I don't know what took me first, if it was my own anger or the demon inside of me. All I remember was pain, and then water. I couldn't breathe! I didn't need to! As I fought my way to the surface through the gripping, icy waters of the sea I realized something. I was dead. Or at least my body was. I could see through my own legs as I swam!

Shock struck me like a shaft through my heart. This cold wasn't the water, the water was too clear to be cold, too rich with life! This cold... this icy grip, was death. A sharp pain shot up my leg and my spine, sending me into a thrashing rage! What dare hurt me! When I turned my gaze downwards I saw a creature, I knew it as a spiritrender; how I do not know. It gazed back and in its jaws was a sliver of my flesh!

Enraged I began to thrash again, striking at it with my hooves! It soon swam away, cursing at me in the way spiritrenders speak. After a few moments of watching the dark depths beneath me I realized I was sinking and I began to swim towards the surface, my strokes stronger. I didn't understand the pull of the world around me. If I was truly dead, a spirit, then why did it affect me?

The next thing I knew my head broke the surface and I sucked air into my lungs, painfully! It burned, oh god it burned! Still I struggled to make it to the surface, sucking in air like there was no tomorrow. When I got a lungful of water it made no difference, my body treated it the same! I forcefully coughed out the salty liquid, straining for the shore, lungs heaving on instinct to suck in more air.

The moment my legs touched bottom I lunged for the shore, the water sloshing about my chest as if I was truly solid. It confused me because I could still see through myself! As I dragged my aching body onto the shore, legs threatening to give out, I noticed that my hooves had split. Wait… not split, they were cloven! Only unicorn hooves were cloven! [b]Or Demons.[/b] The thought made me shudder with revulsion. I couldn't be a demon could I? Yet I knew, deep down I knew, I was no unicorn.

When the burning fire in my lungs began to ease and my breathing slowed… no stopped! In the few moments that everything was quiet enough I realized that I could not hear my heart, that I could not feel it pumping the blood through my veins. As I restrained myself from breathing I felt no burn that signaled I needed to breathe, no weakness in my body. I turned my head to look at the wound on my leg and found no blood staining it. It no longer hurt, but it appeared to be a scarred muscle, something that would never heal over.

A sound! A familiar, relieving sound! It was calling something, someone, who? I tried to listen but the word simply fogged over in my mind and drowned itself in memories I could not remember. I began to approach, only to stop and stare at the black wisp that swirled around my hooves. The ground appeared scorched where I had walked, the very sand itself burnt to a crisp. If black sand could get any blacker, it had done so.

Not as confident as before I continued to move towards the voice, the panicked voice that kept calling, calling. As I topped a hill I stopped. Down below was a beautiful white mare, pacing back and forth, gazing out at the ocean I had just fought my way out of. My breath caught as I watched how she moved. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, and yet… she looked right through me! Look at yourself. The words were hissed into my mind, as if by some other being, I did as ordered and stared in shock.

Behind me was a thick tail of a snake with a line of stiff hair running down the top and then fluffing out at the end. I quickly made my way over to a puddle and there, staring back at me, was the face of a demon. Two spines sprouted from its forehead and goat horns curled from just in front of its ears. With a shrill cry I struck the puddle with my fore-hooves, sending it flying into oblivion. You do not want her to see you, so she cannot.

My body began to fade back to being solid, and I prayed to whatever god there was that it also meant normal. I didn't feel any different though, the pain of my leg remained, intensified, and when I looked, it was covered in blood. Spirits do not bleed. However… solid beings… do. I reared up and struck at the air, releasing a cry so ferocious it scared me. I spun around; intent on facing whatever was whispering these things to me. There was nothing, no presence except myself, my own mind. I am you. You are me. We are one in the same. You are forgotten.

I realized it was true, I was… forgotten