The Price of Envy

The Price of Envy (short story)

A flash of inky black. Then nothing. A lost soul opens his eyes for the first time. Two pinpoints of light amidst the total darkness that formed his body. He blinks, the lights flickering. He turns his head slowly, the gray cloudless sky emitting a soft light, encompassing the world and coming from all directions. He stares into the bleak, colorless world pulling down his hopes. He turns in a slow circle, watching the small rolling plains with no break in terrain as far as the eye can see. At the end of his circle, his eyes focus on another being on the ground beside a fist-sized gem. The levitating and slowly spinning gem flashes between a white light and a dark black. The shadowy figure approaches the being on the ground, subconsciously kicking the gem away so he can lean over the being and sit beside her. He stretches out a finger slowly inching towards her and pokes her shoulder once. She stirs, coming to life and blinding him in a flash of white light. He opens his eyes, the figure is sitting upright beside him staring with an intense curiosity through two inky black dots on her face which was a pure radiant white. "What's your name?" she asks, her voice pleasant and cheery despite her not having a physical mouth.. "I... I do not know." He replies, his eyes dimming slightly. "Well then let's give you one!" She says, brimming with joy. "Hmmm... Arthur! That should be your name!" "I like that!" Arthur's eyes brighten, twinkling like stars. "Yours should be... Cassy! I think it's quite fitting!" "Wonderful now we both have names! Good to meet you Arthur." Cassy extends her hand in greeting. "Good to meet you too Cassy!" Arthur says, taking her hand and shaking it. "What's that there?" Cassy says, head tilted and already bent over the glowing gem Arthur so carelessly kicked away. It was now glowing brighter and pulsing slowly, with half the gem emitting a dark light that swirled and mixed with a white light. Cassy picked up the gem and held it in her cupped hands. "What do you think it does?" She asked. "I don't know..." Arthur reaches out and brushes his fingers against the gem. The gem pulses with an even stronger light. Arthur closed his eyes and the gem leapt from Cassy to his open hand. The coat he didn't even realize he was wearing fluttered on a non-existent wind. Arthur opened his eyes, they were glowing with a pure white light. He turned to look at the ground in front of him, bringing his hand up slowly, black hair billowing. Out of the ground rose a sword, sleek and simple, yet powerful and elegant. The blade was black as midnight and speckled with white like stars in the night sky. Arthur, holding the gem in one hand, approached the sword, Cassy trailing behind. He wrapped his hand around the blade and closed his fingers around the hilt. The sword collapsed in on itself with a slight humm and a whirr, becoming a thin polished black fountain pen with gold finishings. "That's cool!" Cassy exclaimed, eyes wide. "Now I want one!" Cassy took the gem from Arthur and closed her eyes. She reopened them, which shone with a dark intensity, and started rising off the ground, hair waving in every which way. She brought her hands together and slowly pulled them apart, a shaft of pure light forming between her hands. The shaft stopped manifesting, one end tipped with a simple, yet regal triangle completing the spear. Cassy slowly descended her eyes, returning to their normal and cheerful black. "Look at this fancy thing!" She said, twirling it around in large circular arcs. Then, she jammed the butt end into the ground and it shrank into a narrow and slender white pencil, with gold patterns embedded throughout resembling marble. Arthur tilted his head slightly, pen in hand. "This is going to be a wonderful life."

Much time has passed, how many? That is something not even Arthur knows. He was dressed simply, opting to keep his long trench coat and ragged pants all black, since it seems he isn't able to warp anything with color other than his pen. "Cassy's fortress sits beyond the jagged rocks." Lester spoke, a disembodied voice emanating from a dark cloud of mist that hung over Arthur's head, like a swirling crown whispering thoughts into his ear. "Yes. I must end her." Arthur responded, his voice slow as honey and bland as a cracker. "Enough running from her, she has shown she will chase you to the ends of the earth. End it now. No mercy. No hesitation. She deserves to perish after replacing you." Lester's toxic voice echoed throughout Arthur's mind. "Yes." Was all Arthur said. He reached into a pocket, pulling out half a sphere of glowing darkness, cracks spider webbing all through the gem from the amount of times Arthur used the power without the other half. He pulled his pen out from another pocket, flicking it downwards and transforming it into his void black blade. He put a finger on the pommel, tracing a small circle which hollowed itself out leaving a perfectly sized setting in which he placed his half of the once complete gem.