Soul Calibur: Darkness Across Time
As written by Brian M. Fenderson
All characters are owned and copyrighted by their respected creators. "Requiem Meiuqer" character owned by Brian M. Fenderson.
Prologue
His body collided with the dank castle walls, his spirit nearly broken. Requiem Meiuqer crushed his now broken glasses in his right hand, and wiped blood from his bruised lip. Requiem's dark jacket now lay torn and stained with blood and dirt, his hair sprawled across his pale face. Requiem was out of breath, fighting in a strange place, in a strange time. Crawling into a small opening, his blade dragging along the concrete and sparking, he took refuge under a large spiral staircase that was clothed in dust and mold, as he tried to gather himself.
Peering around the large room of grey, he witnessed the being in which he tried so hard to defeat with no avail- a large knight with blue armor with piercing red eyes. His right arm was large and demonic, with three claws, sharp enough to sever flesh from even the strongest of bones. Perhaps the most disturbing thing he possessed was the blade that arm held; monstrous in size. It looked to be far too heavy for a single man to lift, but the strange knight carried it with such ease. It was much more powerful than anything Requiem had ever faced... it was truly...frightening. The blade also had a large yellow eye, which glanced around the area in search of the intruder, which was Requiem himself.
Requiem came in search of a strange weapon said to cause utter darkness and turmoil. Throughout his travels, he had heard such strange and horrific stories of a knight bearing a powerful sword, destroying everything in his path and leaving countless people dead or in famine. Throughout the history of time, the blade had obtained the name Soul Edge. It was said to have been held by a man named Siegfried, but it was rumored that he had overpowered the darkness of the sword. As of now, it belonged to the one in the azure armor, Nightmare. Requiem came to obtain this power for himself, wanting to use the power of Soul Edge to defeat his enemies, and other reasons that he wished not to name.
Nightmare's footsteps could be heard echoing through the halls of this strange castle. Darkness seemed to always lurk over this strange place of death. To Nightmare, Requiem was simply another person he had to assassinate for trespassing in his hideout. Ostrheinsburg Castle was once owned by a deranged king, obsessed with finding Soul Edge. He sent countless minions in search of the strange blade, hoping to use its powers to overtake any opponents and conquer nearby lands. One dreary day, a strange man bearing a large scythe brought him a pulsating fragment of the blade, which the king accepted. Since then, he assassinated countless people in his castle, until he was assassinated himself. Since then, none dared enter the dark castle, even though it had been abandoned for several hundred years, and its dankness and countless memories of bloodshed was the perfect sanctum for Nightmare.
"You wish to obtain Soul Edge from me? Come and obtain a piece first hand..." Nightmare's deep raspy voice churned, as he swung Soul Edge, slicing a bookshelf cleanly into two separate halves. Requiem could not help but gasp in awe of Nightmare's absolute power- and Nightmare had surely heard. Going up the winding staircase, Nightmare's footsteps caused dust to fall across Requiem's face. Fighting back sneezes, all grew quiet. Sweating and intrigued of Nightmare's whereabouts, Requiem peered from the left side. Before he could get his head from under the staircase, the sharp sound of steel caused him to lunge from under the staircase, as it crumbled into thousands of pieces. Nightmare's Soul Edge sliced through the stairs so easily... each step was nearly three feet thick. Holding to his Arch Angel blade tightly in his right hand, he used its long 1.4m edge to push himself from the moist floor. Lunging forward into the remains of the stairs, Requiem attempted to sever Nightmare's demonic arm. With a loud, metallic clang, Nightmare held Soul Edge diagonally, and with a thrust, pushed Requiem into the split bookcase, which was nearly 20 feet away. Pushing his head up with a struggle, Requiem looked to Nightmare, who mysteriously, was directly 7 inches from Requiem now. With a dark laugh, and a forceful left kick, Requiem was sent through the wall, into a room that was similar in look, but with a stained window directly on the ceiling, showing a scenario of an epic battle between two swords- Soul Edge, and a strange blue sword. Jumping up quickly, Requiem saw Nightmare stepping closer from the distance. Piercing his blade into the ground, Requiem tried a diversionary tactic.
"Plague of Hades..." Requiem muttered- and at that, dark plumes of smoke rose from the crack in the ground, enshrouding the entire area in absolute darkness.
