• [ダークサンクチュアリ]
    Dark Sanctuary

    “I've been having these weird thoughts lately . . . Ancient castles, wide-open empty beaches, and dusty dark libraries . . . I think to myself, like is any of this for real or not? Images upon images just flash up, suddenly, slowly, quickly, harshly, blinding me like fluorescent lights shining in my face. It just . . . happens and goes. It's all really disorienting, you know.”

    “Really? That's kinda weird. You don't think they're some kind of sign do you?”

    “A sign?” I tilted my head.

    “Yeah! You know, like those movies we use to watch when we were kids, the ones where the hero always gets those . . . signs and stuff before the bad things happen!” She exclaimed loudly, her voice echoed past the old fence and out across the empty parking lot below the school roof.

    “Wait . . . bad things? Does this mean that these thoughts are trying to warn me about the future? That something bad is going to happen?” I put my Bentou down and stared at her as she stood on the railing, leaning against the silvery fence; her small frame was outlined by the rays of the sun and the clearness of the blue sky.

    “Umm . . .” She nibbled on her bottom lip a little, a pondering look crossed her face.

    “Maybe . . . they arn't bad signs. Maybe they're . . . good signs?” She remarked hopefully.

    I stared at her. “Good signs? I don't think that's how it works, Tsuku. So what do you really think?”

    She stared off before trying to give an answer when a voice suddenly appeared on the roof they were conversing and eating upon.

    “Oi! Tsuku! Rasu! There you guys are!” A figure appeared from the stair-well, a brightly colored BeniBaraGakuen uniform outfitted her.

    'Tsuku' waved back.

    “Ohayoo, Noo-chan!” “Yo, Su-kouhai.” 'Rasu' nodded wisely, folding his hands under his arms.

    He managed to look decently smart for a Senpai before a fist found its way into his head, completely breaking the amazing atmosphere that he was building up.

    'Su' twitched violently above him.

    “What have I told you about calling me that? We're in the same grade and almost the same age!” She muttered angrily, before stomping over to Tsuku.

    “Hi-Hi, Tsuku! Whatcha up to?”

    Recovering from the hit, behind her, Rasu stared at Tsuku's eyes before shaking his head 'no'. Tsuku discreetly nodded.

    “Nothing really! Just catching up during lunch and enjoying the wonderful day!” Tsuku tersely smiled.

    “Yeah . . . it is a nice day, isn't it?” Su began to rant and ramble, only to be interrupted by Rasu's cough.

    “Umm . . . yeah, so I'm going to go to class now . . . I'll catch up with you girls later.” He left while waving one hand over his head.

    Tsuku frowned at his escape, seemingly regretting to tell him . . . about it.

    As the sounds of his footsteps were heard reverberating down the stairs, Su suddenly became focused and serious.

    “Tsu . . .” Tsuku glanced at her.

    “Have you been having those dreams again?” Su said quietly, worry appearing on her face.

    Tsuku slowly nodded.

    “Yes . . . and they've been ending horribly.”

    Her thoughts drifted off as she fell on her back to stare at the sky.

    What's happening to us?

    She lifted up her hand and glanced at the imprint it made with the sky, the shadows looming over her face; in the back ground, she heard Su sigh.

    “Do you think it's going to get any worse?” Su uttered suddenly.

    Immediately, Tsuku replied.

    “Of course . . . it always does.”

    A pain flared in her right eye. She winced.

    “It always . . . does.”

    ~

    … Where am I?

    So much to do, so little time... Take your time. Don't
    be afraid. The door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?

    What? Who's there? H-hello? ANYONE?

    If you give it form... It will give you strength.
    Choose well.

    The mysterious voice stopped, and I could finally open my eyes. The sudden influx of light between the darkness hurt my eyes. I panicked for a split moment, just as I realized that I was floating in mid-air, slowly falling to the luminescent mosaic structure below me.

    I landed with a soft thud, my bare feet hitting the cold eerie floor. I began to look around, tilting my head at the odd figure portrayed.

