teen's system as his breaths slowed to a stop. He felt so much colder than usual; you could say he was freezing like a corpse. His body instinctively became limp, his sapphire eyes fading.
The smoke had finally brought him back to where he had first buried the mages' power, the atmosphere so calm. The cloud released the boy from its misty grasps; but instead of the teen falling, he seemed to float above the pile of dirt, as if he was being levitated by some otherworldly power, a pure white aura pulsed from his body.
The green power that had swirled inside of its spherical prison began to leak out; floating towards the boy like ice cream dripping from a cone, but the power was dripping upwards instead of downwards. The unstable blobs of ungodly possibilities floated into the boy's form, making him gasp in unfathomable pain as the power repeatedly attacked his body. His mind seemed to flicker into a state of unconsciousness, fleeing from the agonizing pain that tormented him.
Something made the teen wanted to squirm. This feeling that seemed to both choke him yet relieved him of air. This feeling of hope but yet dousing him in dread. This feeling….this feeling…
Of being alive, yet dead…
He was so distracted by these feelings that he didn't noticed how calm the atmosphere had suddenly become, a breeze flowing through his sweaty graying hair. The storm broke, sunlight gleaming onto the floating boy. The ghostly power has finally stopped leaking from the ground, the rest of it entering the boy's limp boy, whose mind was fading away from him, drowning him into slumber. His skin was like that of a porcelain doll.
But before the teen could go to sleep, an ancient voice, or voices, whispered into his mind, as if it was sharing a secret with him.
"Daniel James Fenton..." Said the voices, echoing like how a ghost's voice would. It immediately grabbed the teen's attention, though he was still falling into a deep sleep. He heard the voices spoke once more before everything left him in a thick silent darkness.
"It's Time…"
I apologize for any spelling/grammar errors. Blame Microsoft Word.