Looking for randomness, whump and a bit of a thrill? This two chapter mini fic should do it for you!
Haha, weird intro, I know…oh well…I cooked this up to get my creative juices going again -all so I could get back to finishing my other stories (so for those of you following me, I have not abandoned them, I promise!)
As i was typing this story, I was listening to sad/powerful songs from Zack Hemsey: The Way and Waiting Between Worlds. I strongly recommend you try them in that order as they really strengthen the emotions of the moment. If not, i hope my writing alone is entertaining enough for you ;)
Anyways, read on, I hope you enjoy this!
Pain.
A red, hot flash of stabbing pain raced through my limbs, forcing an arch into my back and prying my mouth open for forbidden breaths of air while my widening my eyes darted about in a desperate terror.
Agony.
I couldn't hear, could barely see. My senses had been stripped from me….all but the sensation of touch.
It was the one damned sense I wanted nothing to do with. The one agonizing sense that was tearing me apart from the inside out. Literally.
I couldn't scream -I'd already tried that. The lack of air forbade by voice.
I wanted to cry. Just wanted to scream and cry and strangle the heavens for an answer that justified this end.
But i couldn't ...and no answer came.
I was all alone. Frightened for once in my life. Frightened enough to admit that I couldnt do this alone, that i was no longer the brave leader in this fight, that i needed help.
I was frightened beyond all reason. Subjected to the kind of fear that overrides all logical thought and restricts a person to breathless panting, twitching and a inexplicable urge to run. To escape.
But still, I couldn't move. I was stuck…pinned down would be more accurate.
Lanced straight through the gut and pinned down to the ground with my own flesh and blood, would be extremely accurate…
I gasped desperately, once more, and this time a strange feeling of suction drifted through my awareness.
It felt like I was dragging rusty nails through a thin water-spout. Except the spout was my insides...
Whatever it was, it brought about a scratchy, irritating feeling that left my eyes swimming with tears and left my throat in gurgling mess of molten liquids.
I gasped again. I needed air!
It was then that something hot and wet trickled over my lips and dripped down into my thick beard. The liquid had a crimson taste, one I had become well acquainted with over the years.
It was never good news… so I ignored for the time being.
Air was more important. I would die without air... I was dying already…I could feel it.
The icy, bone like fingers of the grim reaper were slowly tightening themselves into my shredded leathers, but I could do naught about it.
I wanted to call for help but I couldn't….And even if I could, distracting my brothers, while in battle, would be a death sentence for us all.
I could not allow myself to endanger them further.
I was beyond saving anyway.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing, in out, in out. It had seemed so simple before, and yet, with every passing moment, the task became that much more impossible.
It was like drowning on land. Laden down by invisible lead weights while metal sliced and clashed overhead, while musket charges echoed across the battle torn fields that now basked in only the glow of midnight with its' thick smokey haze. While I lay here, dying.
Not a drop of water in sight. No friends. No brothers. No air…
In, out. In, out. Just breathe…I repeated this mantra in my mind, visualizing the goal as if it were a beacon of light in an endless fog.
I could get through this, or at least I could damned well try.
They wouldn't give up so easily in this situation. They wouldn't give up on me.
So I couldn't give up on them…on me…on us.
In, out. In, out.
A sensation of lightness suddenly descended on my form making my limbs feel as if they were floating above the ground, free from those strange lead objects at last.
I peeled my eyes open, spying my blurrily injured form and the silver rod that pierced its' center.
I was not floating as I had believed…I was still as stuck as ever….so why did I feel this way.
I wanted to ask my brother. He knew everything there was to know about injuries, or at least we believed so.
He would know what this feeling was, he would know how to fix me…somehow…if it wasn't too late already.
Suddenly I wanted to call for him, call my brother over and ask him to fix me. To save me. To tell me I could survive this. That i didn't have to leave this world just yet...
But his name escaped me.
I could see his handsome face, that long grey cloak, the charming twinkle of his eyes. I had known him for years. We had forged a deep bond of brotherhood. He had saved me many a time, and I, him.
But his name…
The dreaded fog of illusion clouded my mind once more. The pain was ebbing somewhat by now. You would think this fortunate circumstance would allow me to concentrate and recall…but it did not.
Swiveling my head left into the wet, muddied grass, I sought out the silhouette of my closest brothers.
