Buried Secrets

When I awoke, my chest felt heavy- like the world was crushing me. That’s when I realized I was beneath it. My heart began to pound- beating against my ribs as if trying to flee the monster that lived inside the cage. I could hear it beating, pumping blood throughout my body- trying to give it life- like it was my creator. I listened and tried to claw my way out, but the packed dirt made it impossible to move. I couldn’t open my eyes, I couldn’t cry out for help. I had been buried alive and there was nothing I could do except wait for death to come find me.

Dirt clung to every inch of my being- hugging or strangling it- I wasn’t sure, but it molded to my body. Maybe this was where I belonged? I let the dark consume me, my mind-

That’s when I heard her voice.

“You have to run!”

A memory immediately followed, pulling me out of the dark behind my eyes and flooding my brain. Once again I was running down the hall of the palace. The former saviors of this world watched from their portrait frames. I tried to swallow the panic that was rising, but it was twisting and eating my insides.

A curdling cry echoed off the walls and I pushed harder against the floor, running faster. Eventually the hall opened to the throne room where the eye of the strom resided. Seeing me, the Queen began crawling closer, bleeding. She was defenseless with no weapon- she must have lost Sirius in the fight. Her screams were hoarse now. The voice that was meant to command armies was gone. Blood caked and cracked across her dark skin. Her hair was a wild mess of curls matching her silver armor. The metal reflected the moonlight fracturing off the shattered glass that now sprayed the marble floor.

I found my reflection in one of the shards, but it wasn’t familiar. My pale skin smeared by red, my black hair a nest. I looked like a ghost, like I was already dead. I felt numb.

“You have to run!” She screamed again.

My eyes rose to meet the shadow that loomed behind her. A creature with no face that should only be seen in nightmares. As it stood, the edges of its outline swayed as if it was only an illusion. Its head was tilted down in curiosity, watching its prey struggle. A monster constructed of pure chaos; humanoid, but far from human. Inky tendrils ending in talons drifted off its form in different directions. The monster wore tattered dark grey cloth. Through the holes, dozens of small, red eyes splattered its body. They blinked, before following the Queen’s line of sight, its gaze found mine.

Focus, I scolded myself and another wave of magic washed over me.

My hand rested on the sword at my hip. The weapon began to glow dimly at my hand’s close proximity. But it was nothing compared to Sirius. If I was lucky, the sword might be able to leave the monster with a few scraps, but nothing lethal.

“Run” the Queen cried again, “You can’t let it take you!”

She choked on the last word.

I stumbled back as the monster knelt beside the Queen. A hand emerged from somewhere out of its shadowy form and its fingers were placed at the top of her skull. She gasped and began convulsing. I tried to rush forward, but the Queen raised a hand causing vines to break through the floor wrapping around my legs.

“No, I’m not leaving you!”

A few seconds passed as I helplessly watched the monster drain her life and consume it. The Queen’s body was now ashen and covered by black veins. Her eyes were like pools of tar. The vines around my legs shriveled and died. My stomach dropped, she looked like a broken marionette doll, so fragile and still. Another war raged inside my head. She had told me to run, but that’s not what she had taught me to do. I swallowed my fear and tried to concentrate, forcing another wave of magic through my system. Then, I pulled my blade from its sheath and held it before me. Its light flickered before I could find some sort of stability within.

As the monster stood over the Queen, fueled by its meal, it appeared to grow in size. It stepped over her, then shifted, and I spotted Sirius behind it- the sword lying amongst the broken glass. Its blade now dark without the Queen’s grasp around the hilt.

The creature began to slowly approach, its tendrils flicking like forked tongues as I matched its pace, walking backwards. My mind swirled with tactics from training with the Queen.

“So,” the monster hissed, “You're this world’s new savior?” It’s voice scratched my brain, coming from inside my head. Then the monster leaned fireward, and though it had no nose, it inhaled like it was smelling something.

“You are quite magical, young one. You would have made a good ruler… But do they know who you truly are?” The monster waved a tendril, gesturing towards the kingdom surrounding us where the battle waged on- where its dark forces continued to spill out of the shadows and attack the people I had sworn to protect as the Queen’s apprentice. Paracosm was crumbling. This world was sick, slowly dying because of the evil that diseased it.

“I know they don’t, because if they did, you would be dead, my dear Atlas,” the monster teased.

“Who are you? How do you know my name?” I said, my voice shaken, betraying me.

“I'm nobody. Nobody compared to those who lie waiting for you. I know who you are,” it continued. Two hands emerged from the pitch and were placed over one another, pressing into its chest. “Why do you protect them when all they do is kill creatures like us…”

I froze and a single tendril reached towards me, smoothing my cheek. As it did, I lost all concentration. My magic bled from my being, leaving me bare and void. My eyes wavered on a shattered piece of glass that revealed the truth. Two white horns were now visible atop my head. Together, they arced in the shape of a crescent moon like a broken halo. My eyes were completely black except for two golden rings. I turned away and faced the monster again.

“I’m not like you,” I screamed at it. The sword in my hand flickered.

“Not yet,” it breathed, “But you will be.”

“Never!”

