Dillyweed | Söl / Rial

Söl hit the ground hard. Strohmeier had already gotten out of his way. He rose quickly. His heart was pumping fast and hard in his chest as he looked around the room. He sought his way to Strohmeier and when they got side by side they saw it. They saw Rial. But it wasn’t really Rial. He had a grin on his face. His eyes weren’t the same emerald green as they had been. He looked like a shadow as he stood in the middle of the circle. Söl was frozen in place. Strohmeier seemed to be frozen as well, beside him. It wasn’t surprising. Söl couldn’t really tell what they were looking at. Not really. It looked like Rial as he bathed in moonlight from a blood moon. But he didn’t look entirely Courser-like. He looked animalistic. Something about him seemed to feel wrong. It was as if they were looking at a canine in a Courser's body. Despite the moonlight bathing down on him and Senbonzakura who laid on the ground it seemed as if shadows were dancing around him. He was laughing. Not loudly. It was a controlled laugh. It eminenting from him. He didn’t control it. It was pure joy of life extruding him as he stood above Senbonzakura. He had clearly lost it. Something was not correct. Söl looked on in terror.
“Rial..” His voice was meek. There was no faith behind it. Despite the Courser’s emerald spots that covered his body it didn’t feel like Rial. Rial, up to this point had been a calm, unmovable Courser - perhaps he had sometimes felt a bit lacking in feelings but he had been a kind friend to the other three. It couldn’t be Rial in front of them. “RIAL!” Söl yelled out. It felt hard to yell out. It felt as if he yelled without taking in any air before. It felt empty as he screamed his name. As if the name had lost all its meaning. There was a voice around them. It wasn’t Rials. And he couldn’t hear what it said but the wind was picking up around them. Rial didn’t stop laughing. It didn’t seem as if he could stop laughing. There was quite obviously something that had snapped inside of him. Something they had to fix. They had to save him no matter what, he was their friend after all.

Rial saw the other two fall down from the slide. They couldn’t do anything other than stare at him. Senbonzakura had already bled and the chanting inside of him had begun. He didn’t pay Strohmeier and Söl any mind. They were there only to witness his glory. They would be seeing history. They would be seeing him becoming what he already knew he would become. He was becoming what had been locked inside of him for so long now. They had seen a jailed version of him. A version he couldn’t truly control. It had been the surface of his personality, the mere tip of it.  He felt the shadows dancing between his legs. He felt the moon bath his back in bloodred rage. It was time. The chanting in him grew. He didn’t know if they could hear it. They didn’t need to hear it. He lifted his head towards the carved out hole in the sky as he laughed. It echoed towards the moon. Bounced around in the carved out cave. He let the laugh out fully. It felt amazing. He would soon be free. He had been trapped for so long. It felt like ages inside of this body. This body that could barely react to the world around him. He would soon be released fully again. He had almost forgotten how it felt. How freedom tasted. The shadows had tried to contact him. Over and over. But they had been stopped. Not anymore. Now the shadows were strong. He could hear them.
He didn’t know if it was the mirror that had opened his eyes and unlocked his insides. It could’ve been the gladiator fights as well. It could’ve been so many things. But he knew now that the shadows had been communicating with him since then. They had found a way in and they took it. The shadows thrived.

It felt as if the earth shook. There was dirt falling off the walls inside of the cave. Despite how wrong it had felt before, this was by far the worst. Söl looked over at Strohmeier. He was frozen. Söl didn’t know if he was simply frozen due to seeing Senbonzakura broken on the ground like that or if something was in the air freezing them. Söl couldn’t move either. His body was shaking. He was stuck in the ground. It felt as if he was experiencing it all over and over. It was so slow yet it felt as if everything rushed by. The echoing laugh that covered the canting. Rials laugh. Yet it wasn’t really Rial’s laugh. Not that he had heard the emerald Leopard laugh much. But there was just simply no way that the kind and understanding Rial would laugh in such a horrible manner. Such an evil laugh. A selfish laugh. Söl’s throat felt dry. It was hard to breathe.
“Rial..” He wanted to shout it, but he barely made any sounds at all. He could feel the tears fall from his eyes. “Senbon..” The words barely made it out of his thoughts. 
He looked desperately on as Rial started to tear into Senbonzakura. He didn’t look entirely like a Courser when he did. He looked like a monster. Every bite he took he looked more and more like the shadows that formed underneath him. The way the blood moon bathed him and Senbonzakura. It was hard to see the damage he was doing at first. There was a moment where Söl didn’t understand what was happening because he couldn’t truly see it. Then the arcane symbols around them started to glow and something clicked for Söl. He couldn’t tell what clicked. But something inside of him just understood. The earth around them was shaking now. Harder than it had before. It felt as if the entire cave was trying to move underneath them.