Perhaps if I could see them again, a name would provide itself…or better yet, they would notice me.
Or maybe i just wanted to see them one last time, as warriors fighting in all their glory. Of warriors whom i loved, did love and was proud of beyond anything else in my bleak, short, miserable life.
I watched the twisting shadows lunged to and fro in a deadly battle of skills. Admired the dancing, skirting and twisting of their torsos and how it all seemed like some sort of exotic, elaborate art, one of beauty and passion…
It was always strange how the mind drew these conclusions in the most dire of times…
A sudden pain shot up through my chest and forced me to hold my breath as it simmered beneath the surface, sparking up through my bones to radiate out into shakes and shivers.
I was growing tired of this…
I wanted it to end, but it had just begun…or had it?
Time had become as lost as my addled mind.
As the pain flowed and subsided I settled back into the rattling moans that had become my new pace of breath. I was gracious for it, as it meant I may survive, yet.
In, out, In, out... The mantra was fading too. Becoming a little more pointless with every waning second.
I needed help now. I had gained my breath, now what I needed was help. The help of my brothers.
I gazed about once more, not having remembered closing my dim eyes shut in exhaustion.
This was no time to sleep. I needed to find my brothers.
If they could not come to me, I would go to them.
I twisted my torso as if in attempt to sit up, and immediately, an excruciating pain rose in my gut.
Ah, yes. I was pinned...
Raising trembling arms up into the air, I rested the leaden limbs about the top of the blade, scrunching numbed fingers about the handle before giving a testing tug at its weight.
Another fiery pain shot forth. One that forced me into a halt and left me gritting my teeth and clenching the blade with all my might.
I had to get past this trivial sensation. I could not let pain rule my life -or take it from me. I had been through painful situations all my life, I could surely handle this one.
I smirked at my own subconscious humour and gripped the handle once more.
In, out, in out. I blinked vigorously to clear my eyes as my vision faded out once more with large grey splotches. It wouldn't stop me. I wouldn't allow it.
In, out, in, out. Hold breath. Pull!
I yanked the sword upwards as hard as I could in one swift movement, felt the slicing of metal on flesh -and the unbearable pain that came with it.
My vision flickered, nausea flared, hair prickled. It felt as if I was living life at the seat of an active volcano.
Please, god, make it stop!
My eyes were closed so tightly, that a sparkling vision had begun to float about underneath my eyelids. My jaw couldn't possibly take more strain than what my muscles were permitting. And yet it did.
The pain, the agony.
Infinite tidal waves of molten embers washed through my system, bringing with it an inky darkness so deep, I felt as if I would never see the light of day again.
My consciousness was evaporating. I was free and yet, now, I was trapped in this new realm. A realm of restrictive agony.
I still could not move.
As if in answer to my thoughts, warmth suddenly washed over my midsection to create a somewhat soothing feeling against the icy chill I had been experiencing.
A warmth that promised shorter suffering….or did it?
The lightness of weight quickly surged forth, back into my bones, leaving me to feel as if I were levitating.
That man had warned me something of this…that man…my brother….the brother with the twinkling eyes…with the knowledge of pain… he had warned me of this, hadn't he?…I couldn't remember…
Either way, this warmth? It was bad…he told me that much. It was dangerous even.
The instinct to cover up the warmth and stem its flow suddenly overrode my dulled awareness and I pawed forwards weakly at a hot entry point.
It hurt like the blazes and yet, the more pressure there was, the better it felt.
I had been right to listen to my brother. He had always pulled through for me, even when we were apart. I would have to thank him, if i saw him again.
In, out, in out. The breathing must continue.
I tried, but choked. The strange, hot liquid had returned in my mouth. It was hard to breathe around and only served a nuisance to my struggles.
Perhaps if I turned onto my side…
My body twisted slightly at the unassuming command, permitting me to lie on my side and drain the horrible liquid from my mouth.
The pain of breathing ceased unexpectedly.
Not missing a beat, I tested a deep lungful and found that only a minor twinge of pain returned.
What did this mean?
I pondered the unusual fact a moment longer before common sense forbid my mind from wandering along that dangerous lonely path again. I needed help, I needed to reach my brothers.
Lying here would accomplish nothing but a slow and painful death.
I fisted numb fingers into the grass, pulling my body over onto my front as my legs slid up and pushed me into a crawling arc of sorts. I stayed in this inferior position until I found the strength to lean back and simply kneel in the grass.
