I gritted my teeth and faced the beady red eyes. The apparition was hovering above the lake. As soon as he saw that I was aware of him, he started to snicker again. His voice echoed through the entire room as if there were speakers everywhere and he was giving a speech.
"Hello hello, welcome! How are you on this fine dark day?"
"Where are my friends?" I spoke through clenched teeth. It took all of my willpower to not attack him.
"Gone for now. I didn't want the trouble of all four of you attacking me. That would be unfair."
The phantom snapped his fingers, and immediately the lamps flickered with life. When he snapped again, the room was covered in darkness. He laughed, snapping again and again, playing with the fire like a child.
"Stop that!" I screamed.
Firelight glowed with another snap, and I finally saw what the monster was. Judging the long sword clipped on his waist, he was a swordsman just like Marth and Link. His cape billowed with the hovering. Other than that, his features were impossible to determine because he was painted in pitch black except for the red eyes.
"Gee, anger issues. I didn't kill them or anything. Unless if you wanted me to." The phantom sneered. He started to glow orange, and then burned into a blindingly white flare. I stumbled back from the light until I dug into the wall. Even with my eyes closed, the brilliancy fried my eyelids and all I could see was white.
"Look at you, you filthy imitation of an angel. Do you like the dark better?"
The heat wave was tremendous. I started to smell smoke from my toga and my fingers felt stiff from clenching them too tightly. The phantom roared with laughter.
"You can't even save a single friend. Where are they now? Oh that's right, they're gone!"
With another snap, the room was casted with darkness once again. My sight twinkled from the flash. I couldn't even guess where he was. His voice seemed to come from everywhere. I fluttered my eyes as a vain attempt to see well. But once my eyes were accustomed to the darkness, the phantom will probably just glow into that white luminescence. Sooner or later, my eyeballs were going to evaporate from their sockets if I didn't do anything.
"Do you know why you're trapped here?"
I was suddenly aware that the phantom was right in front of me. I swung my weapon wildly in that general direction but it was no use. He circled around behind me.
"Don't you remember? You trapped yourself here, you masochistic bastard. Didn't you learn your lesson the first time you wandered in here with your friends?"
"Stop lying!"
I whipped my weapon behind me. This time, the phantom caught my arm. His touch was cold and dominant. The more I tried to rip his grip off, the tighter he held onto me. And before I could think of using my other arm, he rammed the hilt of his sword into my ribcage. Electrifying pain surged through my body and took away the power in my legs. I crumpled to the ground.
Around the mud I slipped in earlier, a dark red hue started to spread in my toga. I puffed a breath and winced in pain. This is humiliating.
"Tell me your name. Or did you forget that also?"
My name. Who forgets their own name? Nevertheless, nothing came out of my mouth. My heart skipped a beat in the realization that no one has said my name. But yet they still knew who I was. Do my friends know my name? If they don't, why don't they?
"What a shame. What a shame. Our only savior has forgotten his name, for God's sake." The phantom threw his arms in the air. He laughed at the ceiling as if other people were joining in on his ecstasy.
"You disgust me."
A wide smile stretched from ear to ear. I scowled back. It was just enough time for me to gather my swords into one and form a bow. A brilliant, spontaneous light engulfed the phantom's chest as I shot my arrow. He screamed, staggering backwards and clawing at the injury.
A little bit of the person inside revealed from the arrow. An intricate design resembling a flare was embroidered onto the chest plate. Over that, a thick, royal purple cape hung comfortably. The black ink evaporated once they fell on to the ground.
If I could peel off all of the ink, will the person trapped inside be able to escape?
The smirk was gone from his face, and a wild smile stretched across my face now. Finally, the phantom unsheathed his sword. It was double-edged and slender, but sturdy. Flames licked along the sharp edges of the weapon. A smoky, stinging smell tickled my nose. One swing of that thing can split me in half very quickly.
He pushed me hard, and it was a pain trying to deflect all of his swings. Every time the metal hit each other, sparks and speckles of flame threatened to catch on me. But still, the phantom pushed me more and more into the lake. His moves were angry, quick, and unpredictable. I had to have more room if I wanted to shoot an arrow again.
But In the dark, the sword was easy to see. I could even see the red path it's following before it reached me. Fire puffed and whirled as the sword came right above my head. I crossed my two swords into an X and trapped the blade. I cringed at the orange sparks spitting out from the sword. One speck fell on my collar bone. Biting pain burst from that single spot and my thighs felt like they've melted as my knees buckled.
I cursed, and fell to my knees. The phantom let out an angry grunt as he kicked me square in the chest and I tumbled into the thick water.
The burn on my collar bone, and the jab I received earlier in my ribcage fluttered and pulsed. They felt sensitive but I didn't tense. It felt a little nice. The bubbles that escaped through my wings made me flinch and I came back to my senses. As I kicked my way to the surface, I saw the phantom was hovering above the lake again. He snickered but his breath was choppy.
"Great job, you managed to attack me once! Impressive."
I dove back into the water. The phantom burst out in white light, a whole lot quicker than the first time. I managed to keep my eyes closed but noticed it was actually dark. White light wasn't peering through my eyelids. The green murky water helped the light from entering under the surface.
But the next problem was aiming the arrow. Murky water may mean it'll cut out some light, but it made it even more difficult to identify where he was. And who knows how many arrows I needed to shoot to blast off all of the black ink. I came back to the surface to catch my breath. There was a hissing sound coming from my hair as I was engulfed in the heat. The phantom was right above me.
"Too bad you can't breathe underwater huh? It's only a matter of time until you fry up like a mummy."
I couldn't breathe. I was rasping so much my jaw hung open, leaving the tip of my tongue shrivel up dry. My vision started to oscillate from white to sea green. Water was beginning to boil on the edges of the lake. Sooner or later, I'd be baked or boiled. I tried to swim, but the phantom followed me from above, a cruel sun waiting and watching its perfect victim die a slow death.
"Oh savior! Is this how you end, forever trapped between fire and water? How poetic!" The phantom craned his head back in laughter, drowning in his near victory.
As my throat started to crackle from the dry air, one thought entered my mind. Fire and water.
Could it be that simple?
I jumped, grasping onto the phantom's cape. He was burning hot; I was screaming among grabbing him. White smoke spewed from my trembling hands but I held a tight grip. I wrapped myself around the phantom, and we both plummeted underwater.
Bubbles exploded from the phantom's mouth. He thrashed wildly like an untamed bull in a rodeo. I could relate to those interviews of the cowboys when they commented the first ten seconds felt like a lifetime. We sank deeper and I could see large pieces of black ink peeling off of him. As his body temperature began to fall, I found myself embracing him tighter and tighter.
Claws dug into my wings. Precious bubbles escaped as my mouth broke open. But I came this close. I wasn't going to let him go. My head pulsed and I felt my eyes wiggle inside the sockets. My throat wasn't dry anymore, but it burned. My nose stung. The pressure in my ears ached as if someone closed a book on my head.
The thrashing stopped and I felt the last of the ink escape from my fingers. As I opened my eyes, I saw a boy, probably the same age as me, with red hair and startling blue eyes. And then I drifted off into unconsciousness.
Author's Note: I like sizing the document down to 1/2 size. It makes it easier to read. Remind me if this level of violence is okay for rated T.