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Author's Note:
This particular piece will be influenced heavily by MUSIC. Every chapter will have a piece of music available on YT by various artists that you can listen to whilst reading.
For this particular chapter, I highly recommend listening to the piano piece of Oracion by HoopsandHipHop.
As with all my pieces, any feedback is appreciated! Without further ado, enjoy: Darkrai's Oracion.
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Fssshhhh…
Fsshhhhh…
The gentle push and pull of the white foam pulsates over the rough crag, the spray fanning out into the air and dispersing into a rain of sparkling tears upon the calm ocean. Green blankets the chilled water, only stirred by the droplets and churned by the tide.
On a night like this, any other story would tell of how the moon was shining upon the water, illuminating the rippling surface...of how romantic it was...not a cloud in the sky and stars shining bright… But tonight, there is no moon in the sky, nor are there any stars.
Somewhere out there in the abyss of the night, there's people out there...a family...partners...friends...all gathered around, basking in the brightness of their love...but there He stands on that cliffside, looking out over the dark, green waves...alone in self-isolation. He's but a shadow against a dark backdrop, glowing cerulean eyes fixated on the emptiness before him that mirrors the feeling in his chest. Memories dance in His head of smiles and laughter he hasn't seen nor heard in seasons lost to him; they're nothing more than a silent film's reel damaged by the cruelty that is time.
He wonders vaguely how the world must be now. No matter how it is, He knows that it is better than it would be if he were there to experience it for himself. That is how it has always been - the very reason he stands upon this island now.
Darkrai tilts his head toward the sky, the white plume on his head flowing behind him lazily despite the rush of the ocean breeze against his dark frame. What would it be like...to feel as they do? What it be like to have that feeling just one more time? Why couldn't his sacrifice in Alamos remain permanent? What did fate have against him?
As the cheerless clouds billow above, he breathes in the ocean air deeply, closing his eyes and listening to the melody of nature. To stand upon the edge like this and feel the wind caress his body and drown his senses in ocean, it's almost like freedom…Almost…
"Hmm~ You look lonelier every time I see you," croons a familiar voice, and the dark creature opens his eyes and cranes his head to look over his shoulder at the psychic pokémon approaching.
With a small smile, Cresselia hovers over the land, her lunar wings resonating a dim light in this otherwise pitch black place. Even beneath her, she doesn't have a shadow. Staring at the glowing creature, Darkrai snickers, his gaze narrowing as he holds her own amethyst stare. "Tssk, what...do you want?"
"You know," she begins, tilting her pointed head to the side in thought. "You've grown a lot these past thousand years~"
Shaking his head, the black pokémon crosses his arms and turns his head back toward the ocean. His chin ducks beneath the red points circling his neck and chest, and he mutters, "What do you mean?"
"Well, when I first met you, you would have never gone through the lengths you did to save humans…and to fall in love with not one...but two of those mortals...it's quite humorous, actually~" giggles the Crescent pokémon, her laugh much like the chiming of tiny bells. "Well, I suppose it's not that awfully surprising. You were once one of them, weren't you?"
With a growl, the Nightmare pokémon shuts his eyes and his legs retract back into his body until he's left hovering over the edge. "You haven't answered my question…"
"Hehe, you can hardly even call yourself the Demon of Nightmares anymore. You've gone soft," she points out, and at that, Darkrai quickly turns, dark energy growing between his clawed palms before shooting out toward the blue and pink creature in the form of a Dark Pulse. Quickly rolling over in the air, Cresselia dodges it with ease, and her smirk grows. "Hmmm, my point exactly. If you had wanted to hit me, you would have done it...wouldn't you? You're stronger than any mythical pokémon, Darkrai. No one else could have held two gods off at the same time for as long as you did. You're amazing, darling."
A long sigh is heard from the other pokémon, and he mutters under his breath as he glides past the lunar creature and toward the looming fortress of trees that have become his only sanctuary in the whole world, "If you've only come here to chit-chat, go away."
"Doesn't the sky look so familiar?" she asks, turning her attention instead to the sky with a fond voice standing in contrast to her otherwise expressionless face.
Pausing, Darkrai glances back to her and then at the blank sky. "It looks as it always has."