It was a triumph for the ages.
Dropping a hand to my leaking, sodden gut, set about a new fire. One i had somehow been prepared for, though it not as severe i had expected.
Counting my graces for this supposedly heaven-sent sign, I mustered all of my remaining strength into my legs and painfully raised myself onto my feet, swaying there for a moment longer.
I was up. Free. Now, there was smoke...Smoke everywhere.
There were shadows of men in battle.
It was that much harder to decipher them up here, through the thick of it all. Especially when you were bleeding out and your sight was consequently failing.
And yet, I stumbled forth, towards the riot. I would not stop, not again.
I may not be able to move again if i did...
I looked forth, stumbling with my head held high -searching for my brothers ever more. I had to find them!
I was beginning to forget why.
Some one up here, one of the twisting, turning, screaming men...one of them would be my brothers in arms. They would find a way to help me.
I would merely walk up to them and announce my need for assistance. I doubt they'd turn me down...they couldn't. I needed them.
To greet them would be much wiser than calling them out -for if I did, they could be stabbed, much like I was.
Left foot, forth, right foot, forth. In, out, in out. Blink vision clear. Pressure on wound. Brace for pain. Repeat.
I could do this. I could reach them. I could save myself. I could-
Suddenly, something rough caught my boot and wrenched me back down to the earth with a cry I hadn't known possible of myself.
Red hot pain wracked my body in an instant, crippling my defenses and leaving me in the throws of agony. My vision faded, my breathing hitched, my muscles tensed leaving my body to naturally curl in upon itself.
It cried for an end. I couldn't help but agree.
I was being foolish. I could not escape this fate, not like this. Not on my own. It was over. I was through.
Warm, blissful peace descended on my weary bones and dulled the pains of my body and mind. A smile touched my lips as I closed my eyes.
The lethargy was seductive. I could just sleep away the pain. Who knew it would be so easy?
Suddenly, a voice cut through the fog… a familiar voice…
It called for me.
A conflict for sleep and wakefulness quickly took place in my mind. Should I stay here and rest…forget the agony, the pain, the suffering…or, relive it all in the hopes that I may be saved…
As it would turn out, I didn't have the authority for the choice.
Strong, insistent fingers abruptly wove their way into my leather garment and rolled me onto my back. Then the deep, gruff voice came back overhead, echoing my name. Ordering me to wake, to respond, to open my eyes.
But I was just so tired…sleep couldn't hurt…could it?
I had tried my hardest, i deserved this rest.
The brushing of fabric quickly turned into prodding and gentle shoving. My 'savior' wasn't giving up so easily.
The voice boomed again, though this time, it was tainted with fright instead of plain concern.
Perhaps I should take pity on them…open my eyes…convey to them my need for rest, so they would leave me alone. Give me peace.
I opened my eyes and 'focused' them towards the giant looming dark form above me. I could just make out his white, piercing half smile that shone down to me -as if I was being rewarded for doing his bidding.
But then the smile faded and my savior looked off into the distance. It looked as if he was troubled. Torn between two conflicts -of which I was slowly forgetting existed.
Lately, all that had mattered was breathing and searching. Now, all that mattered was just breathing…maybe not even that.
The man above me suddenly dropped back down to my side, calling to someone loudly over his shoulder before digging his thick, dark arms under my frame.
Despite the addled state, I braced myself for what I knew would come next. And come it did.
Jolted up into the air in the strong, sturdy arms of the man who seemed determined to help me, I found myself wishing I had not been found.
The pain came back. The tremors too. The all consuming need to scream, run, vomit and claw my way out came back with a vengeance.
I tried to move. Tried to raise my voice by some way of protest. But my efforts were futile.
All i managed was a moan.
"Stay still, Athos. I've got you, It's okay" a deep voice murmured.
Somehow, his words cut through the fog -bringing me back to a sense of reality. Telling me that I was not alone, that help had arrived, that this ordeal I had been battling had finally amounted to something.
It was an overwhelming feeling. A feeling that sent a single tear trailing down my dirty cheek before a blanket of darkness started to consume me entirely with the final thought that maybe I wouldn't have to die today... at least not alone.
Little cliffy? Good/Bad? ...part two will be up shortly! Please let me know what you thought of this :)