What I Wouldn't Sacrifice
A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction
The two horses galloped into the mountains where a stone structure to the path stood. To the left, the rocks fell away steeply, while an impassible wall ascended to the right. Faulklin was wary of going too fast on such treacherous terrain, but time was of the essence, and they needed to get as far as they could before anyone possibly followed.
He only slowed for an open gap in the path that fell away into the ravine below, which his mount barely cleared close behind Daijoudan's mare, to continue on.
They loosened up a bit on urgency as they reached a stretch of woodlands littered in fallen leaves. The moon had already passed its zenith, the white orb barely visible through a break in the trees, but the forest was otherwise cast in ominous, disquieting shadows.
A faint mist drifted off of a pond between the trees, a few frogs croaking, but it was otherwise silent and still, as if the forest was just as dead as the burden they carried. As the forest cleared, and dawn light began to filter in as a veil of gold behind the clouds, it started to rain, and they briefly took shelter under an outcropping of rock.
They couldn't be slowed down though… they had to keep moving. So, ignoring the drizzle falling from the sky in a steady hum, the two riders pressed onward, through sparse grass fields dotted only with a handful of trees.
At last, the brunette spied the precursor to what they'd set out to find, two identical stone structures standing vigil as the border between this land and the one he was intent upon. A space just wide enough for a horse and rider made the path to the forbidden land, forcing them to enter single-file.
Passing through, the wind blasted his face as it opened up to a stone bridge, and far below by hundreds of feet, sprawling desert; rounded dunes of rock; grasslands far beyond. And at the end of the bridge, an impressive, rising stone spire that must have stood a mile tall, like a great fang of the earth trying to bite the sky. Summed into only one word, he would call it breathtaking.
The pair paused a moment to take it in, Faulklin's horse shifting with an impatience usually shared by the young male, while Daijoudan's stood still. Faulklin soon snapped out of his reverie, and they continued forward.
So close to finalizing his task…and yet the hard part had not even begun. Not by a long shot.
At the far end of the bridge, a stone door opened. Daijoudan filed in first with Komeko, and Faulklin nudged his steed to follow, sunlight gleaming in over a short flight of stairs onto a stone platform. Snaking around the inside wall was a long, winding pathway of stone leading all the way to the bottom of the tower.
A shallow pool of water, perfectly circular, stood at the very bottom near an open archway that led into a long, weathered chamber of finely carved rock. Sixteen humongous, intricate idols watched them, eight on each side of the room adjacent each other that gave off a spine-tingling, sickening presence which left knees weak and breath shallow. Each one seemed more horrifying than the last. Many were serpentine in nature, though some looked like they might have represented a bear or lion, and others like humanoid demons.
These couldn't possibly be the Colossi that legends spoke of, could they? The legends were innumerable and terrifying, speaking of beasts too large for the imagination, but then, stories had a way of exaggerating.
The hooves of both his and Daijoudan's animals echoed off the walls, eluding to an ominous emptiness, devoid of any life. Not a single creature stirred in the filtering of gold dust that misted across the ground, other than their own intruding selves. The caw of the bird on Faulklin's shoulder bounced off every surface more loudly than Faulklin thought it should have.
As they reached the steps of the open alter, the two dismounted stiffly, though Daijoudan did a better job of hiding it as he pulled Komeko from his mare's saddle and ascended the steps.
Faulklin grasped the sacred sword by the hilt and followed with a scowl. Patches of light beamed in from between large pillars, welcoming the living and the dead with chilling stillness.
Daijoudan laid her down on the alter and peeled back the folds of the cloth, revealing the soft contours of her round cheeks and gentle curve of her nose and brows, and long, black eyelashes. The faintest breeze stirred her hair and dress faintly.
Faulklin had to grit his teeth and struggle not to break down as a sick feeling twisted in his gut. She looked as if she was in a deep, tranquil sleep, but he knew better, and the thought only made the reality worse.
No matter if this worked or didn't, he'd make them pay. Those bastards would pay for this, without a doubt. He would slaughter all of them without remorse by the time this finished playing out, no matter if it was the last thing he ever did. For now though, he had to focus on the task at hand. First he had to get her back, or at least try. Then he could worry about revenge.
He had no idea if any of this would work or if the legends held any merit whatsoever. He wasn't a religious person. He didn't believe in gods, demons, or spirits, having always regarded such notions as superstitious dribble used to control the weak and stupid.
But now... fuck, he was willing to believe almost anything right now if it would fix what had been done.
A repugnant, queasy feeling twisted ice through his gut, and at first he mistook it as grief trying to take hold. The feeling only grew, and the horses whinnied nervously and danced behind him. His crow shuffled, croaking just before it took off into the open air outside.
In an instant, both males whirled around, Faulklin grasping the hilt of the sacred sword and Daijoudan just barely flicking one of his own blades out by the guard, the two ready for any sort of enemy that might appear.
A black mist began to ebb from the ground before growing in mass and taking shape as an unmoving wind hissed around the chamber with what might have been words he couldn't understand.
Faulklin narrowed his eye at the shadows which took on the vaguest form of Men, but their very existence was far more vile and stifling, raising the hairs on the back of his neck and filling him with a hollowing cold that almost left him breathlessly frozen where he stood.
The shadow creatures appeared to sniff the air as they prowled forward in a motion much akin to hopping apes, mannerisms notably predatory.
The Shadows lunged towards them and Faulklin reacted by drawing the sacred sword from its scabbard. The blade shone brilliantly as he drew it, leaving a streak of light in the wake of its wide arc.
The Shadows hissed and jumped back, stopping and staring without eyes before every one of them vaporized into nothing, as if blown away by a non-existent wind. Faulklin still didn't relax, his senses trained for an ambush or another enemy intent on attacking them.
