A World of Nothing

A lonely path. That was all it ever was now. A light flickered upon it, but even that light was eaten by the blackness. The unending downpour raged on, unbeknown to the fact it was buffeting no one.

Life had been devoured here. There was only Tear's Pass, Hollowform, the remains, and the rainfall left. Nothing of note left here. Nobody.

Hundreds of years like this, where nothing passed. The Husk had been certain nothing would come by. Emptiness reigned, just the way it preferred it. There was no good anymore. No evil. Everything of the sort had been erased, like a hurricane had swept morals and memory away. Just empty.

The cobblestone crunched suddenly, a clawed foot swallowed by the puddles. The form was dark. Blinded by the dark. Made of the dark. One of the few that could survive in a damp, empty place like this. The rain had a target now.

The light slowly illuminated the creature. A dark face, yet the purple was unmistakable. Two wings, four legs, six horns, eight spikes protruding from the end of its tail. One would call him a freak if one was still there.

A dragon. It had been too long since anyone had seen one. All wiped away by the Fall. Royalty reduced to nothing, burned to a cinder by their subjects. If it had been five hundred years ago, the dragon would've been above everyone. The dragon would've been known for power and prosperity. He would've been king.

But no. Now he would be known as a creature. A mere thing in a world of nothing. But wasn't that all anyone ever was?

He looked up. The glow of the celestial moons had faded long ago. Night was eternal, just as myth had foretold long ago. Eternal darkness was cast, the Dark Master's wishes finally, for once fulfilled.

He exhaled. He knew what he had to do. The Ancestors had told him when they created him. Travelling the desolate plains behind him, he was starved of everything. Sometimes he thought he shouldn't have taken up the responsibility. He cast those thoughts away swiftly.

He shifted forward, golden amulet jingling. Ever since he had fallen, the amulet was locked around his neck. It wouldn't budge, no matter how he tried.

The dragon stumbled upon a cliff face. Long, winds howling like hounds. It looked behind itself. The light died away.

He took a breath, and then he dove.

There was agony, and then nothingness; the gloom had clouded his vision, sending him careening into the remains far below. The dragon was one of them, but only for a moment. He stood soon as though the events hadn't unfolded. He peered downwards, towards the amulet, clutching his skull. The golden hue dimmed slightly. Every death was yet another soul to cast into the amulet, and every death meant a new, stronger soul replaced it. Using the power of lives already stored, the amulet fashioned one anew from the essence stored within. It was a cycle.

The dragon sometimes thought he was no longer himself. He felt he was a husk – in fact, like the Husk. The two were similar. That was what gave him this responsibility, after all. If he was to fulfil the wishes of the Ancestors, then so be it. He would die again and again for his masters.

As he moved forward, his vision once again complete, not impaired, he noticed more light. Recently lit, he thought. Or simply a glowworm in a jar, hanging from a pole, left there for hundreds of years. The Fall had reduced almost everything in its wake to nothing, yet these little glowworms miraculously survived. With no energy source left, others would place them in bottles. These worms could survive for hundreds of years unfed. The other he'd just left behind must've passed.

"Better up there than down here," his solemn voice spoke. His voice remained hoarse too, the effects of dehydration. Water was practically non-existent here.

The path coiled around the cliff, serpent-like. He followed the glowworms, ancient cobblestone crunching beneath his paws. A skull shattered beneath his foot, but that happened too often for it to scar him.

The cold nipped at his scarred scales, as did the rain. He saw more of the glow ahead, through the dirt and stone.

Hollowform, the faded town. Nobody would be there now. He would simply walk in and raid the dilapidated homes for supplies. He didn't require anything more from them. And then it was on to the next settlement. Yet another with nobody to see.

It was a lonely path.

He reached the houses, placing a paw to his forehead to scrutinise the area. Crumbled, they were, destroyed by age and razed during the Fall. Dead was the word he used to describe it. Just like everything else.

He set his sights upon the first building, a small structure with a torn sign limply hanging from a bent pole. Most of the wording was weathered, but the words were clear enough to him. 'Khalida's General Store,' and next to it, the word 'open.'

He didn't care for the words much; he checked the knob, and found it was unlocked. It'd be open forever at this rate. Swinging it ajar, only just fitting through with his growing body, he found a faintly lit room, more glowworms sitting on the shelf, slithering around their bottles absentmindedly. Goods lay haphazardly placed around the counter in front of him. Food on the rotting floorboards was eaten away by a tiny rat, and it seemed recently placed. But nobody could be here. Hollowform's residents were among the first to die.

