Ico: The Horned Boy

Chapter 1

There's one thing I missed when I was in the tomb: sunlight. I took it for granted when I was free in the outside world. It gives us everything. Life, food, sight. But when that's taken away, what do we have? Darkness, hunger, blindness. All the things that destroy a person. I could feel that happening to me. My mind was deteriorating. My thoughts almost became nothing but babbles and noises. Maybe, if I didn't pay attention, I could just die without noticing. Lay my head down, go to sleep, and die that way. It would be a lot more easier and less painful than staying awake and starving to death, or going insane. How long I was in there, I do not know. I could tell it was more than a day, at least, because after a while, I could not feel anything in my stomach. The guards had let me relieve myself just before we got to the castle, so I luckily didn't have to go. Othewise I'd probably be sitting in my own piss and feces right now.

That could be a way to go: drown myself out with stink. It's a dark thought, but it's all that I can really think of. Maybe I'm going insane. They say you never realise yourself until anyone tells everyone else. Then you get carted off and kept away. A disease, something to not have contact with other people. I guess it's kind of like me: I was dragged away from my home. I wasn't insane - I don't think I was anyway - but they treated me like I was. It's the curse. It's always the curse. The damned horns. What do they mean? Why was I born with them? They're the disease. They're what people keep away from. A rumble sounded. I didn't hear it. I was grabbing at my horns. Screaming. They've made my life hell. If i didn't have them I wouldn't be here; I'd have friends, family, a girlfriend, I'd be respected. I heard the rumble the second time. It was loud, closer. I let go of my horns, my face relaxing from the anguish. I listened curiously, awaiting a third noise, but when it happened, I'm more surprised than the other two. The coffin shakes, and topples. For a moment, my feeling of gravity was gone. A second became forever and for a long moment, I saw a small gap of light as the coffin's lid fell open, before me and the rest of the coffin followed through.

I don't know how long I was out for, but it couldn't have been too long. There was a throbbing pain all over my body, but the hunger in my stomach was, luckily, at the same level it was before. The stone was also cracked around me. I could tell because the light was pouring through, not quite giving me a glimpse to the outside world. I tried to push my back up, but the stress was incredible. I kept going. I felt it shift. Eventually, the different parts fell away, and many miscellaneous pieces fell back ontop of me, causing me to cover my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I expected to see something that would take my breath away, but it was a simple room. If I was looking at it from above, it would probably be the shape of a keyhole. At the rectangular end, lining the walls were three stories of the same upright coffins. Now that I was getting a better look, I see that the coffins were decorated with some sort of cryptic markings. I didn't know what they mean, but the guards probably did. They twist and turn, like snakes curling round an invisible tree.

