"Hey, Mister!" Jackie called out from behind the knight yet again, "Do you even know where it is we're heading exactly?" She and Maurich had been traveling on foot for the last three days now and she was exhausted second but perplexed first at the knight's endurance. It was in itself inhuman, the very idea of anyone being able to go for so long relentlessly without rest.
"I told you that you didn't have to come along." Maurich shot back over his shoulder as he made his way through the thick forest cutting down branch after branch that would dare stand in the way of he and his destination."This is something I have to do alone and I don't want to get anyone else involved." he once again reminded her as he had done several times before already.
"Yeah right, and who else is going to tends those wounds of yours if they're to come unbandaged." she called after him.
I already told you that I heal fast." Maurich began, "My wounds have been healed for the last two weeks now. I only waited until three days ago to depart because I wanted to make sure I was back to full strength in case I-"
Jackie cutting Maurich off interjected, " In case of what, Mister, hmm?"
"For the last time it's Maurich." Maurich said, losing train of thought, now having stopped to face Jackie, "I finally give you my name and you completely disregard any existence of it, and after all that constant badgering, going on and on about how you don't like hanging out with strangers and what not. What exactly was the point of me telling you if you were still just going to call me "Mister" anyway?"
"Aw, calm down, you. What's the meaning in a name anyway?" Jackie said playfully.
"I don't know? You tell me, Jacqueline Farwind, Duchess of Last Dawn." Maurich replied smugly to Jackie's question grinning ear to ear. He then turned around and continued making his way through the thick forest.
"You are such a jerk!" Jackie yelled after him, running now to catch up, "I thought you were sleep."
"Yeah and it's not weird at all that you whisper secrets to people you don't know while they're recovering and unconscious." Maurich teased sarcastically.
Jackie was struck with silence as she continued to walk." I can't believe this guy," she thought to himself, "All this time I thought he was asleep, recovering his strength and he was awake the entire time," She continued, now getting angrier. " I had only said those things because I felt bad for intruding on his private thoughts and see his past. Yeah, that's it. I only said what I said because I felt guilty for intruding on his private thoughts and nothing more so there's no need to get worked up about any of this. I just need to simply explain it to the dork." She rationed finally calming down.
"Thanks." said Maurich over his shoulder never turning back, before Jackie could begin to explain her actions.
"Dork." Jackie smiling, shot back but softly so the knight would not hear.
They continued to make their way through the thick forest on foot until they came to a clearing. They both stood atop the cliffs of anticipation, cliffs known throughout the entire land of nonsense for their breath taking views. In the distance they could see the village of Nueva Vida. A river and a mountain separated the knight from his heart. The land of nonsense stretched as far as the eye could see and it was a beauty to behold.
"My home town is nearby. We just have to make our way down this cliff and cross that river there and then we can eat and rest." Maurich turned to tell Jackie.
"Good, wake me in the morning when your ready to leave." Jackie replied to Maurich from under the animal fur she had nestled in. She had set up camp while the knight stood near the edge of the cliff to take in the view. Maurich took a deep breath then exhaled.
"Fine," he sighed,"But we're leaving first thing in the morning."
"Yeah, yeah already, hey you think you could build us a fire big guy?"Jackie asked turning half way around to face Maurich.
"For the last time, woman, it's Maurich!"exclaimed Maurich.
"Okay dude, just make the fire please."replied Jackie, completely ignoring Maurich's plea.
Giving up completely, Maurich sighed and proceeded to gather the wood for the fire. He would use the flint he brought with him to light the fire. He found dried grass nearby their campsite and added it to the base of the pile of fire wood to catch the sparks from the flint. After he had the fire going he sat down near it to absorb the heat and occasionally feed the flames a twig or two. Jackie, having turned completely toward the dark knight looked up at him across the fire.
"What's it like not having a heart?" she asked curiously.
