As they walked through the barren remnants of a once bustling ghost zone tucker couldn't help but feel unnerved, for as much time as tucker had spent around the dead there was always some semblance of life, but now it just felt cold. Open space trailing off into oblivion with nothing around for as far as the eye can see just glowing energy slowly spiraling off into the infinite space it just seemed so, for lack of a better word, dead.
As they trudged onward it slowly but surely started to get to him, he knew that thing in the human world were bad but the ghost zone seemed to be in even worse shape if that was possible but what could have happened here.
In the lair of the ghost king the sarcophagus of sleep laid undisturbed as the fright night entered he called out "show yourself" silence was his only reply.
"Come out here now, else I find you" he threatened into the empty space.
After a moment he heard "calm yourself fear monger, I'm here how goes our plan"
"She is infuriating" he yells "we should simply destroy her and be done with it"
"Do you not want to free your precious king" the voice asks
"You dare question my loyalty" he growls at the air
The voice chuckles darkly and says "then she lives"
The fright knight asked suspiciously "tell me, I serve the king but why do you seek his revival"
After a moment of silence the voice replies "because every kingdom has a king, someone to watch over it, someone to enforce the rules"
"So you help out of charity" fright night mocks
"No" the voice replies "I help because someone has to make sure the king does his job, that's the rules"
"I've had enough of you talking in circles" the fright knight says testily "speak clearly or face my wrath"
"For now all you need to know is that I want the king to awaken and for that we need the girl alive, more than that you'll just have to wait and see" the voice says
Fright knight contemplates this for a moment then replies "fine, but know this, if you betray me I shall end you" he says with finality before walking away
"I'd have it no other way" says the voice condescendingly at his shrinking form.
Darkness, so much darkness it was all he could remember, it was all he knew so he stayed in it the darkness was safe, no one could find him, no one could hurt him. But then there was that thing, so tiny and fragile, warm and inviting but bright. It wasn't darkness, he didn't know what it was but he knew that it was different.
It didn't hold the same security that the dark did, it showed him things, it showed him what he was, and it showed him what it could do. It danced daintily between his hands licking his fingertips, he had so many questions, questions he never had before he looked at it. What was he? What was it? Why was it warm? Why was it here? Before he saw it he never even thought about these things, all he knew was darkness but once it had shown up he was forced to realize that he was not darkness but something else entirely.
Then that word crossed his mind, he had a word for this thing, this tiny and fragile thing was called an ember. But why this? Of all the thing he had imagined why did this one find him here in a place where there was nothing but dark? In this dreary and dismal disparity of his existence it had decided to be here but why? And why was he so concerned with it, yes it was different but he felt like it was trying to tell him something.
It is the folly of man to forget that which is most important when he needs it most of all, Danny was no exception but while his mind forgets his strength the heart will never lose its way. No matter how dark things are and no matter how much we might try to hide from it, the futility of man to run from destiny will persevere. It was in this same way that we cannot hide from destiny that we cannot hide from the light within ourselves.
Our mind has a way of protecting us from things we don't want, but the heart has an even more powerful way of not letting us be protected from the things we need, it was this that brought the light to the darkness but when we are truly desperate sometimes we need just a little reminder. And as we all do from time to time Danny needed one now, fortunately for him he would not suffer the darkness alone.
[authors note: hello all, hope you're enjoying the story so far, if you're a fan of my style of writing you should check out some of my new story called hunting the red lotus. it's just in the beginning phase right now but so far i really like the way it turned out and i'm looking for a beta reader or co-writer for that story and feedback if anyone is interested]