Darkness

-A Legend Fanfic-

*written by Gale*

A/N: I know I'm dragging out the forwards and prologues and really should just get on with the story, and I'd intended to when I woke up this morning. Really I did. After the Prologue was finished out, my plan was to skip ahead ten years and set up the actual plot. My brain demanded that this scene be written out first, however. Again, this is still a beta. When I go back to do the final draft, I'll incorporate this chapter and the last one into a single work, which is why this one is starting with the ending words of the previous. Enjoy.

Prologue 2 - Awake

When he woke again, it was under the hateful gaze of the sun.

…Live…

The last ringing sound of his Mother's words were chased away with his own choked roar as he dug his fingers into the muddy earth beneath him. He turned his eyes away from the piercing light in pain, burnt so by the sudden shock that they felt as though they were bleeding. Smelling only salt, he knew that hot wetness he felt dashing along the sleeker lines of his face was only tears. And while his eyes did indeed hurt like they had when the sun entered his sanctuary, it did not take him long to realize that they were the only parts of his body even remotely injured by the illumination he was cringing away from.

Already Darkness felt and acknowledged the drastic changes in the shape of his body, even if he could not open his eyes to see them. He was naked, without his familiar robes. The filth he'd awakened in slunk slimily along now hairless legs. His hands were less than helpful as he tried to lever himself out of the grime, now having no claws to take deeper purchase in the ground. As it was, he had to lift an arm to shade his forcefully closed eyes against the ever-insistent sun. While the damned orb would not kill him, he most certainly would not adjust to it anytime soon and could only pray his blindness would abate when it set -- however far away in time that happened to be. His feet, now jointed, aided him at least in finding some semblance of balance, but having lived millennia accustomed to cloven stumps in the place of what might have been human bases, that sense of balance was short lived, indeed, and he once again found himself with his face in the mud.

No crueler a punishment, he thought blandly, all the while cursing himself for his own clumsiness.

Mortal. He was mortal. Not only that, but a human mortal.

And a blind one at that. I had no idea Mother was quite this creative.

Human and lost as he was, (not to mention hungry), Darkness found that his sense of hearing had, in no way, been altered, and already he began mapping out his surroundings. The constant chatter of animals, added with the rustle of leaves told him all he really needed to know, actually; that he was in the forest. But his particular talent took advantage of the din, which, when measured against where the sound reached to, also told him that he was in a ditch at the base of a very large oak, given its shape. No terribly substantial animals were within reach of him, and if he wanted to get out of the mud, he was going to have to climb out by the roots of the tree.

Hoping very much that his arms weren't as flimsy as he feared they might be, Darkness groped for the nearest solid surface in the oak's immediate direction and pulled. Thankfully, Mother did not seem to be looking to mock him more than essentially, and the rest of his body followed with little trouble. The shade from towering branches offered the cover his still-closed eyes needed while both of his arms were at work.

He knew he was out of the ditch when his range expanded, and he "saw" a greater array of trees and shrubs growing vastly out of his reach. He dragged himself out of the slope, now crawling into what felt like a well-blazed trail. The pads of his hands ached from the climb; he'd forgotten what it was like to be without calluses in the proper places.

A soft, slow rumble made him pause in the path, and he flattened his palms against the dry terrain and pursed his lips in concentration.

Horse... Mounted... Approaching at a slow and steady pace…

Darkness lifted his head at the sound of a sharp cry in the distance, neither human nor animal. High-pitched yet resonant, with a liquid, almost metallic quality to it, the blare tugged on the strings of his memory, and would have willed up a matching image to go with it had the sound of the nearing horse overtake the rest of his senses so completely. He crept out of the pathway and crouched, waiting for the rider to come within range.

Come it did, and Darkness began to slowly piece together the form astride the charger in his mind. He could only decipher its average size before it came to mind that it slowed and halted near him.

The necessity to guard himself was still such an alien concept to him that he neither moved nor even steeled himself when the horse's master's feet came in resounding contact with the earth as it dismounted. Darkness kept himself still, aware of his opponent's widened stance, his ever astute ears picking up the soft shink of an unsheathing blade -- each clever enough signs to tell him that this was a hunter.

