So it's been years since I've written anything. I saw this draft a while ago and finished crafting it to the point I think people could come to their own conclusions as to where I was going with this. I'm too busy to every come back to this (perhaps one day) and I got bored of Fairy Tail. Sorry to disappoint, but in the space I started this I graduated Highschool, saw some of Africa, got married, and am towards the end of college. I may return one day, but it's not looking good. I hope you all enjoyed these stories and to see how far I've come (from the Teen Titans story of mine to the Overwatch tale that also sits dormant). I'm not bored or tired of writing and this isn't a I've-given-up tale, but it's hard to justify the time and effort these took. Enjoy this snippet from years ago that I have been working on, and make the story you want to see with it. I love Dark Souls, and I'm excited for Elden Rings (and Halo Infinite, I was there when the Xbox first came out). I hope you can enjoy this, and don't you dare go hollow.
...the wizard cast the spell, and all of the dark magic burst through the room. Erza felt her entire body erupt in pain. Her body was in so much agony that she collapsed, her requip vanished leaving her in her normal outfit. She couldn't focus on anything except the pain. She pulled her arms to her chest in a desperate attempt to try and relieve the pain inside but it was no use. The dark magic was burning her from the inside out, burning at her very soul.
She began remembering her friends and focused on forcing her eyes open to see how they were fairing. The first person she saw was Lucy in the very same position she was several feet away from her, obviously in great pain as she was. She began to violently toss and turn in a vain attempt to null the pain, but to no obvious avail. Her eyes then went further past Lucy to see Natsu screaming and flailing all about. His soul must be the purest out of the group because he seemed to have an excessive amount of torment.
She began grunting uncontrollably at the pain. She closed her eyes for just a second, trying to ignore the pain when she heard his voice boast in triumph.
"YOU SEE?! Your fairies greatest strength, the very thing that beats like the heart of your guild, has now become your greatest fault! There is no place in the new era for kinship and goodness!"
She looked up to see Soulst looking up towards the sky, his purple orb high above his head in his hands sucking the light from each of her friends. She could hear Gray and Wendy just out of sight also crying out in agony. They all seemed effected. There was no way out.
"This has been fun, but now I must be goin-" he paused mid sentence as he looked back downwards. His face stopped grinning and was replaced with a look of fear in his eye. He was looking right over Erza at something behind her. "What!" He cried out and pointed his finger towards the direction he was looking. "How are you still standing!?"
She was a bit confused as to what he meant until she heard it: the heavy footsteps of an armored boot. She tried to ignore the pain and began trying to turn her body to see if it was true. She gasped at the attempt, but did not have to move far before she saw him. Thomas was walking forwards, sword drawn and all, unphased by the spell. She froze for a moment in disbelief.
"How can he walk? The spell burns any clean and holy soul of its light. Surely he must have some spell or item to counter this," was the conclusion she came to. Then she heard Thomas speak.
"Do you know what I am?"
His voice was cold and stern, no warmth to be found in them as if a cold whisper through the room. It was a void that drowned out all other noises, sucking out everything that could make noise from the room. His walk was filled with a cool rage, anger seeming to seep out with every step. Soulst's eyes grew wide as he tried to understand what he meant, Erza herself was confused.
"Of course you don't. My kind is lost to time and forgotten like some sort of past plague." His voice was still calm but with rage building with every word. "You could never understand, no one can."
He walked past Lucy, causing her to turn and look at him as he walked by.
"What the devil do you mean? You're trying to be the hero here, the one born of light and flame. I read the legends and was taught the prophecies. You are the one that was chosen from the beginning to end the struggle between the cursed light and the beautiful dark, trying to stop the abyss because you claim it to be evil." Soulst then pointed straight at Thomas. Then he shouted "ARE YOU NOT?!" holding the orb in front of him, unleashing a blast of darkness towards Thomas. Almost as if drawn towards him, the darkness struck Thomas in his chest. Then the unbelievable happened: the dark vanished inside him, as if it had been called home. Thomas, unphased, continued his pace past Lucy.
"You think I care for the eternal struggle? You think I care if light or dark prevails?"
His armor began to grow dark, the air around him getting dim. It was as if all the light around him was diffused and banished from his very presence. Erza forgot her pain for a moment and began shaking from a new feeling: fear. She felt fear looking at Thomas. It was as if she was, for the first time, looking into his very soul and finally seeing what he was hiding. She finally saw what his reason was for seeking the flame. She saw his purpose, and it was unnatural.
"I was born from the fire," he continued, now walking past Natsu, "against my will. I was born in a desperate attempt to extend a reign that should have never existed." His feet began slowly moving up the stairs of the center platform. "I was called to a duty more horrible than any other. Not once, not twice, but thrice. And what have I to gain from it? To have seen the evils of those that claim to be righteous? To see light in the dark that never was? Is that a reward? I see all sides filled with grey, one being no different from the other.'' As he reached the top of the steps, Soulst began to slowly back away, fear covering his face sprinkled with sweat. Thomas now seeping with dark energy, the darkest thing Erza had ever felt.
"The Dark offered no salvation. All that was gained was wasted time and souls worth less than dust." His pace unchanged as he grew closer to Soulst. Soulst was petrified in place, fear consuming him. Erza now realized that the pain was gone, all of it. Yet she was paralyzed with fear and could do nothing but cower in fear.
"And here you stand, daring to claim that I am a child of light!? You dare claim that I am the holy one of FLAME?!" His voice raised loud, but not a scream or shout. Naturally Erza felt the urge to back away from him but was unable to move at the same time.
"This light crafted me into the most hated of all creatures to walk this world, created to be hated by all others so that we would have no one to turn to but the corrupted gods of my world!"
Thomas was now several steps away from Soulst, whose eyes were locked at Thomas. Fear filled his face but he was unable to break his gaze. Erza was petrified at what she was seeing. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. This was her friend, her comrade who wanted to stop the evil caused by the Abyss, right? Was this really what he hid deep down inside his soul?
Thomas now reached out and grabbed Soulst by his scrawny neck and raised him high into the sky. Soulst dropped his orb and it shattered on the ground. It exploded with dark energy and all the evil it held escaped. Normally that power would swarm to infect the nearest catalyst with its power to consume it, but as soon as it released it was drawn to Thomas. It was as if the energy was screaming, trying to run but was forced inside of him just as the blast was. Soulst grabbed at his throat, horrified at what was before him.
Then Thomas Spoke. He screamed:
"I. Am. The. DARK. SOUL. I AM REJECTED BY LIFE ITSELF. THE LIGHT HAS ABANDONED ME. THE DARK CONSUMES ME. THERE IS NONE THAT WILL HAVE ME, FOR I AM THE ONE THEY FORSAKE. THE GREAT SCAPEGOAT WHO TAKES THE FALL. THE GREAT SLAVE."
The energy around Thomas sucked all the emotion towards it. Any joy, hope, courage, all seemed to be pulled towards him.
"NOT ONCE HAS ANYONE ASKED WHAT THE UNDEAD WANT! NOT ONCE HAS ANYONE CARED ENOUGH TO TRY! ALL ONLY CARE ABOUT EITHER THE FLAME OR THE DARK! NOT ONCE HAVE I BEEN ASKED OR REWARDED THE GIFT I CRAVE MOST!"
He turned his head towards the ceiling and proclaimed:
"ALL I WANT IS REST!"
Then time seemed to stop. Everyone was holding their breath. Erza felt fear nearly consume her. Then she saw the energy around Thomas slowly fade away and light return back to the room. He then lowered Soulst's lifeless body, slowly and gently. Then he spoke a simple whisper in the chilled the room
"Will I ever be at peace?"