Maurich sat down the random twig he had picked up recently to feed the fire, thought for a second, then replied,"I honestly don't know the difference. At first I thought that I would feel dead inside or like something was missing but I walked this earth for many years without a heart, and afterwards, I realized that it felt no different than when I had it. I don't think I would have ever realized its worth were it not for the threat of it being forever lost."
"How could you ever have come to inhabit such a miserable existence?" Jackie said under her breath so Maurich could not hear her as she turned back away from the knight. She could not grasp that concept no matter how hard she tried. She had seen his darkness first hand and yet she failed to comprehend it.
"Darkness exist in us all, Jackie." Maurich's voice now came, calm and quietly blanketing her thoughts. She immediately turned to face him wide eyed, bewildered that he had actually heard what she said.
"I thought for so long that it was just me. I though for so long that I was the only one burdened with this incomprehensible tribulation, but then I realized somewhere along the way that I was wrong. It exists in us all." Maurich paused and silence invaded their campsite briefly. Jackie's eyes grew wider with fear as the dark knight began to lean forward, never ceasing to break stare as he gazed ominously into her dark eyes. His brown eyes that had once only reflected darkness began to reflect something else before Jackie's eyes. It was something that she had dared herself to never think about again.
"Even in you, Jackie." Maurich said breaking silence finally, "Things have only ended up this way for me because I dared to challenge the darkness within me." He paused briefly breaking their gaze into each others eyes. Looking off into the distance over the cliff he finished speaking, "If that makes my existence miserable then so be it. Darkness may very well exist in us all..."
"But at least I have the courage to face mine."
After Maurich had finished speaking he went back to the other side of the fire and laid down on the bed of animal fur that Jackie had given him back at the cave. Looking up at the night's sky, he spoke one last time saying, "I apologize. I may have went over board with what I said. My point was this and this only, that living without a heart is no different than dying with one. It's what you do with the time you have to live or die that matters."
Jackie turned away from the knight. She was beyond shocked by what Maurich had said. His words rang true in her ears.
"Darkness exist in all of us..."
"...At least I have the courage to face my darkness..."
She drifted off to sleep only to be awakened abruptly by a cool breeze that had wrapped itself around her legs. The fire had long since been put out and their campsite seemed desolate and empty.
"Um, Mister?" she called out as Maurich was no where to be found. The scenery had changed drastically. Dark malicious clouds now held up the sky. The trees around her were withered and drawn up. The ground, dried and crackled, wept for hydration with each step Jackie took as she approached the cliff. "Okay this isn't funny, you." she called out again. She was only met with an eerie silence as she drew nearer to the cliff's edge. "Seriously, Maurich, this isn't funny." she called out one more time, at last heeding the knight's request to be addressed appropriately.Thunder boomed in the sky shaking the ground underneath Jackie who subsequently fell to her knees from being knocked off balanced. She still kept making her way to the edge of the cliff, hoping that the knight would have just gone ahead of her. She would spot him easily as he seemed to only leave destruction in his wake. The view she was greeted with was horrific. Complete and utter darkness showered the land. She quickly got up to her feet stumbling backward. "No!" she said out loud, "Where is everyone?" she asked to no one. Rain began to fall violently while thunder shook the earth beneath her. Then lightning struck momentarily and she could see something in the distance. She quickly scrambled back to the edge of the cliff hoping for another chance to see it again. Lightning struck once again momentarily illuminating the entire land. The earth had been covered in death, skeletons and had been stained by the blood of the innocent. A bright light flickered in the midst. "Maurich?" she thought to herself. All of the sudden, she was standing back to back with the knight. Maurich's armor radiated with white flames. They were surrounded by darkness and stood dead in the middle of chaos. Maurich wielding his sword launched out into the darkness and began to fight it head on, leaving Jackie to fend for herself. "Hey, wait!" Jackie called out. It was too late. The knight had already disappeared and now thick darkness stood between them both. "Don't leave me alone!" she called out again. The darkness pounced and swallowed Jackie up entirely. "Nooo!"she screamed out in fear and desperation, but no one came to save her. She felt her life slowly fleeting away from her and there was nothing she could do about it. She struggled with the darkness but it was to no avail until finally, "Wake up, Jackie!" Maurich called to her. Jackie shot up from out of her sleep, gasping for air. Silence greeted her once again but with a quick survey of her surroundings, the night's sky and everything else seemed to be back to normal. Maurich was there, sound asleep. She had no idea how but it had to have been the knight who called her from her nightmare.