“Strohmeier!” He tried to move over to Strohmeier. Everything was so loud now. “Strohmeier! It’s a summoning!” He figured that Strohmeier might have already understood it. But he needed to say it regardless. He needed to get the words out. He had never seen an active summoning before. But he could see the book in front of Rial. The letters inside of it were glowing. As if it was being used. At the same time, Rial didn’t seem to actually read the book as he pierced his teeth into Senbonzakura's neck and tried to rip away pieces. Somehow, Rial was summoning something without even looking up the instructions. Did he always know just how to summon it or was this something possessing him. “I think Rial is possessed or something!” He had to yell with all his might to try and get it over the rumblings to Strohmeier. There was a biting feeling in his chest. He wanted to believe that this was not truly Rial. That there was another force taking control of him. That Rial was on the inside screaming for them to stop him. That Rial was trying as hard as them to understand what was happening. That Rial didn’t want any of this. He must be so confused, possessed. It was the only way Söl could make sense of the situation in front of him.

He could feel it inside of him. It was close. They were close. This would all soon be decided. He could feel his insides bubbling. Rial took another bite out of Senbonzakura's neck. There were bite marks all over it. He could hear him breathe, he didn’t care. It felt weird that he had ever cared about Senbonzakura. Or the others for that matter. A bad memory. Something he would never have to think about again. He raised his gaze towards Söl and Strohmeier. Frozen. In fear perhaps? He could feel the meat release from Senbonzakura’s neck as he ripped his head up towards the hole letting the sky in. The moon was right above him now. The perfect moment. Of course, as long as the moon was in the sky it didn’t really matter where it was. It was the time not the timing of it. But as he swallowed he felt the shadows grab him. They were rough. But they needed to be. The moon bathed him yet no light reached his soul. He was entangled in darkness once more. He was risen from the depth of his jailed body. He was alive once more.
He bathed in the moment of it. There were a few seconds of complete silence. Where no shaking of the ground reached him. He was sure that the harvester was smiling down upon him from wherever he was now, and if he wasn’t Rial didn’t care. He had created his rebirth regardless. He was stronger. Better. And this time around he would never fall for the entrapment that caused his fall. He lowered his head. The emerald dots and white on his head were covered in red. His eyes, in the light of the moon, didn’t seem to have its green sheen anymore as he smiled widely. 
“Arise.” His voice carried as if the cave was completely silent.

The cave seemed to stop for a moment. There were no violent shakes. The glowing light of the arcane symbols covering the ground underneath the two of them seemed to dull out.
For just a moment. A happy moment. Söl thought it had failed. He let out a small hah. But Rial didn’t stop smiling. He kept his eyes on only Söl, he knew it would send shivers down Strohmeier’s back to think that the bay dun was next on his list. They both were of little concern to the emerald leopard Courser at this point. He was surprised when Söl took a step forward.
“Rial. I know you’re in there.” Söl wasn’t supposed to be able to get closer. The ground shook once more and Rial laughed.
“What are you on about?” Dun. The ground shook rhythmically. Dun. Söl backed away again. Dun. “This is me. I am me. You knew a shadow of my true nature. You knew what those bastards let me be. The only part of me. The wrong part of me. But I am free. I am back.”
“Strohmeier. I was wrong.” He had to hold back his tears because they needed to act.
The ground shook faster.
They had to get to Senbonzakura. Söl moved over to Strohmeier, it didn’t take many steps. And shoved him. He hoped he would be able to move. But it wasn’t fast enough. From the ground in between them something started to rise up. It was hard to see what it was at first. But as its eye sockets started to show Söl understood what it was. He didn’t understand how or why. But he knew it was something bad. Something they would have to escape. Yet Rial, right behind it laughed. As if this wasn’t a problem. As if it was all part of his plan.