"Then you're not looking closely enough~" teases Cresselia, watching as the clouds continue their charted paths in the sky, never breaking to allow them to see past what would have been a beautiful starry night...it being a new moon and all.
"Ffff...You're as delusional as ever…" he remarks, lowering his head to glare daggers at the she-pokémon.
"Hmm, and you're as forgetful as ever," she bickers back, and she turns to face the black and red creature. Raising her pointed nose upward, she manages to flash him a small smile.
"Happy birthday, Darkrai…It has been...quite an experience knowing you..."
His single, visible eye widens momentarily, and when he finally relaxes, he comes closer in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't you remember? We met here one thousand years ago," she reminisces, her amethyst eyes blinking calmly in her thought. "It was a night like this one...In this lifetime, that's nothing more than a blink in the grand scheme of things...but I'll remember it for as long as I shall exist on this plane…This was the night...that you became a pokémon."
Lowering his head, he looks at the ground. His thoughts are blank...No matter how hard he tries, he cannot remember that day. Perhaps, a thousand years is easy for someone like Cresselia to remember, but for him, it's an eternity of suffering. Most would feel melancholy over forgetting who they were or where they'd once come, but he is numb to it all..maybe even a little gracious. He doesn't want to know the horrible person he was or what he had done to deserve a punishment like his. Now, he just wants it to come to an end.
"Your time has come to a close, Darkrai," continues the pastel-colored goddess. "The time has come for you to break your curse."
"Break my curse?"
At that, Cresselia nods, her already sparkling crescent-like wings beginning to glow a more vibrant shade of pink and yellow. Tiny orbs of light begin to gather around the Nightmare pokémon, casting shadows upon his black, tattered form. "As every Darkrai that has come before you, you will be given the chance to redeem yourself. If you can find a mortal that can accept your dark heart...then your curse will be lifted...and you can live on again...as a human. If you cannot do this by the next new moon, you shall suffer evermore another thousand years, and another, and another until you succeed."
Lifting his hand, Darkrai stares at his palm as the black claws give way to a gloved...human hand.. The lights begin to work up his body as his form dissipates into something else entirely. As he sees the lights...he's reminded of… "Alice…"
"Hmmm…so you wish to return to Alamos Town?" she asks, a knowing smile on her pointed, beak-like face.
The changing pokémon nods slowly, still in awe of his continuing transformation as he feels real legs manifesting beneath him. Gravity feels different...There's an almost heaviness to his new form, and he can't stop glancing at the rising orbs taking away the abomination that was his poké-form.
"Very well…" As his entire body begins to glow a bright white, the lunar pokémon's voice becomes bittersweet, echoing in his head as the world seems to spin. "It has been...a privilege to know you, sweet Darkrai...I hope I never lay eyes upon you again."
As Cresselia's form seems to fade from his vision, he nods, but his throat is too choked up to even form the words he wants to say. With the last of his powers, he manages to close his eyes and send his thoughts to the disappearing king of nightmares.
"Thank you...and goodbye…"
"Good luck…"
Her voice rings in his head even as he fades away into oblivion, a feeling of lightness contradicting the newfound heaviness of his body. The world spirals out of control around him, a sensation of pressure building around his skull much like the swirling sensation in his stomach. Beneath him, the ground disappears, throwing him through space like a child shooting a pebble from a slingshot. His body doesn't listen to anything his brain commands it, limply allowing itself to be tossed like a rag doll, and as he slams back to the ground, he lets out a sharp gasp as the air in his body leaves him all at once.
His chest heaves against the earth, cheek buried in grass and dirt. Every limb is numb. He doesn't know if they're broken or simply exhausted from his transformation, but he can't bring himself to move. When he tries to open his eyes, he can only see darkness, but he knows that wherever he is, he isn't on Newmoon Island. The smell of ocean and the sound of waves are gone. Instead, he's left with nothing but utter...silence…
He's too tired to be afraid...or angry...or excited...or really feel anything except this tingling numbness...and just the tiniest fragment of hope.
There's a word in his mind that plays on repeat - a face that he just can't get out of his mind.
Alice…
Alice…
Al...ice…
And then...nothing…