Again the scream sounded… That time it made me jump out of bed and start running down the hall. Her room was about ten yards down the hall and it was closest to the stairs, the door was closed. An eerie red glow emanated from the crack below it as I slammed into it desperately grabbing for the handle. At first I thought it was locked but that was quickly proven wrong when I realized "The door doesn't even have a lock!" so I just decided then and there her life was worth more than the door, and with all that rage I had pent up inside I drew my foot back and SMASHED the door in. The door didn't give, oh no the frame gave and the whole thing sailed clear into the room.

As I ran in I noticed was the blood red fog that hovered over her, what was even more terrifying was the matching blood red glow coming from her eyes and mouth. I quickly grabbed her and slung her small form over my shoulders and sprinted out of the room with her bouncing on my back.

As soon as we left the fog seemed to coalesce into a red shadow and started to slowly follow. I bounded down the stairs, eliciting groans from the small form over my shoulders, and as soon as we got to the bottom floor I hustled over to the couch. When I dropped her on the couch I noticed that she still had that eerie red glow coming from her mouth, I shook her, "Izzi!" I hissed "Izzi!" At first it seemed to have no effect, but then I noticed that the red glow was fading. Slowly the whites of her eyes returned followed by her pupils, leaving her normally hazel irises a glowing crimson.

"Wha-what happened?"

I give a breath of relief before I reply "Do you remember what happened?"

She curls up in a ball and starts shivering "It was like a million voices talking at the same time all saying different things…"

I hug her, "Stay strong I'm not sure if it's gone."

She keeps shivering in my arms "It was looking for 'The one with the power'"

I have to stifle a gasp at that remembering what I had overheard from Cat and Luan's conversation 'Told you he's the one'. Thoughts go through my head in a flurry, but are stopped in their tracks when I hear a snarl from the kitchen.

I peer over the couch and check for the mist, sure enough floating out of the hallway from the stairs is the fog. I shake Iz, "It's over there. I'll distract it you go for the basement steps, OK?"

She nods.

"GO!" I yelled wanting to keep distance between us and the shadowy form. She promptly took off ripping open the basement door and storming down the stairs. I went into a stare down with the shadowy form, it now had lost most of its red color but made up for it in its glowing red eyes. "What do you want?" I shouted at it still glaring at the stupid thing "Power…" it hissed in a scratchy voice before coming at me with new drive. I ducked behind the couch before rolling to the right and following Iz down the stairs.

I didn't make it very far before the red thing came back, now in its fog form, and gathered around me engulfing me in what seemed like the deepest black. Within I heard "You are the one… creature" in a hiss before I saw images… they seemed to flash by each one more terrible that the last, war crimes, death, destruction. I felt what was left of any sanity that I had slowly begin to slip as thousands of voices begins to yell in my ears, some beg for forgiveness others tell me to start fires, but what is the worst is the screams and the laughter, pure insane cackling that only a truly broken mind can make.

After an eternity it starts to recede and start looking for something, it is the strangest feeling having something trying to sift through your memories.

I just watch it mutely… what was I doing anyway?

I feel… I feel like I should be doing- no, protecting something, but what was it?

What is that red thing? I get the feeling that it shouldn't be here but I don't know why.

I sit down, why do I feel so tired?

…

…

…

…

"Jay!" A voice rings out as I start to drift off.

I feel like that should be familiar… Where have I heard that voice before? It seems so familiar, and I feel like I should be doing something again.

As I think on this a pane of light floats by and I stare at it in wonder, I feel a little energy return and I reach out to touch it.

"You just need to keep pedaling" my own voice says, I'm holding up a young girl as she tries to ride a bike for the first time.

"But what if I fall?" she asks.

I smile "But what if you don't?"

She nods and starts to pedal as I hold her up, soon enough I let go without her noticing. I stand back and `watch "I think you can let go." She calls out now about fifty feet away, "What!?" I yell not quite hearing her.

She turns and looks before starting to laugh "I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" she chants as the memory starts to fade, "You sure are Izzi." I hear before the memory fades.