Rial both knew and didn’t know that the Skull would be summoned. He knew something would happen. But he wasn’t sure what exactly. But it felt good as he saw the back of the skull slowly rise from the ground in front of them. He could hear Senbonzakura try and say something but he didn’t really care what it was. He lowered his head down close to him.
“There’s nothing you can do.” He guffawed as he watched the Skull take aim at Söl and Strohmeier. The fact that Senbonzakura had to watch them die was a bonus. Something that would cement his victory. Take everything from his victim. Make this world just a bit more depressing. If this tale ever was told it would be a horror story for sure. The shadows crawled over him. They had almost engulfed him at this point. As armour they shielded him from the light. He could melt into the background. He would not have to care about the Skull. It would not be able to see him as he slowly stepped backwards into the shadows behind him. He would not stay to watch them lose. He had so many things to do. So many things to fix. He was finally free to roam. And he had to begin at once. He watched from the shadows as the skull began to move. He watched as Senbonzakura tried something. He could not see Strohmeier or Söl behind the skull. He didn’t need to. He let the shadows devour him. He would be gone before they died. But they would be dead soon. 

2162 words

AberrantKapro | Strohmeier / Senbonzakura

The black coursed took a deep breath as he slid down the mucky slope, he intended a much softer landing but the hard stone floor was merciless and his landing caused his knees to ache, but he quickly made way for Söl to land without risking getting hit by him. Behind Söl, Micke and Kinka slid down as well, and being full of nasty slime, Kinka couldn’t help but whine a bit. But as they all looked ahead, sludge was suddenly the least of their problem.
In front of them was a grizzly scene, a scene that looked like it could have been taken from a battlefield. There was blood everywhere. In the middle of the large room in front of them, Senbonzakura was laying lifelessly, and a trail of blood as if he had been dragged on the floor was leading up to him. Next to the barely breathing madder, Rial stood tall and proud. His body language looked both eerily confident and ominously feral. He was barely shaped like himself anymore, shadows had started to form around him, embracing him, wrapping around his pale spotted body.
It takes a while for the initial shock to let Strohmeier properly register what’s in front of them. Senbonzakura. His boyfriend. His family. His everything. Grief overwhelmed the blue eyed courser as he screams out to his partner and their barely recognisable comrade.
“Senbonzakura! Please, answer me!” he cries. “Rial, what happened!? What did you do!?”
Strohmeier’s tears are making his vision blurry, his chest feels so tight, his lungs and heart ache as he sees his boyfriend bleeding out on the floor. Söl calls out to Rial as well, but to no avail. He just looks at the two of them as if they were nothing but pests that he wished to rid the world of. Strohmeier could feel that Rial felt nothing for them anymore. He wasn’t the same courser that they had gotten to know so long ago. His whole body is shaking as both fear and sadness engulfs him.
“Senbonzakura, please, get up!” he desperately screamed with the pain and sorrow in his voice so loud it almost hurt his own ears. He had never screamed like this before, he didn’t even know he could.