Instead, the sky rang with a portentous, augural peel of thunder that sounded startlingly like it carried the faintest murmur of many voices. A brief flash of lightning further illuminated the circle of light in the center of the chamber's ceiling. The walls radiate an unearthly presence many times more potent and stifling than the shadowly beings from moments before.
Many overlapping voices – male and female – seemed to resonate from every crevice and plane of existence around them; from the chamber, within the mind, the sky and earth…
"Hm? Thou possesses the ancient sword?" The voice paused as though in contemplation. "So Thou art mortal…"
"Y… you're the one they call Dormin, right?" Faulklin internally cursed the way his voice trembled involuntarily, finding it difficult to breathe properly, though why that was, he could only guess. "The one who shepherds the souls of the dead?"
"Thou art correct… We are the ones known as Dormin."
Faulklin drew in a long, deep breath to steady his nerves.
"She was sacrificed," he spat in a venomous tone, the ire in his voice echoing off the walls along with the words that carried it. He couldn't, nor did he want to, mask the hatred in his voice for those that had committed it. He had always hated the people of that village, ever since he first arrived there three years before, but it had never been so strong as it was now. "All for some stupid religious nonsense. I never believed the stories… but I need her soul back, more than anything else in this world, and this is the only way."
The various voices laughed softly in unison, like a mere murmur on the breeze, as if humoring children that didn't understand the implications of what they were asking for. Faulklin also caught Daijoudan watching him in a disapproving sort of way, but the teen only returned his look with a narrowed glare.
"That maiden's soul? Souls that are once lost cannot be reclaimed…is that not the law of mortals?" Faulklin was silent, trying to ignore the twisting dread in his gut that tried telling him how foolish, how inane, such a request was. After a short pause, however, the voice continued. "With that sword, however…it may not be impossible. That is, of course, if thou manage to accomplish what We askest."
"Tell me what I have to do," Faulklin demanded without hesitation, sword still held in his hand, gleaming faintly in the shadows.
"Behold the idols along the wall," Dormin explained in a tone that could have been mild amusement. "Thou art to destroy all of them. But those idols cannot be destroyed. Not by the mere hands of a mortal."
Faulklin's single eye traced over each of the statues as Dormin gave his conditions. He wondered why Dormin would ask them to destroy something that they physically could not, unless only that the being enjoyed toying and sewing helpless frustration into them, but Faulklin figured, and not unrightly so, that there was a way.
"In this land there exists Colossi that are the incarnations of these idols. If thou defeat those Colossi, the idols shall fall. "
He nodded his head slightly. "I understand, and I-"
He didn't get to continue as Daijoudan grabbed his upper arm, tight enough to hurt, and glowered at him warningly. "You should shut your trap, before you start agreeing to risky promises you can't hope to keep."
Faulklin only glared and yanked his arm away harshly, sneering, "If you're scared, then you go ahead and run home with your tail between your legs, Silvylocks. No one asked you to tag along or help anyway."
"That's not what I mean, you damn-"
"I agree to these terms!" Faulklin shouted, before Daijoudan could interrupt again. The silver-haired man rolled his eyes with a scoff of irritation and disbelief.
"But heed this-" Dormin began again, that same augural tone of caution exemplified in its many voices. "The price you pay may be heavy indeed."
"I'm prepared for that," Faulklin muttered in a sick sort of resignation. He hadn't expected that, were the tales true, that it would be easy nor without some sort of steep toll to bring one back from the dead. He imagined that such things were taboo for a reason.
He wondered to himself how big these colossi might be. Certainly larger than himself. He had no doubts that these foes would be nothing short of behemoths and easily fiercesome. Easily deadly.
"Very well…" Dormin spoke, the sky seeming to resonate and ring with grim approval as the presence began to fade, signaling the last of its instructions. "Raise thy sword by the light, and head to the place where the sword's light gathers. There, thou shalt find the Colossi thou art to defeat."
Faulklin finally found it easier to breathe again, but such thoughts cut short early as Daijoudan decked him over the back of the head. Not lightly so, either.
"Damn it!" Faulklin snarled, whirling on the other male and having half a mind to slice him in half with the sword in-hand. Unfortunately, experience had taught him that such a fantasy did not come to pass easily when it came to the condescending, royal prick.
"Just when I thought you couldn't get any fucking dumber," Daijoudan sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"And just what the Hell is that supposed to mean, you conceited bastard?"
Daijoudan rolled his eyes again.
"It means exactly what it sounded like. You have absolutely no clue how to conduct yourself when it comes to pacts with otherworldly beings, do you?" Daijoudan narrowed his eyes at the runt pointedly. "Do you have even the slightest inkling of exactly what's at stake when you made that agreement?"
"Of course I do," Faulklin growled.
"Do you really?" Daijoudan demanded, scoffing again. "I highly fucking doubt it. If you die in this, you'll give up more than your mortal life, and there's no telling what you'll be giving up even if you succeed. Either way, you're likely to walk away losing more than you'll gain, agreeing to that beings' terms so fucking recklessly without even thinking about the possible consequences."
"It doesn't matter," Faulklin retorted matter-of-factly, whistling for Rebel and mounting the stallion's saddle. The short adolescent looked even more the dwarf than usual when compared to his horse. "It's not as if I have much of anything to lose already anyway."
Daijoudan only shook his head in exasperation as Faulklin flicked the reigns, riding outside and across the fields.
"Fucking suicidal idiot is determined to damn himself no matter what," the Emperor muttered under his breath, walking to the side of his mare, Ayametsuki, and mounting to follow.
