"Pray for the weeping Ghost"
The luminous streaks of lightning blazed across blackened skies of ominous darkness. The howling winds pulled and pushed like the presence of spectres and haints round about, whispering the words of the damned. Shattered structures of crumbling mortar and marsh grounds like those of the murky swamps were the only company of the dirt underfoot. A building of broken windows, it was - fragmented stone glazed the walls and weary dead woods blanketed the floors. A ruin, a now forgotten place, but once a castle. A keep, like a great aegis protecting those within. Legends told of it, stories of the past that drew generations beyond to the place of a once great sanctuary. And so, had they done so again.
"Your majesty! We have to hurry -- now!" yelled a man, clad in armor.
The distance was an echoed resonance of weapons firing, the screaming of dying men and the foreboding of a terrible fate. An old man with grizzled gray hair fell to the ground as sweat rolled down his face, reddening and stinging his eyes as his senses became overwhelmed by his fears. And even still, the primal instinct. To run, to flee, and yet he could not move. Couldn't turn his head away from the direction of his approaching death. It was like a calling, a gravitation even as it still repulsed him.
"Your majesty, please! Get up, now!" yelled out another soldier, glancing back as the flashing lights from the blasters discharging far away in the dark, hollow castle.
Without a wasted moment, the soldiers by the old man grasped his arms, lifting him up through their own strength as they pulled the elder along. The death rattles of the voices of men far away trickled down the empty halls, reaching the fleeing men.
"There! Out here!" a solider yelled, kneeling down to the side wall as he placed a module near to the floor level.
The light hums and beeps synced together as the periodic beeping of a countdown began. The explosion which followed shattered the wall like an iron fist to crystal glass. Debris flew back, disintegrating from the impact against the inner walls as the outer wall fell apart into dust.
"Out -- out now!" yelled one of the soldiers while addressing the rest, "You three, take his majesty and get to refuge. The rest of us will hold him off while you escape. Protect him majesty!
"At all costs," said the other soldier, acknowledging as he and his two contemporaries took the old man and fled from the detonated castle wall. The commanding solider tightened his hand around the barrel of his weapon as he receded to his knee, aiming his carbine down the midnight hallways. Landing in the marshes below, the soldiers took the elderly man from the stories above, cushioning his fall as their boots splashed in the mud and clay. At once, the foremost solider ran ahead, while the second supported the old man and the third guarded from behind. The last of the soldiers shut his eyes tight as he uttered silently behind his mask. Tears rolled down his eyes as he glanced back, seeing the flashes of light behind them, back where they left the rest of their cadre.
"Until we reunite in the afterlife, brothers.."
"Don't," said the second of them, "You're only appeasing the imagination, and you know it. Don't you dare reduce our brothers to that."
"Enough," said the foremost soldier, "We have his majesty, that's all that matters now. We do our du--"
In an instant of a moment, the first soldier's words were cut short as the back of his head detonated. The armor of his helmet tore apart as a white light collided into it. Spacial distortions manifested in the air around the soldier's head as his skull imploded and his cranium's internal organs spattered about like spray of fire. The soldier's body fell where he stood, collapsing to his knees as his body lumped over, submerging in a pool of swamp and his own blood.
"GO! RUN!" yelled the third soldier, "Protect his --"
In the very next moment, a white light fell upon the neck of the third soldier, as an imploding force tore away at his armor and flesh. An echo of crunching bones and twisting metal were the only sounds that could be heard as the third soldier's right shoulder tore apart completely, as did his neck, utterly decapitating him. Without a wasted word, the second soldier clung to the old man, dragging him along as he trekked as fast as their bodies could take them through the marshy swamps. His body was drenched in his own sweat, but his felt chilled to his bones as he ran, not even noticing where he was heading. Only that it was away from there, away from the death that followed them.
Time passed, an hour, many hours -- how long, he didn't know. The woods around him all appeared the same, the rain fell without prejudice, dimming his sights and staining their surroundings so that he could not see his way. Which way was north? Was south? He couldn't perceive, but he no longer cared. As his heart slowed, the solider placed the exhausted old man down, allowing him to rest on the ground. All the while, however, he still eyed his surroundings, still watched as if he knew he were still in the crosshairs.