As Senbonzakura laid on the floor he could hear that someone was yelling, but he couldn’t hear who or what they were screaming. He could only assume that it was Strohmeier or Söl calling out to him. Or maybe they were calling out to Rial? He wasn’t sure. His head hurt, his whole body did, but mostly his head. He felt lightheaded as he was slowly bleeding out. He wanted to know what the others were saying, but at the same time he was in too much pain to care. He knew he was going to die no matter what, there was no coming back from this. He couldn’t even speak, let alone move. The tears are falling down his face down to the moonlit floor. He wanted to apologise, tell his partners that everything would end up okay. He wanted to say sorry for having them put through all of this, as if any of it was his own fault. He wanted one last goodbye before dying, but he knew he couldn’t get any of that. He knew it was too late. 
His lips started to shake as he quietly whimpered. For the first time in his life, he felt true fear. It was almost ironic that it would be his final day of life that he would feel it for the first time, but he of course couldn’t think that way, considering his current position. All he could feel was a turmoil of emotions overwhelming his almost lifeless body. Sadness, anger, fear. Betrayal.
The ground beneath him started to shake as the shadows slithering around Rial’s body started to expand, and before Senbonzaura could even attempt to focus his gaze on the terrifying apparition before him, Rial bent down and dug his teeth into his neck. He let out an agonising scream of pain as Rial ripped up his neck, and in the process also ripped off his makeshift satchel that he had carried the book from the Wizard’s library in. The book flung open in front of Rial as he gorged on Senbonzakura’s flesh, one bite after another.
The pain and loss of blood had the madder champagne fight for his life to stay conscious, he knew that if he were to pass out, he would be gone for sure, but at the same time he was wondering why he even tried to fight it. He had no chance. He wanted to just give up, but the lingering hope of being able to say goodbye kept him fighting. He wanted to hear one last I love you so bad.

As the horrifying scene unfolded in front of Söl and Strohmeier, the black courser couldn't help but shake in place, overwhelmed with fear. He realised what was happening, something was being summoned, and Senbonzakura was the sacrifice for said summoning. Söl exclaimed the very same thing to Strohmeier, who could do nothing but nod. HS tried his best to hold his tear in, to stop himself from breaking down completely, but it was hard. Never before had he felt so scared, so weak and so sad. He wanted to rush in, grab Senbonzakura and pull him away, take him home and take care of him, save him from this agonising experience. But he knew that it was too late, even if they could stop the summoning, there was no way Senbonzakura would ever survive his wounds.
Strohmeier couldn’t help but feel like he had failed Senbonzakrura, that he had failed Söl, and even Rial. He wanted this all to be a nightmare that he could wake up from, he so desperately wanted all of this to be his imagination, a hallucination, anything but reality. He felt so weak, so useless. There was nothing they could do, and yet he started to beg for Rial to end this all.
“Please Rial, you don’t have to do this!” he desperately screamed out, barely able to contain his crying to properly get the words out. “Please snap out of it!”
Söl, too, tried to get Rial’s attention when Strohmeier couldn’t succeed. Rial’s response gave Stromeier a sharp chill down his spine. What kind of monster would say such things? Söl said he was mistaken about Rial still being in there somewhere, they had both realised by now that there was nothing left of the Courser they once knew. Nothing but a feral, shadowy beast, almost more canine than equine. The shadows engulfed the spotted pthalo pearl and almost changed his shape to reflect the beast he had become.
“Arise.”
Just as Strohmeier didn’t think things could get any worse, the summoning seemed to have been complete as the rumbling intensified and something rose from the ground. A gigantic, skeletal being emerged from the glowing floor, hovering just above Senbonzakura. They could no longer see Rial, as he stood behind the monster that he had summoned. Strohmeier almost felt as if his soul left his body as fear washed over him, he looked over at Söl in panic.

As the skull rose from the ground, Senbonzakura managed to finally push out some words.
“Please, run away..” he mustered out, though he knew that they could most definitely not hear him. Rial almost laughed at his pathetic attempt to warn them from backing off, almost as if the shadows were finally fully engulfing him.
Senbonzakura watched as the skull turned its attention towards Strohmeier and Söl and something within him snapped. Adrenaline filled his weak body, and almost as if he got a second wind, he rose up on his shaky hindlegs and his one functional front leg and lunged himself into the jaws of the skeletal entity, in one lost effort to save the two Coursers he loved.
As the skull bit down and slowly crushed his already weak body, he spoke his final words.
“Please, take care of Söl..” he said to Strohmeier, and just as he had finished his sentence, the walls started to crumble and cave in. Senbonzakura hoped that his sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain, that it would bury himself as well as the skull beneath rubble for his partners to be able to escape.