    Is that a duck? And what's he holding? Wait, is that an animal too? What the heck?

    Suddenly, a rumbling caught my attention. There, in front of me, 3 rectangular pillars arose from the ground. Light seem to appear from nowhere; it shined down into a ray directly on the 3 objects that mysteriously appeared.

    I began to doubt my sanity here.

    This dream is really weird.

    However, I knew, that I would never understand what was happening if I just gave up, so with my will and determination, I walked forward.

    The voice said “Choose Well”. Did it mean choose one of these?

    I glanced at my selection, willed myself to move, and chose.

    The power of the Judge. Will and Determination to administrate Justice. A solitary card to govern all. Is this the power you seek?

    I paused for a brief moment . . . wondering if this was what I most likely wanted.

    Justice? Governing? I didn't exactly think of myself as a peace maker . . . but I could always change.

    I smiled.

    “Yes. “ I spoke out loud, fearing that the mysterious voice would not be able to hear me in my thoughts.

    Your path is set.

    I nodded.

    Now, what will you give up in exchange? I stared in confusion.

    I . . . have to give something up?

    No path is without consequences, no happiness without pain. No life, without death. Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. Protection is the power you seek, is it not? Now choose your own cost.

    I started at the fact that the voice seemed as if it read my thoughts, and then gulped, steadily choosing what I thought in my eyes looked more unfortunate than the other to wield.

    The power of the ranger. Master of the Fearless Hunt. A weapon
    of terrible destruction. You give up this power?

    Destruction wasn't exactly the power that anyone needed.

    I nodded once more, now resolute in my decision.

    “Yes.”

    You've chosen the power of the Judge. You've given
    up the power of the Ranger. Is this the form you choose?

    “Yes.”

    Suddenly the world seemed to disappear.

    I began to fall, endlessly into the pit of void, darkness covered my escape, my body, my eyes. I saw nothing, felt nothing.

    For that split second, I began to believe, that maybe this was all more than just a dream.

    And just as I spontaneously accepted that, my fall was broken by another brightly lit mosaic tower.

    My yell announce the pain my back protruded.

    You gained the power to fight. The voice quickly said.

    I started at the small amount of emotion, and gasped when suddenly, in my hand, was some type of club or mace. Liquid-like light poured from its tip and ethereally vanished amongst the air.

    A growl caught my attention, as I turned around and noticed the strange creatures that slowly rose from the ground, their shadowy appendages melded with the floor unnaturally, just as unnaturally as the hungry gaze in their eyes.

    They were some type of . . . dog, a hound with the biggest set of jaws I have ever seen. Their mouths were open, allowing large amounts of what I believed saliva fall to the floor.

    The beast gave me a second, before pouncing towards me.

    Through pure adrenaline and instinctual reaction, I swung my mace, smashing one of them in the side. It quickly gave a yelp of pain before disappearing into shadow-like smoke.

    The others began to back off, each disappearing back into the floor, each sliding off the side of the tower into the endless abyss.

    All right! You've got it. Use this power to protect
    yourself and others.     The voice spoke out once more.

    There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light
    burning strong.

    The floor once again, broke underneath me.

    My free-fall on to the next platform was a much smoother transition than my last one.

    I fell to my feet, and glanced around, holding my weapon up, just in case another volley of beasts tried to advance upon me.

    When nothing happened for a few minutes, I slowly walked to the only object on the platform.

    The small silver door.

    Pushing against the handle, the soft rattling carried for a few seconds, before I stopped pushing, seeing that the door was locked.

    Hold on. The door won't open just yet. First, tell me
    more about yourself.

    Hearing noises behind me, I turned around and widened my eyes at the appearance of 3 mysterious people. One was a overly large man, his bald head and round face tilted at me; his mouth opened wide, as he ate what looked like some type of raw meat. Second was a very short boy, his clothes almost seemed to be part of his skin. And on the far right, was a woman, taller than the other two. She wore a sleek black dress with no straps, and elbow-long gloves.

    Each of them had a strange smile on their faces.

