Fall From Grace: Death
Author's note: This story contains spoilers for War of Vengeance and Legend of the Exile.
The blade plunged into my torso with excruciating pain. What had I done to earn this end? To think that after all these battles, after all this fighting-I was easily undone by a single blow?
But of course. The sword had ripped a hole into my chest, forcing my ribcage open. My jacket was hot and sticky. Such a crushing, mangling blow could only be fatal. I stared into the ancient dragon's crimson eyes. Nowhere to run. No strength left to fight.
The horrified cries of my Pokemon filled my ears. My Leafeon's scream, my Raichu's shriek. My Skarmory and my Umbreon, breaking their silence with dreadful wails. And a wounded howl from Rush, my Swampert, my dearest friend.
"Murderer," I spat at the ghastly monster. This was the one that the wild Pokemon hailed as their crusador, their savior, the master of their revolution? No. Those were eyes that had wrought the world's death. The legends of ancient Sinnoh were were right to call him savage.
My fingers curled around the blade's hilt, struggling in vain to pull it free. "Allow me," hissed Giratina, his eyes gleaming. A black tentacle shot forward and wrenched the griseous blade free.
The tentacles released me, and I fell to the ground, impact battering my body. Blood splashed out from my chest faster, dribbling down onto the grass. "Why...?" I gasped to the god of darkness, blood heaving from my chest. "Why... why do you hate us so?"
His features dulled ever so slightly, the eyes turning away. "What can I do but destroy my tormentors?" answered the Exile bitterly. "How can I stay the claws of bloodshed, when they have been dry for so long?"
My vision swam, and the dragon's gray scales blurred. Was I not an Elite of Hoenn? Had Mew not promised me the path of a hero? No-I couldn't die yet. There was still so much to do. Who would protect my Pokemon, if I was gone? Who would stand beside my brother, to ensure his world didn't crumble like mine?
"Remember this day in the afterlife, Aurton Slick Silversky," declared Giratina, his eyes flashing as he rose into the sky. "Remember that you can protect nothing in this world! That for all your efforts, for all your hopes, for all your myths, you and Hoenn were ground to dust!"
In the distance, black smoke rose from the crater of Sootopolis. My beloved Hoenn lay in ruins, a crude hull of its former paradise. As the world's enemy departed, I reached a desperate hand to the sky. Giratina had to be stopped-yet I could not stop him.
Desperate hands clasped mine, and a voice cried my name. "Rush," I whispered. The Swampert pawed at me desperately, helplessly. More distraught sobs filled the air. Sparktail, Thalia, Insyte, Ferricia. My Pokemon, my precious friends.
But already, my senses were fading, my sight dimming to black. "No... no," I stammered as my Pokemon clung to me, though I could only barely feel their touch, couldn't even hear myself. "You've got to run... run and survive..."
The remaning fragments of the world disintegrated. Thusly did Aurton Slick Silversky, third of the Hoenn Elite Four, meet his end.
The gates of the abyss had been sealed for eight millenia. I was trapped in utter darkness: no earth, no sun, no moon, no stars. It was a fleeting eternity, a black heaven, a frozen hell. Above the abyss watched the Adversary who had torn the world apart.
"Mankind is but a plague, a curse upon this earth," cried Giratina to his army, his voice cruel and proud. "Selfish beings who bring death to all! We must take our rightful place as the rulers of our world. Stand with me, for I was cast through time, and cast out from time. I am the Exile."
Lost in this void, in the Passage of the Dead, the memories bled from me. A Pikachu climbing a lonely hill, staring into the distance. A Leafeon emerging from the undergrowth, her eyes widening. A helpless, shivering Eevee at the base of a stone fountain, his tiny cries unnoticed in the crowd. A Mudkip in my hands, staring up at me with apprehension.
Such was the war machine that the Exile had created, a chasm that stripped the dead of the memories of life. No more terror, for there was nothing left to fear; no more agony, for there was nothing left to be hurt; no more confusion, for there was nothing left to know; no more despair, for there was no further to fall. It the bottom of the world's abyss, only the devil waited for me.
I saw a knight wearing blue mail with silver plating, a five-bladed sword with a jeweled hilt. His eyes were content and free, for he had all the time in the world. His helmet was like a building's skeletal frame; yet it looked to be the most durable piece.
Now another knight joined his side. This one wore white plating that concealed the purple chain-links beneath, and his large shoulder pads were a lustrous pink. Surely, his massive boots could cover the breadth of the earth.
Noticing the second knight, the first turned to face him. Overhead, storm-heads were approaching, casting a shadow on the earth. Though I could not discern their words, their voices were heavy and and fearful...
I saw three children standing in a field-a large boy in blue and orange, another boy wearing a black jacket with yellow trim, and a girl in tan with a green ribbon. Nervously, the three spoke to each other, glancing around worriedly.
"Keep him happy and satisfied," said one.
"He's causing grief, but I can't bring myself to tell him," said another.
"I couldn't care less what happens to him," said a third.
On the edge of the field, I saw a fourth child, a boy in a dark gold shirt and brown shorts, eavesdropping on the others. In his eyes, I saw doubt and confusion, fear and regret. Surely, they were talking about him.
But then the girl looked up and saw the boy in dark gold. "You agree, right?" she called to him. "He's caused you trouble too, hasn't he?"
I stared at the children for a long time. Surely, I knew them, for their names were on the tip of my tongue-and yet, I could not seem to name them.
The knight in blue lay in a rotting garden, its fences collapsed, its stone edging cracked. His body was covered in wounds, his blood soaking into the flowerbed and staining his armor. There was a gaping hole in the middle of his chest-plate.
A talll sorcerer in black approached, holding the knight in white by the throat. White plating had been pried free, exposing violet chainmail. With his free hand, he ripped open the knight's chest and ribcage, crushing his heart. "Woe to my ancient brothers, who watched this world and allowed it to die," spat the sorcerer, flinging down the second knight's body.
Stepping into the garden, the sorcerer knelt by the knight in blue. "Soon, you shall demolish the honor you once upheld." A golden hand reached into the chest-plate cavity, nails digging into the knight's belly.
The knight writhed and screamed as the sorcerer's energy flowed into his body, his veins turning gold and black. His body convulsced as the sorcerer's power filled him; but he could not escape, for the armor that once protected him now trapped him in the garden.
And soon, I could no longer feel sympathy for the warrior.
"Stop acting like such an idiot," yelled the Mudkip.
"Why didn't you care about me?" cried the Umbreon.
"Stupid kid!" yelled Mark. "You're a such an idiot."
"Look, I'm sorry," sighed Chris, frustrated. "There's always next year, all right?"
"You fool," accused Steven Stone. "You have destroyed this land for the sake of a fairy tale."
"Remember this always, Aurton Silversky," shouted Giratina. "Remember that you can protect nothing in this world!"
I tried to escape, tried to flee. But I had no legs with which to run, no mouth with which to scream, no hands with which to crawl, no lungs left to fill with breath, no heart left to beat. And at last, I understood.
Light was but a shallow, fleeting force that flickered into existence, briefly feigning its superiority before fading into dust. In the end, only darkness remains. Darkness was not an evil, arcane intrusion, but a natural product, etched into the world's very nature. Surely, even this final chain that refused to vanish was not light, but darkness...?
Continued in Part 2: Downfall