Prologue 7: Tyron (Cubic Fire)
Why did we bother getting into this, Kir? Tyron thought worriedly to the Bluestone held within his blade, which was clamped very firmly in his right hand. Near the city, they had been wandering a field with Seth when a young girl came running up to them, tears streaming down her face. "Please, you have to help me! My big brother got lost in a cave, but it's so dark and scary and I can't go after him! You look brave, can you please help me?" Seth and Tyron had looked at each other, a little flustered, before inevitably agreeing to help the poor girl. Upon arriving at the place, they found not much more than a gaping hole in the side of a mountain, with several signs plastered around it. Each of them had some variation of "DO NOT ENTER" or "DANGER" written on them. It occurred to them that the big brother in question might not have been the brightest fellow ever. Or was at least foolish.
Then again, how many times have we done something that a normal person would consider foolhardy? Tyron thought to himself. Even his mind's voice was shaky with growing fear. Seth had agreed to wait outside the cave for him, going to send for help if he didn't return after more than two hours.
Now Tyron wished he had told Seth to come along. The darkness inside the cave didn't act like natural darkness. The most obvious difference was that Tyron couldn't see through it. In fact, not even the light of the torch held in his left hand could penetrate more than two blocks of the inky shadows. It was eerily silent, and Kir had to put more effort than usual into scanning the area around Tyron for disturbances, rendering itself speechless. Tyron kept his own senses alert, scanning the darkness for anything out of the ordinary.
A soft pair of footsteps echoed through the cave, passing by him and making the fur on his arms prickle. Did you hear that, Kir?
Yes. Not mean, but I can't see where they- LOOK OUT! Tyron jumped back as an object leapt out of the darkness at him, latching onto his raised sword and screaming into his face. It was a human, a little younger than Tyron, with wild fear lighting his eyes.
"Oh, thank god, it's you! I've heard about you in the town square, please, you have to get us out of here, it won't be long before it-"
Tyron interrupted the boy's maddened ramblings. "Slow down, what's going on? Was that your little sister up there that sent me down here?"
The boy's eyes seemed to calm a little. "Yes, and I was a fool to think going down here in search of diamonds was a good idea. There's this... this thing that lives here, it's so horrible, it killed my friend!" The boy sobbed, gripping Tyron's arm with more force than he seemed capable of.
Tyron grabbed the boy by the shoulders, staring at him. "Calm down!" He shouted. "We'll get out of here, alright?" He let go and flicked his left arm out, channeling his growing frustration with the boy into magical energy and sending it through his arm. A shield of solid ice materialized along his forearm, in the shape of a diamond. The boy nodded, gulping down his frantic terror, and Tyron turned to leave the cave with him in tow.
The journey was uninterrupted for exactly four seconds. Something akin to a flash freeze struck Tyron in the back, stopping him in place. The torch went out and even Kir began to panic. Tyron! Tyron, there's something here! There's-
A bloodcurdling wail of pain shot up from someone close by, and Tyron felt the boy's grasp on his arm slacken and fall away. The torch relit itself and Tyron gasped as he saw the boy lying on his stomach where he'd fallen, an expression of pain burnt into his face. He had a gaping hole in his chest, blood already pooling around the body. Tyron backed away a few steps, raising his sword and shield warily. It's like... something tore out the kid's heart...
"That's because someone did." A voice, almost like a whisper, was suddenly in Tyron's ear. He whirled around, only to find nobody there. The torch went out again.
T-Tyron, there's a thing... He wasn't lying, but it's... it's not a human... and it's REALLY not nice...!
Kir, for the first time, sounded scared. This didn't help Tyron's own fear, which was bubbling up inside him as he felt a gust of movement stir the black air around him. Out of the corner of his vision, a pure white face appeared. Large, blank, round eyes, and a chilling grin. Tyron turned towards it, but it was gone already.
"You thought Herobrine was fear...?" The voice said again. Tyron growled and spun, his blade cutting through the air around him. The voice laughed, a sickening noise that echoed through the cave with deafening madness.
"Who are you!?" Tyron cried out, sinking to his knees as a wave of terror immobilized him. He gripped at his head as he began to feel the creature rooting through his mind, digging out the worst of his memories all at once, overwhelming him.
Tyron! Get up! Tyron! Kir's voice, frantic and terrified, was a mere murmur behind the hurricane of panic and fear swirling about in Tyron's own mind.
"I... I am called Freak, little hero. And I've made a friend." A blurry figure, almost as though it was made of smoke, materialized in front of Tyron, wearing that same glowing face he saw earlier. "He agreed to let me have your world if I found a way to bring you to him." His foot suddenly lashed out and hit Tyron in the forehead, knocking him onto his back. "Where I get to watch as he tears you apart... Because there your precious dragons will not be able to assist you when you're about to die."
The world opened up as Freak laughed again, swallowing Tyron in a chasm of unnatural darkness that seeped into his mind and slowly put him down to unconsciousness. Kir's frantic attempts to wake him followed him through into a stream of nightmares, terrorizing him until his arrival in the world Freak told of.