It paused, and the silence between them could only indicate he was being sized up as well. Hearing a quiet, serpentine laugh indicated that he obviously failed just as much as his counterpart to inspire fear. Once again, his mind connected that sound to the cry that came to him earlier, and for a second time, a face nearly joined the thought.

Darkness reacted only in time to swipe the hand away that reached for his scalp, likely to grab at the hair he now found he sported, and while his palm held that particular hazard away, his muscles froze at the sensation of cold steel brushing threateningly against his neck.

"Quite a brave little Mortal you must be," hissed his assailant, and Darkness had to stop himself from blinking in realization, if only to protect his poor eyes. He grimaced and shifted away from the sharp edge at his throat when it drew heavier upon his skin. "But foolish you are to tarry with me."

Blix. And just his luck: he was no longer, in shape, the capricious Goblin's imposing Lord. That did not stop an indignant swell of his ego from rising up inside him, however. He might have been without his throne, his form, and his power, but he would die a thousand times over before he let the likes of this unworthy and presumptuous idiot get the best of him.

Instinct drew him up onto the balls of his feet, slowly so as not to alarm or further compromise the position of the weapon at his craw, and the hand he had on Blix's free wrist tightened its hold. Darkness sensed a rise in him, then, and twisted the goblin's appendage roughly, first using his panic to swivel his head away from then duck his swiping dagger. While rising on his legs, his free hand caught Blix's trekking arm and thrust it up and back. There was a sickening pop in his opponent's shoulder, telling Darkness that he had, indeed, finished his desired task. He released the goblin's other arm and jammed his elbow toward the skull. The sound of bone against bone graced his ears, and Blix toppled back, disarmed and, in Darkness' opinion, properly humbled.

His nostrils flared as he drew in a few winded breaths, already feeling the beginnings of perspiration rise up on his flesh, even from that small and unsubstantial workout.

Darkness heard Blix whimper as he dragged himself up from the ground. He heard a smaller blade unsheathe and held up a cautionary hand. "Attack me again, Goblin, and you'll pay for it with your life," he growled, not the least bit surprised that with his hearing, his voice did not suffer any great changes, either.

Blix froze, still half-crouching, but seemed significantly put off by his words, well enough that his weapon fell from his hand. Despite the lack of change, Darkness felt that his voice should have been too little to derive such a reaction from his former servant. But before he could inquire, his deduction was, for the moment, proven wrong.

"Master…?" Blix hedged.

"I'm surprised it took you so little time to figure it out," he snapped in irritation before thrusting a hand toward him. "Your cloak." He felt himself scowl insolently when the heavy drape of cloth came in contact with his skin, and he tied it about his waist hurriedly. "Right yourself. Your arm is not broken, although you should know that already." Once he felt sure all that needed to be covered for protection sake, he tore a useless strip from the garment and secured it about his eyes. "Where are the others, Blix?"

"Dead, your Lordship."

"Truly?" Darkness murmured, not sounding the least bit surprised nor distressed upon hearing this.

He listened disinterestedly as the goblin rose and popped his shoulder back into place. "Blix had come to believe that Master was just as done. How is it you are here now, Great One?"

Darkness felt his lips twist into a snarl. That, indeed, was the question of the hour, wasn't it? His mother spoke of a task to carry out in order to reassume his power. However, she left little to no explanation of what this undertaking would actually entail, merely that he was required to earn it back. His mind tumbled over ideas in the only type of logic he possessed: those aligned specifically with his own instincts and desires. The law of nature dictated that greatness would only present itself to those who were strong enough to take it, so that must have been what it was. If he wanted his power back, all he needed to do was go after it. That would not be a quick or simple task. He would require followers. Blix would be the first of many. He'd obey Darkness and could hardly dare try to attack him again. Now that he had proven he could take him down without pure sight of his treachery, the loathsome pest would do little but fall into place from then on. That failed, he would die, of course.

"Know only that I have returned, Goblin," Darkness responded after much thought. "Whatever has come to pass in my absence is but a memory. Now that I have returned," he said with a smile, "Things can go back to the way they were. Soon."

And that could not be more than true. For Darkness was Alive.

He lived.

TO BE CONTINUED…