separated by time and space.
seemingly lost in a land of darkness, of pain and suffering.
for the land once considered the promised one, now seethes with the putrid stench of the black-hearted.
of creatures so malevolent and deceitful, it seems they may have just destroyed the one thing that never failed my friend.
his heart.
a man so kind and caring, he rarely looked to himself for selfish desires.
to me, to all of us really, he was a great man, a weapon of all things good and light and pure.
when the darkness invaded my world, who was there to beat it out of me? him! he raised that sword and cut off the parasites eating my skin, burrowing into my mind. and this was not one time either. no no no, because once the darkness has affected you once, those shields will never be as strong on your world. they scar and they tear and leave cruel memories to torment you. but you can come back from it, make no mistake. but you will be changed.
but see the thing is, those beasts will never stop attacking. the moment you show your susceptible to their magic, they amass an army, hellbent on turning you into one of them. that is ultimately the most confusing thing about those creatures. most all of their warriors...were once servants of the light. corrupted. by this disease. by the beings whose sole purpose is to decay. so far gone, all they want is the darkness. the light has left their souls.
and when my friend was torn out of his home, from our kingdom, he was thrown into the lair of the evil. without a soul by his side. it was up to him to fight them off, swinging left, then right, and decapitating the monsters with his sword, he seemed near invincible for a time. but as i watched from afar, i realized he was not going to win. he could not battle them all, there were to many. and while light is inherently more powerful then dark, one man cannot hold back an army of damned souls forever.
so i watched. knowing there was little i could do. lending him the power i could spare in small amounts from afar. but it wasnt enough. maybe i should have given more. i know i could have tried harder. he was my friend, my co-king, lords of our world ruling together, brothers not by blood, but just as strong. and i couldn't save him.
eventually his shield broke. and as i prepared for my friend to lose his soul to the darkness, something happened. actually, poor choice of words. that makes it sound like he found a way to win, or that a miracle happened saving the day.
that would be a lie. they took his arms. his blade of courage and purity. they took his crown. his robes, his everything. as he lie naked on the ground, terrified and defenseless and confused they cast a spell. a dark ritual which would cause him more pain then they could ever inflict physically. they turned his clothes, his armor, his sword, and his arms into their form. no longer symbols of justice and light, now they were purely hatred, rage, emptiness, and most of all sadness. they swarmed his body. returned him his things.
and when he touched that crown of death, i realized
he was truly gone.