Slowly, I stretched my arms. The aches and pains diminished and I could stand up without too much trouble. Pushing the last few chunks of stone out of the way, I begun walking out. It did feel strange at first, my legs had not been used properly since the guards brought me in, but I managed to get used to it quickly. I headed to the circular bit of the keyhole. Extending from the centre were a set of stairs leading upwards, but as they got higher, they begun curling round the tower, which reached even higher than that. I took my first step onto the stairs, then another, and more, until the only noises I could hear were the pitter patter of my feet as I ascended the stairs and the clear thump of my heartbeat. I didn't know where I was going, but I kept facing upwards. It's all I was thinking of. In fact, I wasn't thinking. I was just running. The spiral upwards got dizzying at points, so I had to slow down to a walk. After that, I kept moving upwards. The stairs didn't seem to end. Even looking up, the ceiling was too dark to tell how far away it was. Just as I was thinking that, I had to suddenly stop, grasping onto the hand rail for dear life, just so I didn't fall straight forward into what should've been stairs, but was simply a large gap. My hands were sweating and I was almost sure I'd slip, but I managed to hold on. From the point I was at, to the next full part of the stairs, there was no way I could've jumped. There was no way I could've done anything. Maybe this was the way the guards left, and they destroyed the stairs, but why would they destroy it so far up and not right at the bottom. I try to think of another way out. There weren't any doors at the bottom of the stairs, so that couldn't be it. There were windows lining the stairs, but they looked very thick and not very breakable. My mind had drawn a blank, and I almost gave up, but that's when two things happened. The first thing happened in the corner of my eye: I saw something dart down the middle of the staircase, straight down to the floor. I thought I was seeing things, but when I turned to look, I saw it again. Or I should say, saw multiple things dropping the floor below. They looked like large water droplets, but they were in the form of oure shadow. There was no depth or shading to them, they were simply shadows not attached to walls. The second ing was not something I saw, but instead something ai heard. It was a scream, and it came from above me. When I looked up, the ceiling was suddenly around ten metres away from me, not the infinte blackness it was before. Hanging from the ceiling was a cage, clawed at the corners, menacing and looming over me. The scream sounded again and echoed around the place. From what I could see, there was a girl, in the cage, but I couldn't see any other details. It was also where the shadow liquid was dripping from. I tried to shout something up to her, but all that came out of my mouth was a sound, no words. The screaming stopped. She looked down at me and I saw her face clearly for a moment. What I saw surprised me, and still does to this day. She was not human, I could see that, despite having the appearance of a regular girl. No, she was different: her skin was so pale and bright that she looked like she was made out of pure energy. I tried to speak again, but the only sound I could make was the same noise as before. I looked around desperately, looking for any way to lower her from there. Anything would've been alright. The only thing that came to mind was a torch in it's bracket. I didn't question it, but the torch was still alight, which was perfect. I grabbed it, and aimed at the rope that was somehow holding the cage up. I didn't realise how stupid the idea was at the time, but I held my arm backwards and chucked the torch straight at the rope. It landed on it's mark and clattered to the top of the cage. Luckily for me, the flame landed right next to the rope. That's the moment I realised what would happen. The rope lit up, it snapped, and the scream started again, except this time, it was falling. My face was frozen in a look of terror. Everything had seemed to go wrong in one second. But there was a third thing that happened in that instance. It was different than the first and second. Those were both things that had presence: the existence of the cage and then the sound of the girl screaming. The third thing was the opposite. It was a lack of something. As the cage plumetted past me, I got a millisecond of a glimpse at what was inside... and the girl wasn't there. Instead, she seemed to be replaced by the shadows. The pure darkness that was just empty. It seemed to be gone before it appeared. The rush of air swept over me, and I fell down to a sitting position, still staring at where the cage was. I didn't hear it hit the floor; I didn't hear anything. The fourth thing to happen was complete darkness. I was pulled, yanked into the wall behind me, and my body was floating. I was concious, but I was asleep at the same time. Is this what death is like? Maybe in death I wouldn't even be 'awake'. It'd just be a long sleep. You know how you don't remember falling asleep? You just lay down, and eventually it's just the next day. It might be like that, but forever. Forever waiting for the next day.

I did wake up though. I wasn't dead. When my eyes opened, I was not sitting on the stairs. Instead, the stairs were above me. I was on the floor again, along with the cage, which was inexplicably upright. inside the cage was the girl. She looked even stranger up close. She was much brighter than anyone I've ever met. She stood out against the dark interior of the castle, like a fire in the dead of night. I still couldn't say anything, not because I didn't want to, but I couldn't. Nothing came out, not even the strange cries I uttered before. She didn't say anything either. She simply stood there, staring at me. That seemed to go on for minutes, before a sound finally broke the silence. I couldn't pin-point what it was, but it sounded like a mix between the girls scream, and the roar of a creautre, something big. We both jumped. I got onto my feet and ran towards her. I don't know what it was, but there was something inside me that wanted to protect her. She was so pure and delicate, I couldn't let anything happen. Before I could even reach the cage, the sound suddenly got louder. The silhouette of a human rose up behind her. Again, it was the same sort of darkness I had seen before: nothing but a walking shadow. I managed to shout, but it was too late, by the time she turned around, the shadow roughly grabbed her. For a fleeting second, she looked back at me. The only emotion I could see on her face was fear.
"Help," I heard her say clearly, before she was pulled down into the floor.