"Your majesty, rest now, but we have to keep moving in minutes. We can't r--"
In the time it took for him to complete the thought in his head, the soldier felt an overwhelming sensation come about. It was so strange, so uncanny, unnatural. He could not recognize it at first, couldn't feel what it was. The chill of the air suddenly felt cool upon him though, a wonder, as he was still clad in his armor. The soldier slowly glanced down beneath him as he stared with a deathly glare at a gaping hole through his torso. Blood dripped from the shattered remains of his rib cage, and his entrails - what wasn't torn asunder - fell out from his body and spilled to the ground at knees. No words escaped from the soldier's mouth, no utterances, no whispers, not even the most solemn of sounds. Only did the tears of his eyes run down his face as blood ran like a river out from him. His pupils dilated and retracted as his focus waned and faded, until he could feel only this; fear. Fear of dying, fear of the unknown. The soldier fell lifelessly to the ground, managing to glance up to see the approaching boots of his own harbinger.
The old man laid on the ground with eyes frozen as his final soldier laid dead mere inches from him. Pieces of organs had sprayed out, splashing him with the entrails of the soldier. At that moment in time, it took all of the strength the elderly man possessed to turn to face the approaching of his murderer. Terror overtook his flesh and bone in that moment, as the old man climbed to his knees in an attempt to crawl away. It was only the briefest passing of moments before the old man looked up again, only to see his harbinger standing before him again. And for a time, a time neither of them could comprehend, the two men simply stared at each other; the eyes of an old man to the glowing mask of his younger.
"You... have slain my guard. You've hunted me... killed my bride, my children, my family... why," the old man said, breaking out into tears and weeping, "Why are you doing this? WHY? PLEASE.... please, don't kill me... please.."
The armored man stood still then, and slowly he rose his head, staring up at the deluge falling down upon him. Behind the metal mask, the man closed his eyes and his mouth quivered, yet uttering no sound. And then, as seconds passed, the armored man stared back down at the old man.
"Your majesty. Pray," he said, speaking for the first time.
"Pray...," the old man said, still fraught in fear, "What do you think something like prayer do for me?"
"Not for you... for me. Pray for me," said the armored man, as he cocked his gun and brought it to the fore, aiming between the crying eyes of the grounded old man, "Pray... for 'Aeschylus'."
₪TO BE CONTINUED₪
The luminous streaks of lightning blazed across blackened skies of ominous darkness. The howling winds pulled and pushed like the presence of spectres and haints round about, whispering the words of the damned. Shattered structures of crumbling mortar and marsh grounds like those of the murky swamps were the only company of the dirt underfoot. A building of broken windows, it was - fragmented stone glazed the walls and weary dead woods blanketed the floors. A ruin, a now forgotten place, but once a castle. A keep, like a great aegis protecting those within. Legends told of it, stories of the past that drew generations beyond to the place of a once great sanctuary. And so, had they done so again.
"Your majesty! We have to hurry -- now!" yelled a man, clad in armor.
The distance was an echoed resonance of weapons firing, the screaming of dying men and the foreboding of a terrible fate. An old man with grizzled gray hair fell to the ground as sweat rolled down his face, reddening and stinging his eyes as his senses became overwhelmed by his fears. And even still, the primal instinct. To run, to flee, and yet he could not move. Couldn't turn his head away from the direction of his approaching death. It was like a calling, a gravitation even as it still repulsed him.
"Your majesty, please! Get up, now!" yelled out another soldier, glancing back as the flashing lights from the blasters discharging far away in the dark, hollow castle.
Without a wasted moment, the soldiers by the old man grasped his arms, lifting him up through their own strength as they pulled the elder along. The death rattles of the voices of men far away trickled down the empty halls, reaching the fleeing men.
"There! Out here!" a solider yelled, kneeling down to the side wall as he placed a module near to the floor level.
The light hums and beeps synced together as the periodic beeping of a countdown began. The explosion which followed shattered the wall like an iron fist to crystal glass. Debris flew back, disintegrating from the impact against the inner walls as the outer wall fell apart into dust.
"Out -- out now!" yelled one of the soldiers while addressing the rest, "You three, take his majesty and get to refuge. The rest of us will hold him off while you escape. Protect him majesty!
