Happy fun disclaimer time: I own none of the characters from the Lufia series, although numerous characters made up by me will appear in this story.
Tale by Torchlight
I blinked my eyes, slowly, groggily awaking from the long period of unconsciousness. I tested my bonds, straining against the chains and shackles that held me to the wall.
"It's no use," came a voice... His voice.
I could feel it, it could belong to no other. I scanned the room rapidly, my eyes taking in the details, the smooth stone walls, not of bricks of stone or anything like that, but straight, flat, and continuous. A testament to the creator of the castle, who lurked somewhere in the darkness beyond the single torch that flickered over my head. It sputtered for a moment, as if a strong, cold wind had blown across it, but then returned to providing its unstable half-light.
I knew what he would look like if he revealed himself. Looking back, I had always known what he looked like, even when I did not know he existed, his darkness even then suffused my brain. He would look like some strange specter, a cloak and a mask with horns, with no body, except for a strange, glowing orb. This form was, of course, a lie, just like all else about him.
"Just you wait, this isn't over," I croaked at him, my voice rough in my throat, sounding weak even to my ears as it ventured out into the darkness and was smothered.
"Oh? Hoping your friend will save you?" He laughed then, derisively. He was smirking, too, I could not see it, but I could feel it, feel it in my very veins, for the darkness smirked with him. "The rebel has been crushed, he will trouble the Balance no more."
I sighed, figuring this a lie, but knowing it could be true, "Well then, why do I still live?"
The feeling of his smirk rolled in once more, a chill down my spine, and the light of the torch was, for the moment, suppressed, burning even more feebly against this black chill.
"You amuse me. No one else has dared to do what you have done. I do not know if you realize the full implications, but I intend to find out exactly how you came to this. Your state of being seems... Ridiculous, considering the alternatives. You had the chance to decide the fate of the world, you had that which makes them what they are, and those who defy them capable of doing so. You had it, the power stronger than magic itself, and you threw it away... I must know, did you do it for the reason you started with, because it meant others expected something of you? Did you do this because you were a coward? Or did you do this for something else... To defy... Me?" He laughed once more, and the torch in its iron holder rattled with the vibrations, and went out with the chill.
I could not quake in terror or shiver from the cold, not only because I would deny him such satisfaction if I could, but also because, in my imprisonment, I was bound with arms and legs stretched out so that I could not move my limbs without considerable effort, and even then the results would be minimal.
"Of course," he continued, "that's not how it started, in any case. You did not know I existed at the beginning." I felt the texture of the air change as he focused for a second, and the torch suddenly burst back into flames. "But it is no matter. I want to hear all about it from the start..."
"Well then, Arek," I snarled, "we don't seem to have anything better to do. I suppose I'd best humor you. Just as you have made the world do for five hundred years."
"I did not ask for commentary, Boy, nor did I say you could address me. Tell your story, and no excess commentary. I want only the facts."
"Fine. It started when I was rather young, and the first stirrings of the sixth rendition swept the land..."
Tale by Torchlight
I blinked my eyes, slowly, groggily awaking from the long period of unconsciousness. I tested my bonds, straining against the chains and shackles that held me to the wall.
"It's no use," came a voice... His voice.
I could feel it, it could belong to no other. I scanned the room rapidly, my eyes taking in the details, the smooth stone walls, not of bricks of stone or anything like that, but straight, flat, and continuous. A testament to the creator of the castle, who lurked somewhere in the darkness beyond the single torch that flickered over my head. It sputtered for a moment, as if a strong, cold wind had blown across it, but then returned to providing its unstable half-light.
I knew what he would look like if he revealed himself. Looking back, I had always known what he looked like, even when I did not know he existed, his darkness even then suffused my brain. He would look like some strange specter, a cloak and a mask with horns, with no body, except for a strange, glowing orb. This form was, of course, a lie, just like all else about him.
"Just you wait, this isn't over," I croaked at him, my voice rough in my throat, sounding weak even to my ears as it ventured out into the darkness and was smothered.
"Oh? Hoping your friend will save you?" He laughed then, derisively. He was smirking, too, I could not see it, but I could feel it, feel it in my very veins, for the darkness smirked with him. "The rebel has been crushed, he will trouble the Balance no more."
I sighed, figuring this a lie, but knowing it could be true, "Well then, why do I still live?"
The feeling of his smirk rolled in once more, a chill down my spine, and the light of the torch was, for the moment, suppressed, burning even more feebly against this black chill.
"You amuse me. No one else has dared to do what you have done. I do not know if you realize the full implications, but I intend to find out exactly how you came to this. Your state of being seems... Ridiculous, considering the alternatives. You had the chance to decide the fate of the world, you had that which makes them what they are, and those who defy them capable of doing so. You had it, the power stronger than magic itself, and you threw it away... I must know, did you do it for the reason you started with, because it meant others expected something of you? Did you do this because you were a coward? Or did you do this for something else... To defy... Me?" He laughed once more, and the torch in its iron holder rattled with the vibrations, and went out with the chill.
I could not quake in terror or shiver from the cold, not only because I would deny him such satisfaction if I could, but also because, in my imprisonment, I was bound with arms and legs stretched out so that I could not move my limbs without considerable effort, and even then the results would be minimal.
"Of course," he continued, "that's not how it started, in any case. You did not know I existed at the beginning." I felt the texture of the air change as he focused for a second, and the torch suddenly burst back into flames. "But it is no matter. I want to hear all about it from the start..."
"Well then, Arek," I snarled, "we don't seem to have anything better to do. I suppose I'd best humor you. Just as you have made the world do for five hundred years."
"I did not ask for commentary, Boy, nor did I say you could address me. Tell your story, and no excess commentary. I want only the facts."
"Fine. It started when I was rather young, and the first stirrings of the sixth rendition swept the land..."