    The first man stepped up, the sound of his voice was gravelly as he talked between mouthfuls of . . . meat.

    “What are you afraid of?”

    The sudden question caught me off guard.

    What am I afraid of ?

    Scratching my head, I answered.

    “Dying.”

    The fat man laughed as the second figure stepped up.

    Dying? Is that really what you think you should be most afraid of? The voice mocked in the back of my mind, its emotion blaring, completely different than what it was in the beginning.

    “What do you want outta life?” The short young man announced, his playful voice caught me off-guard again.

    “To be happy?” I hesitantly said.

    To be happy, huh? The voice said again, almost whimsically.

    The last figure quickly stepped up, closer than the other two, almost to the point where I could make out the lines on her face and the color of the pupils in her eyes.

    “What's most important to you?” She says clearly, her stare penetrating my soul.

    Past experiences and feelings uncovered from years of my life exploded. The humanity in me peaked.

    “Being the BEST!” I yelled at her.

    “Is being number one such a big deal?” This time . . . the voice didn't answer me from within my head.

    It answered from behind me.

    Shocked, while 3 figures from in front of me disappeared, I slowly turned around.

    Gone was the small silvery door. Gone was the angelic appearnace.

    In it's place was a large iron gate. A large old, dusty iron gate. Monsters were carved into its exterior, words sprouted from above its mantle, flaring to life like fire.

    The gate was talking to me.

    “You're afraid of dying. You want to be happy. You want to be the best. “

    The gate uttered my answers as if it evaluated me, as if for a test I was unaware of, or a test I seemingly failed.

    It was quite for a moment, before its booming voice spoke to me.

    “Your adventure begins at Twilight. You are the in-between. You are the dawn and the dusk. You are the sunrise and the sunset. Realize where you are and you will advance in life. Realize where you aren't and you will surely die. This is the beginning of your journey.”
    I gulped, understanding that my life . . . seemed to be in my hands once again.

    “The day you will open the door is both far off and
    very near.”

    It spoke as a creaking sound became apparent to me. The door was slowly opening.

    “The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow
    becomes.”

    A light from above shone directly upon me. My eyes burning, I glanced behind myself to shield them. Thats when I noticed the shadow.

    It wasn't like those beasts.

    It wasn't like the darkness of the abyss around the tower.

    It was just . . . like . . . me. It smiled.

    And it was the most grotesque . . . thing I have ever seen.

    “But don't be afraid. And don't forget...” The voice broke me from the image. I blinked, and the shadow was gone.

    “But don't be afraid. You hold the mightiest weapon of all.” The weapon in my hand blazed with power. Two indentions found its way through the aura of light, the weapon appeared just as the person on the floor of the first tower wielded.

    It was a key.

    “So don't forget: You are the one who will open the
    door.”

    I smiled, before looking at the open door.

    My smile immediately broke as the door began to laugh.

    “And open the door . . . you shall. Now go out amongst the world.” Inside the door, were eyes. Thousands upon thousands of eyes. Yellow, glowing, hungry eyes.

    And each of those eyes spoke to me, yelled at me. I could hear their screams.

    Hands jutted from the darkness within the door, each reaching for me, grabbing at me.

    I deflected as many as I could, back-peddling as far as I could, before one grabbed my foot and pulled me closer to the door.

    More and more pulled on me, my cries for help heard by no one, I was alone in this dream.

    I began willing myself to wake up. I needed to wake up.

    As the last of my vision of the bright lit tower disappeared, the voice of the door softly spoke to me.

    “Go, young Judgemaster. Deliver the Justice that is so needed in the world. There is darkness to be vanquished, Hero of Light. Seek the metal cross, it is your first quest.”

    I knew no more.

    ~

    I woke up with a scream, and strangely, my parents and neighbors were already awake.

    The reason why became apparent to me as I glanced outside my window and gasped in horror.

    The starry night sky I was so use to seeing, was slowly being sucked away into a pitch black hole of nothingness, nothing but darkness.

    My world . . . my life . . . was ending.