Frostbite

Chapter 2

His feet seemed to know where he was going more than his mind did, as he found himself having passed through Queen's mansion with little notice. Having succumbed to the lurking darkness in his mind, the world around him was nothing but a blur. Within his thoughts, he came to a conclusion:

The world he came from cared for him no more than this one. At least in this world, he could fight. Even if it made no difference, it made him feel like maybe he had a chance, if he had just tried harder. If he wasn't scared to hurt her, if he knew the truth. Before, he was a lost cause. Defenseless.

The void that trapped his mind and heart had lured him to the remains of the fountain. A cliff overlooking a midnight abyss. An endless nothingness that seemed to pull Berdly forward until he was right at the edge. Light that reached out into it was fractured into tiny shards of color, before consumed by the darkness. It was a silence so deafening, all he could hear was the pounding of his heart, the shaking of his soul, and his shallow breaths. There was no happiness, no sadness, no pain to be had down below. Nothing would reach him. There was no life and no death here. It was the end of everything as he knew it.

It was beautiful.

There was no death to stare down and mock his plight, like the city he just escaped. There was no judgement, no expectations to uphold, no fragile act to uphold that slowly crushed him and cut into his skin. No reminders of everything he lost that he thought he had but never truly did.

It was nothing and it was freeing.

His legs wobbling under sheer exhaustion, he took a step back and sat down, legs folded underneath him. His eyes closed, his body wanting to shut down now that it sensed a sign of a break. Within the dark world, time seemed nonexistent, and his death march had lasted far longer than he realized. But his body knew the toll. If he fell asleep sitting there, he didn't know.

"Some say that fountains can grant wishes" Someone spoke to him. Spoke wasn't the right term, it was foreign words he could almost see, but somehow he understood. The voice continued, "this fountain was someone's wish, a wish for a world of their own. A place to belong. And yet your friends sealed it up, stole away that wish."

"They aren't my friends," Berdly mumbled.

" But there can always be another. Another fountain, another wish. If you open a fountain, you can grant your wish. What is your wish, little bird? Do you want them to be your friends again?"

He was quiet for a long moment, opening his eyes and staring out into the darkness. "No. I want this. I want everything to be like this."

"You want," the man thought for a moment, a hint of amusement and surprise in his voice "You want a world of emptiness?"

Berdly nodded, not tearing his eyes away.

"Interesting. Very very interesting." He sounded pleased. "Then we have the same goal, the same wish if you will. Turn around, come to me".

He stood slowly, his body shaking from strain. A gentle hand reached to help him, and he took it. He looked up, and was unable to comprehend the figure his eyes met.

"You, my Perfect Knight, have quite a task ahead of you, but I believe you have the sprint to do it" the man revealed a skeletal dagger in his other hand, a handle dark obsidian and a blade of ivory and iridescence. He pressed the handle into Berdly's hand "You aren't restrained by fear like my other knight. I need you to keep opening fountains. The geysers will break to the surface and plunge the world into the darkness you desire. Rip open the earth and set the world free"

The man seemed to smile proudly down at Berdly. For once, he felt truly important.

"I will. I promise."