"Maurich?" she whispered softly but no answer.
She got up and walked over to the knight, still wrapped in the blanket of fur, and kicked him in his side,
"Maurich, you up?"she asked the now distraught knight.
"It's kind of hard not to be up when people are kicking you in the side and what not." Maurich replied disgruntled, "So, what's got you all ruffled up anyhow? Wait a sec, why are you sweating? It's freezing out tonight. You're not sick are you, because that would be a drag. I'd hate to have to carry your l-" Jackie kicked the knight again, this time making sure not to hold back.
"Ow!"Maurich childishly yelped."I was going to say luggage. I picked that thing up already and it felt like you had the whole world in there."
"Shut up, dork I was just checking to see if you where alive. You sleep like the dead and it's extremely creepy. Anyway, go back to sleep."Jackie said as she resettled down a little closer to the knight. She laid down and looked up at the stars for a while before turning toward Maurich who, as if nothing had occurred at all, was dead as a log in deep sleep. Infuriated by the knight's carefree attitude, she picked up a pebble laying next to her and whipped it toward Maurich smacking him in the back of the head. To her surprise the knight didn't even flinch once but remained in deep slumber. Sighing from defeat, Jackie just turn back around to face the sky again.
"How do you do it, Maurich? How do you face the darkness...alone..."she whispered faintly before finally falling asleep.
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"Where is Malevolence?" a dark figure standing in the darkness of the gloomy corridors of the fortress of the Dark Brethren said.
"He's in his chambers asleep, more or less awaiting your arrival, brother" came Deception's voice from within the darkness of the corridor.
"Awaken him at once. Famine and Delusion have both located the sage of space. We are going to need Malevolence to reason with the old coot. It's fine time for our dream to be fully realized." The voice from with the darkness said.
"What of the Farwind lineage?" Deception inquired, "Have they completely been erased from the face of the, earth?"
"Unfortunately, all but the youngest daughter were slaughtered like cattle by my very own hands." the voice within the darkness responded.
"The Seer?!" Deception asked but before she could receive her answer she continued, "She was our initial target. How could you le-"
"You dare question my methods!" the voice from the dark came, rising higher and then swooping in behind Deception. A dark blade's shadow wrapped itself around her neck. Attached to the blade was the the shadow of a man with long hair falling down his back. Deception caught off guard stood defenseless, eyes wide, her glare never leaving the blade.
"No...no..I would never do such a thing brother." the words barely making it out of Deception's mouth.
"Fine then." said the shadowed figure while releasing Deception from his grip, "I've already sent Carnage to take care of the seer."
"So that's why you came back for Malevolence." Deception said finally able to breath normally, "Because Carnage took Logic and Reason with him."
-------------------
Carnage plowed his way through the thick forest effortlessly before stopping just before Maurich and Jackie's campsite. Peeking out from forest, making sure not to be spotted or detected easily, he watched the two closely as they slept.
"Time to die little princess." said Carnage with his husky voice.
"No it is still night time and the Dark Knight, Maurich is here as well."came another voice, "We don't know what he is fully capable of yet."
"You're always ruining my fun, Reason." Carnage's husky voice spoke up again.
"You'll have the advantage during the day when we're both weakened anyway, Carnage." came another voice,"Never you mind though," each voice began to speak in unison, "because tomorrow...
"..We kill Jacqueline Farwind..."
To be continued...