"At all costs," said the other soldier, acknowledging as he and his two contemporaries took the old man and fled from the detonated castle wall. The commanding solider tightened his hand around the barrel of his weapon as he receded to his knee, aiming his carbine down the midnight hallways. Landing in the marshes below, the soldiers took the elderly man from the stories above, cushioning his fall as their boots splashed in the mud and clay. At once, the foremost solider ran ahead, while the second supported the old man and the third guarded from behind. The last of the soldiers shut his eyes tight as he uttered silently behind his mask. Tears rolled down his eyes as he glanced back, seeing the flashes of light behind them, back where they left the rest of their cadre.
"Until we reunite in the afterlife, brothers.."
"Don't," said the second of them, "You're only appeasing the imagination, and you know it. Don't you dare reduce our brothers to that."
"Enough," said the foremost soldier, "We have his majesty, that's all that matters now. We do our du--"
In an instant of a moment, the first soldier's words were cut short as the back of his head detonated. The armor of his helmet tore apart as a white light collided into it. Spacial distortions manifested in the air around the soldier's head as his skull imploded and his cranium's internal organs spattered about like spray of fire. The soldier's body fell where he stood, collapsing to his knees as his body lumped over, submerging in a pool of swamp and his own blood.
"GO! RUN!" yelled the third soldier, "Protect his --"
In the very next moment, a white light fell upon the neck of the third soldier, as an imploding force tore away at his armor and flesh. An echo of crunching bones and twisting metal were the only sounds that could be heard as the third soldier's right shoulder tore apart completely, as did his neck, utterly decapitating him. Without a wasted word, the second soldier clung to the old man, dragging him along as he trekked as fast as their bodies could take them through the marshy swamps. His body was drenched in his own sweat, but his felt chilled to his bones as he ran, not even noticing where he was heading. Only that it was away from there, away from the death that followed them.
Time passed, an hour, many hours -- how long, he didn't know. The woods around him all appeared the same, the rain fell without prejudice, dimming his sights and staining their surroundings so that he could not see his way. Which way was north? Was south? He couldn't perceive, but he no longer cared. As his heart slowed, the solider placed the exhausted old man down, allowing him to rest on the ground. All the while, however, he still eyed his surroundings, still watched as if he knew he were still in the crosshairs.
"Your majesty, rest now, but we have to keep moving in minutes. We can't r--"
In the time it took for him to complete the thought in his head, the soldier felt an overwhelming sensation come about. It was so strange, so uncanny, unnatural. He could not recognize it at first, couldn't feel what it was. The chill of the air suddenly felt cool upon him though, a wonder, as he was still clad in his armor. The soldier slowly glanced down beneath him as he stared with a deathly glare at a gaping hole through his torso. Blood dripped from the shattered remains of his rib cage, and his entrails - what wasn't torn asunder - fell out from his body and spilled to the ground at knees. No words escaped from the soldier's mouth, no utterances, no whispers, not even the most solemn of sounds. Only did the tears of his eyes run down his face as blood ran like a river out from him. His pupils dilated and retracted as his focus waned and faded, until he could feel only this; fear. Fear of dying, fear of the unknown. The soldier fell lifelessly to the ground, managing to glance up to see the approaching boots of his own harbinger.
The old man laid on the ground with eyes frozen as his final soldier laid dead mere inches from him. Pieces of organs had sprayed out, splashing him with the entrails of the soldier. At that moment in time, it took all of the strength the elderly man possessed to turn to face the approaching of his murderer. Terror overtook his flesh and bone in that moment, as the old man climbed to his knees in an attempt to crawl away. It was only the briefest passing of moments before the old man looked up again, only to see his harbinger standing before him again. And for a time, a time neither of them could comprehend, the two men simply stared at each other; the eyes of an old man to the glowing mask of his younger.
"You... have slain my guard. You've hunted me... killed my bride, my children, my family... why," the old man said, breaking out into tears and weeping, "Why are you doing this? WHY? PLEASE.... please, don't kill me... please.."
The armored man stood still then, and slowly he rose his head, staring up at the deluge falling down upon him. Behind the metal mask, the man closed his eyes and his mouth quivered, yet uttering no sound. And then, as seconds passed, the armored man stared back down at the old man.
"Your majesty. Pray," he said, speaking for the first time.
"Pray...," the old man said, still fraught in fear, "What do you think something like prayer do for me?"
"Not for you... for me. Pray for me," said the armored man, as he cocked his gun and brought it to the fore, aiming between the crying eyes of the grounded old man, "Pray... for 'Aeschylus'."
₪TO BE CONTINUED₪
This marks my sixth and final char. Unfinished