I sit there with a smile on my face, it was nice to see how cool my sister was- "IZZI!" I bellow as everything comes back to me. I become aware of the thing still in my head, now giving off an air of frustration, and I reach out and pull it back to me. The thing *pops* into existence in front of me with a low growl. I glare at it with contempt "What were you looking for?" I ask.

It hisses "Where are you hiding your power creature!?" and tries to rush me.

Bad Move.

I side step and it runs by, "You see," I say "This is my mind, and I can be whatever I want to be." I grow to the size of a skyscraper and look down on the red dot, "You have been banned from the server:Jay's Mind!" I pull out and oversized sledge hammer and squish the red dot (God I'm a nerd.) causing everything to go white.

Slowly everything comes back into focus and I find myself laying at the bottom of the stairs with Izzi shaking me, "Hey" I croak, "That sucked." She lets out a small sob before hugging my chest "I thought you were going to die!" she sobs into my chest. I start to stroke her light brown hair, "You know me, I always come out on top." I say reassuringly.

I look around, why hadn't mom or dad woken up? I really hope that the caligo (I'm naming that fucker so I don't have to call it the "thing") hadn't gotten to them too. I stand up on shaky legs "Let's go back upstairs and-" I'm interrupted by scrabbling on the floor above, I turn back to Iz and give her some gestures to move down the stairs and hide. She nods and slides into a small room under the stairs that wouldn't be visible without going into the tiny crawlspace first.

I crouch down on the stairs and wait for whatever came next, what I wasn't prepared for was:

"A Pony?"

The thing was about four feet tall and had a faded grey coat streaked with a black substance, it lacked a mane or tail, but what was by far the scariest was its eyes.

It had none.

It wasn't like they were scooped out either, where the eyes should be were a black void where no light could penetrate.

I backed down the stairs, a little creeped out by the thing, allowing it to gain some ground and make it to the basement. I set in a defensive stance, unsure if it was going to attack or not, and wait for anything to occur.

I didn't have to wait long.

With moan it does a run shamble at me trying to bowl me over, I side step easily and retaliate with a viscous sidekick as it goes by. Unfazed, it turns and charges again, trying to land a hit, because I'm too close to a wall I'm forced to roll out of the way, receiving a kick to my left leg for my trouble. Its hoof leaves a shallow cut that gives me a slight limp as I stand and get ready again.

I think forward and plan out my next move, it seems to only have the ability to charge mindlessly, so, let's put that to use.

On its next charge I jump up as high as I can before flipping forward and looping my arms around its neck and, landing behind it I plant my feet and pull

*SNAP*

The body goes limp and I stand panting over it, thank god for adrenaline I don't think I would have been able to pull that off otherwise. I become aware of the throbbing pain in my left calf and slowly sit down on the ground and rest, Iz comes out of hiding and sits next to me "Think it's over?" she asks, "Yeah I guess." I answer unsure.

As we wait a crackling sound and light pulls our attention away from the body, we both turn and find a portal of golden light on the wall "Woah" both me and Iz say, she walks over to it and inspects it.

"I think it's a portal-" RAAGHH!

I watch as the seemingly dead pony gets up and charges Izzi.

I have three seconds

One…

Can I stop him? No, he is moving too fast and he has enough mass my leg wound is testament to that.

Two…

Can I move Izzi?

Or knock him off course?

Or…

THREE!

"FUCK IT!" I yell, gathering the last of my leg strength under me, I launch myself at the pony tackling the charging beast and driving straight past Izzi and into the swirling vortex of light.

Izzi's face flashes by a mask of shock and fear, then the sensation of falling followed by the pony in my arms dissolving…

A blinding bright white light…

"Good choice."

BOOM! I finally did it! This is the beginning of something awesome (continuation? Fix up?) And I can't wait to get the rest of it going. I spent a lot of the time not only editing, but planning out the rest of the story also. I now have a series of arcs planned out and ready for typing. So any questions comments? Hit me up, I'm more than willing to take some advice or answer thing that I left unclear.

To the future! - TDB