Strohmeier screams as Senbonzakura gets crushed in front of him. He so desperately wants to help, but he knows he can’t. 
“I love you.” he cries out as he turns around, he grabs Kinka and Micke, throws them onto his back and yanks Söl’s mane to drag him along, hoping they have time to outrun the crumbling cave. His heart aches and he can barely see where he’s running due to tears overflowing his eyes. But they have to keep running. They can’t die, not now. Senbonzakura can’t have died for nothing. He must save them, save Söl. He can’t lose him too.

Senbonzakura smiles as he sees his partners run off. He could die happy, knowing he saved them, and hearing that final I love you like he had wanted. He had no regrets, he had lived a happy life, and the time he had got to spend with Strohmeier and Söl was the best of it all. He hoped that they would meet again in another life.
He closed his eyes and he took his final breath in the jaws of the skull, buried in the dark beneath rubble and shattered bone. He was finally relieved of all pain.

1605 words

Dillyweed | Söl

The cave was starting to fall apart. Söl was screaming. There were no sounds coming out from his mouth. He was still screaming. Everything was so loud and quiet at the same time. His thoughts were constant, over charging his brain with decisions. He needed to do something yet there was nothing he could do. They needed to take down the skull. But they needed to save Senbonzakura. Every second they wasted was a second closer to death. The walls were falling down. The skull hit the ceiling above them and caused rocks to fall down. Barely missing Söl.
He saw Senbonzakura move his mouth but he couldn’t hear it. It was all too loud. Everything was too loud. He was frozen. Stuck in this place. His brain was trying to understand what had happened. Had it really been minutes? It felt as if hours were passing. The world was passing by so fast yet nothing was happening.
Söl let his gaze rise. He met the empty eyesockets of the skull. A gaze for a gaze. They were empty. Hungry. It opened its mouth towards him. Was it near him or was it just his perspective playing a trick with him. The silence was deafening. But it wasn’t silent. Everything was so loud it felt as if his ears turned off. The skull roared towards him as it bashed the ground with its jaw. It was getting closer. It was aiming for Söl. He had to get away. He had to run. But he couldn’t. Everyone he loved was here.
Senbonzakura.
Stroheimer.
Rial.

Could he still love Rial? The emerald Leopard was the cause of this. Yet if these were the last moments of the bay’s life the cause of their deaths still appeared in his head. Not as the shadow monster he had been under the blood moon light but rather as the friend they had had for a while now. The constant stable Courser that had helped them during their travels. The fourth wheel to their party. Rial. Their reaper. Their executioner.
It happened so fast. The way Senbonzakura threw himself into the depths of the Skull. Söl took a step forward.
“SENBON!” He yelled. There wasn’t enough air in his lungs but he yelled with all his might. “Senbon. Senbon.” He didn’t hear the last words Senbonzakura managed to get out. He was screaming. Out loud or inside he wasn’t sure. But he was screaming. Panicked. He suddenly felt Strohmeier grab his mane and start dragging him. He could see how Senbonzakura was crushed in the jaws of the Skull but he didn’t want to believe that he couldn’t be saved.
Söl couldn’t see the way the cave was crumbling above them. How it was less stable thanks to the summoning of the Skull. How the Skulls frantic bashing around was destroying walls. He could see the red light bathe the Skull and Senbonzakura. 
“We have to help him!” He yelled at Strohmeier. They had to try. They hadn’t tried yet. They hadn’t done anything. There was still a chance. He wanted to believe it so badly.
“WE CAN’T!” Strohmeier yelled back at him, not intending it to be as rough as he made it. Söl pinned his ears back but didn’t stop. Strohmeier made sure to push him forward. They had to get out. But Senbonzakura was still there.

Suddenly the cave roared. It wasn’t the Skull that roared at them. It was the cave itself. It roared as the stones crumbled and Strohmeier pushed Söl harder. They had to go faster. Söl couldn’t help but to cry between breaths. The roar had broken the silence his brain had pretended. He understood that there was nothing they could do. But he didn’t want to understand.
He wanted to be crushed together with Senbonzakura.
They were safe.
The cave had buried the monster inside of it. But it wasn’t the right monster. The rocks had most likely crushed the Skull back to where it came from.
But Rial was still free.
The monster lived.

677 words