“Don’t you see Atlas’s! You’re not meant to be their savior. You’re meant to be ours!” The monster’s tendrils stretched outwards around it and I watched through the empty window panes as his legion continued to destroy the kingdom. “I came here for you! All of this is for you! You can free us from our chains and we won’t have to be imprisoned in the dark any longer… We will no longer have to hide. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what she wanted?” The monster turned towards the Queen, her body lying still on the ground.

“No,” I cried, “She wanted peace between our worlds- not this!”

The monster stood taller and stared with its cold eyes.

“There will never be peace,” it seemed to spit, “We will always be monsters to them. We are chaos, we are untamable. People will always be afraid of what they cannot control.”

The monster launched itself at me and I rolled past it, throwing my own weapon to the ground and sprinting for Sirius. It wraithed in anger as it realized what I had done.

In my hands, Sirius blazed and a ring of light shot out of the blade. Behind, the monster cried out in pain. When I whipped around to attack, I saw it had been struck- its shoulder and half of its head were completely gone; but the shadows began to slowly stitch the monster back together, trying to reform itself. Thankfully, its edges had been burned by Sirius, making the process slow.

The monster roared and attacked. I sliced and dodged the inky talons that were thrust. As I cut through them, they immediately dissipated. I continued to inch closer. Eventually, I was only a few feet away. The monster appeared to be becoming tired- its attacks slowing down. I cut through another tendril and ducked beneath the following one. As I raised my sword to land the final blow, a shadow hand protruded from the monster’s stomach and tightened around my throat. My body stiffened as I fought for air.

“You will be my savior or my sacrifice,” it seethed in my ear.

My vision began to blur and I saw my veins turn black, creeping up my body.

Sirius’s light spasmed and I dropped it.

I tried to kick, but my foot went straight through the monster.

Suddenly it released a tortured scream and I fell to the floor. I back away from the creature, reuniting with Sirius. Its light twitched before I found balance between us. I stood and watched the monster shrink away from me. A glowing spear had been stabbed through its spine and jutted out of its stomach where the hand that had gripped my throat. It crumpled as its form began burning away.

“No, no, no!” It cried. Then its eyes found mine, “We will have our freedom. No matter where you go, darkness will find you. You will never find peace as long as chaos haunts you. You will be ours, Atlas, and you will destroy the world.” With those final words, the monster dissipated, leaving nothing of itself behind except for the destruction it had caused. The spear clattered on the ground. Outside, I could see the monster’s legions running and disappearing back into the shadows.

Across the room, I found the monster’s killer now cradling the Queen’s body. Her blonde hair falling out of a bun, obscuring her face; but I watched as tears landed on the Queen's cheeks. I crept silently towards the guard captain. I knelt beside her and took the Queen’s hand in mine, bending low and touching my forehead to it.

The Queen’s words from the first time we met rattled inside my head and I could feel the memory of her hands cupping my face.

Don’t be afraid Atlas, I will be here to protect you. You are my dream. We will find peace.

I shattered, letting the tears fall. When I screamed, only a hollow sound surfaced.

“This is all my fault, all my fault, all my fault, I’m sorry,”

Monster, my mind answered.

I could feel the captain watching, her shadow looming above.

“This is your fault,” she answered, “I told her what you were yet she chose to let you live… I won’t make the same mistake.”

She grabbed my head and pushed it against the marble. My cheek was cut by glass and I saw stars. She grasped Sirius and swung it in my direction. The weapon didn’t glow in her hands, but that didn’t matter, I was only half monster, the blade alone could still kill me. I ducked and ran towards one of the empty window panes. She gave chase. The throne room was on the first floor so the window was only a few feet above ground. I threw myself out the window and continued running.

“You can still be a savior, Atlas,” the captain called, “If I kill you, chaos can’t have you and this world will be safe.”

You are my dream, the Queen’s voice repeated. I picked up speed, heading towards the forest and hoping I could lose the captain in the brambles. Bursting through the first line of trees, I slid behind one before pressing my palm to a root. At my touch the trees surrounding me listened, bending their branches low to build a wall and their roots shifting the terrain. I watched the captain trip and taste dirt before continuing to run.

Behind, I heard the guard captain cut through the oak with Sirius. The sound of her boots pounding the ground was growing closer. I checked over my shoulder to see her reaching towards me- no, not towards me, beyond me. I faced forward and found rocks rising in my path. I jumped as each one grew higher. Eventually I slipped and tried to catch myself on a branch, but it broke at my weight and my back hit the earth. I rolled over in pain and through dazed vision I found the captain looming overhead once more.

“I can’t let you destroy this world,” she said.

We will find peace

Was this what she meant? Maybe the monster had been right- that peace can’t survive here; but maybe we could find it in a world beyond this one. I stared past the captain, my eyes finding the distant shadow of the castle against the night sky. I felt the captain raise Sirius above her head and I closed my eyes.

The memory evaporated in my mind and I was left again in the dark. I focused on the dirt and let my magic bleed into it, trying to find my voice and speak to the world whose inhabitants didn’t know what to do with me. Despite what those inhabitants wanted to believe, I was still partly a child of Paracosm. It answered and slowly the dirt began to crumple and I clawed my way up. My hand broke through the surface and I pulled the rest of me out of the ground. With my legs dangling over the hole, I breathed deep and exhaled.