Post by Nathan Saniti on Mar 28, 2016 19:12:18 GMT -5
The Infiniti Council: Epilogue One
Nathan and Kelli wandered around the bipolar world they had created from a blank slate in the throes of lovemaking. They gaped in awe at the brightly colored creatures on the "happy" side of the plane, going about their sudden everyday lives as if the world had existed for millennia on end. Unicorns flitted their wings, lighting on clouds to while away the breeze. One in particular seemed to be creating a rainbow at the bottom of its particular cloud.
Nathan pointed it out, "Oh dear. I sincerely hope that's rain coming from that cloud."
Kelli giggled like a school girl, a sound Nathan could never seem to get quite enough of. Indeed, the rainbow was placed in just the correct position to make it appear as if the unicorn were relieving itself.
It was such an odd world, even compared to the world he used to inhabit, his beloved Witzend. A pang of homesickness echoed in his heart, but a smile from Kelli melted it away without hesitation. This place... THEIR world... Was just as new to them as it would be to any visitor, yet it was so perfectly symbolic of the pair.
For every exotic, innocent looking, and colorful creature and plant, there was an equally grotesque and boorish flora or fauna with an air of malevolence. A dragon strode amid the thunderclouds on the opposite half of the world, breathing lightning as a warning to those underneath. Each side was polar opposites, dark and light mirror images, yet there was bad in each of the good and vice versa. The unicorn actually was relieving itself and the dragon was warding off predators attempting to take her young.
"It's as if this world were a living yin-yang," noted Nathan to himself, still in awe of his surroundings. "Is love so powerful that it can create life even beyond simple procreation?"
"Nathan?" Kelli tugged on his jacket to regain his attention.
"I'm sorry, my dearest," he cooed with a huge grin, "I was lost in the moment."
"Were you thinking about your match at Trauma 189?"
"Hmmm?" His brow furrowed a bit in confusion before the light of recollection flipped on. "Oh! My match against Mr. Wryght? No, I was marveling at our surroundings."
"Well, what do you plan on doing against Showtime?" She spun him to face her, a worried look on her face. "You're not going to hurt him again, are you?"
"Currently," assured the Mystical Madman, "I bear no ill will towards Mr. Wryght, even at the cost of our tag titles." They strolled on down the primrose path that lay before them several steps before Nathan spoke again. "However, should he choose unwisely to cause shenanigans within the confines of the squared circle, he should know full well what I'm capable of."
"That's what scares me," muttered Kelli as she glanced over to the darker half of their universe, N. Saniti keeping pace down an ebony brick way, his gaze never leaving PCW's power couple. She buried her face in his arm to keep from seeing their stalker.
Their creation responded to Kelli's emotions, sprouting a thick briar border to separate the two trails. Vines knotted themselves to obscure the view, thorns jutting in each direction as a herald of the thing it wished to obstruct.
N. Saniti's heart grew heavy as the brambles emerged from the ground. Delicate leaves eased his sorrows, blossoming forth as a reminder that what may be stymied is not forever lost. Neon pink flowers bloomed iridescent in the pale moonlight, offering the blood-terflies a place of solace as they lay in wait for their next meal.
"His heart is fulfilled, yet mine remains empty," grumbled N. Saniti. "Must I be doomed to feel nothing? No love, only pain? Never the thrill of knowing my heart's desire, only the jealousy towards those around me?"
His soul darkened with the weight of his thoughts. He studied the brambled border as it blocked out the only thing within eyeshot he cared for: Kelli Starr. He sat on a gnarled and rotting stump in a huff, the wasps living within thinking only briefly about defending their home before the thought was unanimously quashed after a single glance from the intruder.
His shoulders slumped, his gaze wilted from the horizon for the first time since being brought here. "Am I destined to never know happiness?" A single teardrop splattered the ground, nearly drank in by the earth below before more moisture joined it. It rained that night, but only were the dragons allowed.
*******
Lord Chaos examined himself, not feeling a single bit of difference in appearance, unable to feel the tiniest shift in power from the way things were before. Despite the machinations of his plan, he still only felt the urge to commit nightmarish deeds within the dreams of mortals. If he had lips, they would be curled in a grimace of disgust at how horribly things had gone astray.
He'd handed out all of the Seeds of Death to his cohorts, save one; the one he cradled in his metatarsals. It had felt lighter than before, but he wasn't sure how. His calculations were certain. All of the pawns had played their moves to the letter.
"Where?" he growled to himself, "Where did it go wrong?"
The Seed grew a spot of black on it, spreading before the Nightmare King's eyes. As the final pigment of the seed was lost, it evaporated into dust, carried away in a gentle wind howling through the corridors of his cavern.
A low chuckle emanated from an adjacent hallway, the proprietor of the grating heckle hidden by the flickering dance of the shadows caused by the blue flamed torches lining the alcove of the throne room. "What's the matter, Chaos?" Another nervy guffaw bellowed as the source stepped into the light. Red armor glistened and clanked as the wearer ushered himself forward. "Things not go according to plan?"
A whisper of a shadow sped at the crimson knight, he'd only brought his blade up in time to cease the slash of the sickle. The two men scowled at each other, straining for position, before Lord Chaos leaned his tormentor to one knee. "Mock me at your own peril, War," hissed the cloaked Nightmare King. "I may not yet be Death, but utter another syllable at my expense in MY realm, and I'll make your bones into trinkets."
The man beneath the blood red helmet smirked in delight as he heaved himself back to standing. "So you do have some of that fighting spirit left in you," he chortled in delight. "I take it that means all is not lost, brother?" He clapped his hand across the Nightmare King's back like a longtime friend.
Chaos ignored the change in attitude, still pondering his strategy. "If I can't get the gatekeeper to become my replacement, perhaps his darker half will take his spot."
War knocked on Lord Chaos' skull in jest. "See? I knew you had some sense in the shell."
Chaos swung his sickle, relieving War's legs of their firm grip on the earth below them. Crashing down with a thunderous boom, the scarlet armor protested its sudden losing proposition with gravity. The wearer only belly laughed at the display, as Chaos planted the point of his shaft atop the breastplate like a soldier planting a flagstaff.
"How do I get him to do my bidding?" muttered Chaos.
War gathered his composure as he dusted himself off. "Give him what he wants most."
"You may not be good for much, War," concluded Chaos, "But you've always had a schemer's mind. Color me intrigued."
The two beings discussed plans anew as the blue flames licked at shadows they would never kiss. They knew they would have their day, but first, someone else must get a taste of the ambrosia they could offer.
