War

chpt 1 : numb

"What did you do." Clockwork's tone was accusing and dripping with venom. His dangerous red eyes narrowed into slits.

"What I had to." Roku stated.

There was a tense silence between the two, before the time master spoke again. "If he dies, you will have much more than just 'balance' to worry about."

"Is that a threat?"

"It is a fact."

The snow had stopped falling when the sun went down, making everything eerily still. There was no wind or sound or… anything.

It was a barren wasteland.

Lifeless.

At least until you looked up at the shining universe above, which seemed to be bursting with life.

Even with the incredibly dire situation, he couldn't help but geek out by how much of the night sky was visible without the normal light pollution from the city. Some nebula colors were even shining through the vast abyss of black making it look even more beautiful.

Yet, along of the beauty the already freezing temperatures increased tenfold.

He was pretty sure that if he didn't have an ice core, he'd have been dead by now. Well… fully dead anyways.

The only thing he could do was float aimlessly.

The longer he admired and mapped the sky, the more its scattered light seemed too bright. That, along with the intensity of everything, had begun to blur his vision. He had lost the ability to follow the Ursa Major constellation to track the North Star. Though he wasn't sure if it was helping much in the first place. Even if he reached the ocean he wouldn't be able to fly all the way across it to the warmer continents in the condition he was in.

Unconsciously, he began floating closer to the ground, scratching the surface slightly. Unfortunately for him, his foot caught onto a small block of ice. A slight sting registered in his muddy brain before his flight was thrown off balance. He twisted and fell onto his back harshly. The air was knocked out of his lungs momentarily.

For a long time he took in big gulps of breathes and clenched his eyes shut.

'okay… ow.'

His bleary eyes opened partly, hopelessly, then closed again. The thick snow under him seeming to press on him by all sides.

He felt buried…

Buried.

…

'Huh.'

Last semester, Mr. Lancer gave a small lecture about how some animals in the arctic would bury themselves under the snow when it got too cold at night, and how being under the heavy snow cover kept them warm until the sun came out.

He chuckled, the sound raspy and loud in the wasteland.

'Who'd've thought… Mr Lancers boring lectures might just be my saving grace.'

But just before he was about to turn himself over to start digging, a shift in the light had him looking at the sky again.

And to the moon… that was very oddly losing it's light.

But there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There was no way something was covering it.

The teen cocked his head, perplexed. Then suddenly everything went entirely dark. The stars and nebulas just vanished and everything surrounding him was an abyss of black.

…

He froze. (No pun intended)

…

Was he hallucinating? Dreaming?

…

Slowly, yet surely, he stumbled onto his feet. He tried desperately to see something in his surroundings.

"Uh? Hello?"

The second the word left his mouth he felt incredibly stupid.

There was no one around for miles.

Who did he think would answer?

A loud distorted growl suddenly echoed in the air. His head whipped around, trying to locate where the sound was coming from yet all he was met with was more darkness.

Was he going crazy?

His ghost sense went off.

He didn't have any time to react before he became intensely blinded. The sudden light burned into his retinas and spiked his headache.

When his eyes adjusted, he glanced down.

…

Just in time to see… something… shooting up towards him from under his feet.

He yelped and dove to the side.

The light bursted through the snow seconds after he moved, resounding with a loud boom. The small white flakes of ice that was once a smooth surface now became rustled and uneven. The halfa numbly stood into a defensive stance, his body's muscle memory making him move subconsciously.

He had to look up to see the thing.

The towering, hulkishly disproportionate, creature was leering down at him.

It had incredibly broad shoulders and a thin, long torso. It's legs were short and stubby, while it's head couldn't really be called a head. It was more like a dome, with tribal-like markings for eyes and nothing but smooth surface where the mouth was supposed to be.

The entirety of its being was too bright, acting almost like a beacon in the dark surroundings.

Danny's vision was turning hazy just looking at it.

For a long moment, he and the creature just stared at each other in an uncomfortable standoff. (At least he thought the thing was staring at him)

The unnerving and tense quiet brought back his shivers that had numbed out of his body hours ago. He took a step back.

Then, without warning, the creatures huge arms came hurtling towards him. He only had a split second to dive out of the way, acting purely on instinct. His thigh stung intensely as the side of it's fist grazed it. He glanced down and his eyes widened. Despite the lack of pain, there was a deep jagged gash that stood out against his hazmat suit. Neon blood was oozing out of it slowly.

"Crap."

The creature made another gurgled growl, before striking at him again.

The next few minutes turned into a flurry of movements.

The creature would attack while he would scarcely avoided the hits, then he'd thrown his own attack. But the halfa's body was wearing thin and his aim sluggish, the cold stunting his movements and thoughts.

He miscalculated how close the creature was and was grabbed by his left shoulder and slammed into the ground, he cried out. The creatures large three fingered hands felt like it was embedding itself deep into his bone, tearing his flesh open.

It felt like forever before the thing let go. Yet he wasn't able to do anything but watch as it raised both arms above its head, ready to deal a killing blow.

Out of his bleary vision, the think looked so demented. Subconsciously his grabbed at the snow underneath him, just for something comforting to grasp.

He closed his eyes and waited for the blow.

…

But it never came.

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

The creature was in the same position as before. Arms raised, tribal eyes in angry slits …

It probably took longer than it should've for him to realize what had happened.

"Hello Daniel."

He sighed at the voice and relaxed into the snow, deciding to close his eyes again and focus on breathing. (Even if the air was like pins and needles going down his throat)

Then, when he got his bearings, he turned his head to look at the master of time.

"T-thanks Clock-w-work." He coughed harshly. "Though I would've p-preferred if you'd h-have stop-ped that b-before I- *herm* g-got… hit."

The frown that was already on Clockwork's face deepened. "I am sorry young one. I would've if I'd known."

The halfa gave the time master a curious look, but didn't speak. The hero was simply too tired to. Clockwork knew he was on the verge of passing out. So he quickly knelt down next to the injured teen, his form morphed into an older form of himself. The skin around his eyes crinkled sorrowfully.

"Trust in me," His now boney hand held Danny's face, almost in a fatherly way. "You are here for a reason."

With that, the hero submitted to the darkness.