He dried his scales with a mouldy towel by the windowsill. He began his search for a meal. Anything to feed his stomach; his rib cage was noticeable beneath his thin chest scales. Even that rat was a tasty morsel to him. It was the first thing he set his violet eyes upon after settling down

The rat didn't know any better. He snatched it up in his paws. It shrieked, struggling. It peered into his eyes in desperation. He licked his maw.

"Oh, you can eat anything, but don't hurt poor old Mr. Nibbles..."

He looked back, stunned to hear a voice. A girl stood at the entrance, a cheetah no less. She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for him to discard the rat.

The dragon cleared his throat. "And you are?"

"What does it matter right now? That's my only friend you're about to devour there."

The dragon looked at the morsel, and exhaled before dropping it down next to its meal again, a slice of fresh bread. He thought about eating the bread instead, but she would've been mad. He wasn't totally heartless, but a dying world taught him to be otherwise.

"Thank you." She strode over toward the other end of the counter; she was small compared to him, but he could tell she was in adulthood. Dragons grew to a much larger size. One of the many reasons they decided to become rulers. Everyone was literally below them.

The cheetah leaned forward, resting her arms on the bench. It creaked beneath the pressure. "Now, how can I help you?"

He creased his brow, a faint smirk playing on his muzzle. "You run a store all the way out here? When nobody's left? How's business?"

"I don't really run it," she said. "I just thought it would be nice to make it my own, ya know? If you do want to spend some money on something though, I'd be glad to give it to ya."

"Not that any of the items here are yours." He knew, but he joked anyhow. Nobody would have amassed such a pile of junk by themselves. "That's theft."

She shook her head, chortling. "Nobody needs to know that. Do ya need anything, though?"

"I'm a bit hungry. Travelling around here leaves you feeling that way."

She nodded. "Oh, trust me, I know. Can't stay here forever. Need to find something to eat eventually. And bringing it all back here without it getting soaked by this downpour is a nightmare."

"Could you get me something?" he asked.

"Do you have any money?" she retorted. A moment later she grinned. "Hold on, lemme go fetch you something." Behind her counter was a cellar, and she moved down the steps in a rush. The dragon seated himself upon the floorboards; they whimpered beneath his weight. Before he could get comfortable, however, the cheetah came running back up the stairs. She had a bowl of something in her paws. He couldn't tell what the green substance was.

"What am I looking at?" he questioned as she placed it on the counter in front of him. He dipped a claw into the mixture. It stuck to his finger liked honey. Strangely enough, it had a glow to it.

"Mashed up glowworms."

"That is disgusting." He shook his head. Sure, he was hungry and could eat anything, but anything of that nature was just dreadful. Glowworm was appalling, he knew. He could go without food forever, but his bones could hardly hold his own weight at this point. He'd live, but he'd be useless.

She ignored his comment. "What brings a dragon here anyway, a purple one especially? I thought they didn't exist anymore. Apart from that Husk they talked about in stories, of course."

"They don't exist anymore, apart from me and a few others, and that Husk." He exhaled, licking the mixture off his claw tips. As he foresaw, a nasty texture, a dreadful taste. He pushed the bowl away. "I'm travelling. What brings a cheetah to Hollowform?"

"Simply an adventurer, like you then. I settled down here a while ago. I've been the world over. Or, well, I've been over whatever the world is now... My name's Khalida, if you didn't read the sign out front."

He found a soul other than his own shocking. One that was as experienced as he, truly a miracle. The fact she obviously hadn't died to a bite or a scratch or a disease yet was surprising.

"What's your name?"

He looked at her. He wasn't sure how to answer her question. "I... don't know."

Her question made himself ask more. He'd forgotten what his name was. It'd never mattered.

"I understand. Almost forgot my own once. Nobody ever spoke it. Nobody was there to remind me of it."

Saddening, he thought, to lose one's grasp on themselves like that. It'd happened to him.

"Well, how's about we come up with something cool, like..." She paused a moment, placing a claw to her muzzle. "Something cool like... Godric! Or something..."

He found it suited him. The power of gods. He was the purple dragon, after all.

"I like that."

Oops, completely forgot to put this one here. Oh well. It's not too long anyway.

Here's another project I've started, inspired greatly by the likes of Hollow Knight (great job, guest, I must've made that really easy to figure out :P). After finishing it twice, I had some ideas for a fic suddenly, and this was what spawned. And now I have three fics I need to finish. Great. XD

I hope you enjoyed this really experimental piece of writing. More very soon. I'm loving writing this at the moment.