"What the... damn you, human.." Nightmare retorted from the shadows. Stepping quietly with small clanks, Nightmare tried to search the area, but to no avail. He could not see, and Soul Edge pulsated with anger. Standing still and trying to sense Requiem's presence, a sharp pain in his right arm caused him to yell abruptly. Requiem was stalking Nightmare through the darkness, severing Nightmare's flesh. Yelling several curses, Nightmare swung Soul Edge through the darkness, hitting nothing. Nightmare could hear Requiem's laughter, echoing from off of the walls.
"Can't see, can you..." Requiem's deep voice announced. "Plague of Hades- quite an interesting technique. Causes a cloud of darkness to cover the entire field." he laughed. "And now, since you're helpless, I'll slice you into thin pieces and claim your blade..." Requiem's threats were short lived. With a grunt from Nightmare's armor, he swung the angry Soul Edge. Nothing was heard except the sound of blood hitting the ground with a splashing noise- Nightmare had severed into Requiem's chest. At that, the darkness dispersed- and Requiem was down on his left knee, holding his chest, which bled from the deep wound Soul Edge had left.
"How...how did you find me...?" Requiem questioned, his slate grey eyes wide with horror. Nightmare stepped over Requiem, his shadow causing Requiem to look up at the monstrous creature.
"If you're going to kill someone, do it. Do not talk about it before hand, especially if you're wrong..." Nightmare retorted. Angry with himself, Requiem lunged backwards, and leapt into the air, well above Nightmare, with Arch Angel in hand.
"You're not going to defeat me!" he yelled, and Nightmare took his Raven stance.
"Fool..." Nightmare said to himself. Jumping up as well, Soul Edge met with Arch Angel, and both Requiem and Nightmare landed on their feet. Requiem's sneer quickly turned to a facial expression of distress- his Arch Angel blade cracked- well after Nightmare's counter. Staring at the silver colored blade with ancient Greek lettering engraved on it, chips of the blade began to fall to the ground- and within moments, the entire blade shattered into several multi-sized fragments. His eyes wide in awe, he thought to himself. He...he didn't even attack... he guarded and destroyed my blade... Unable to complete his thought, the sharpness of Soul Edge met with Requiem's chest again, and swung him to the left. Quickly switching Soul Edge into his left hand, Nightmare grabbed hold of Requiem's face with his demonic arm, and threw him into the concrete with such a force, it cracked deeply.
"..." No noise came from Requiem's motionless body. He laid face down in silence- Nightmare had knocked him out cold. Laughing hysterically, he held Soul Edge over Requiem's neck. The large yellow eye within Soul Edge looked down upon Requiem's cold body with a sense of thirst- it wanted to feed upon Requiem's dark soul. Raising the dark blade even higher, Nightmare spoke silently.
"Now, you're a part of me..." he whispered, a sense of pride within his eyes. Releasing his raise of the blade, it swung down forcefully- but the sound of severing flesh did not occur. There was no blood curdling scream, no scent of death. Instead, there was the sound of steel clashing- and Nightmare spoke once again, as though confused.
"What is the meaning of this!" he yelled, and Requiem began to move, laughing slightly. The fragments of Requiem's Arch Angel blade hovered above the ground, forming a shield above Requiem, pushing back Soul Edge. Pushing himself from the ground, and holding his hand along the wound on his chest, Requiem spoke to the confused Nightmare.
"Guard of Athena... a protective technique. Sadly, it can only be used once a day. Luckily, I saved it just for the right time." he proclaimed. Running toward the window nearly 30 feet away, Requiem was stopped by Nightmare, who jumped in the way, Soul Edge in a new sheath. Requiem's eyes were wide as he felt warm blood rolling off of his pale lips- Nightmare had punctured Soul Edge completely through Requiem. Placing his weakened hands on the edge of the blade, he tried to pull it from his stomach, but he could not. The blade pulsated with power, as it stared into Requiem's dying eyes. The blood created such a contrast on the grey and mildewed stones that made up the floor, shimmering in the bleak amount of sunlight that shone in from the window. They were high up, in a towered room. Nightmare held the blade higher, and the blade slid deeper into Requiem's flesh. Releasing the scream that Nightmare was looking for, he realized that he was done. No need for overkill. Holding the blade out of the window, Nightmare gave Requiem a message-
"Never bother me again..."
And at that, he pushed Requiem from off of Soul Edge- and he fell nearly 72 stories- and hit the water in the moat around the castle with an echoing splash. The green colored water slowly turned to a murky burgundy- as Requiem sank to the bottom.