guardian of the storm | ✓

Chapter Forty-Nine ~ And The Dead Hear His Cry

~Chapter Forty-Nine~

This... this was hell on earth

Eien clutched at the fabric of his shirt above his heart, a deep ache spreading throughout his body, originating from his heart. He continued to scream. He continued to cry. He continued to curse at this godforsaken world for taking the only family he had left. The ground rumbled beneath him as if his sorrow was deep enough to cause the earth to feel pain.

He wasn't too far off.

While the earth might not feel his pain, the dead that resided within it did.

Ja'far cradled Winter to his chest, blood soaking his clothes and drenching him in crimson. His head snapped up as a rumbling shook the ground, the other shinobi freezing as well. Beneath them, a huge power was stirring, awakening from its slumber— a behemoth rising from the deep. They heard the crack, felt the snap, and then they could only watch as the earth split. A gaping crack spread across the ground, widening and lengthening.

The battlefield snapped in half.

Screams and shouts rose in the air; some worried, some frantic, some fearful. An eerie feeling cascaded across the area, shivers going up the shinobi's spine. There was a rattling noise, a popping sound, and then they heard the shriek that echoed across the entire battlefield. "THE DEAD ARE RISING!" A white hand appeared out the ragged gap, pale fingers sinking into the earth. And then, as the too white arm slowly rose as well, boney shoulders showing, Ja'far realized that the too white hand and arm were actually bone.

One by one, skeletons started to crawl out of the depths of the earth, their white bones gleaming. Silver tendrils that resembled smoke swirled around their feet, enveloping them. As the tendrils fell away the skeletons were no longer visible, instead, they were all ghastly people, their forms slightly translucent.

No one knew what to do as the dead marches amongst them. Their forms became clearer the longer they were on the surface and Ja'far was surprised to see most were wearing ninja clothes, but their hi-ates were nowhere to be found. That meant... all of these shinobi died in the First Shinobi War?! A handful staggered together, their dark black hair and red armor grouping them together.

As one, the dead Uchiha opened their eyes, Sharingan glinting wickedly.

And Eien continued to sob and scream and feel his heart struggle to keep beating, not even realizing that from his misery he'd risen an army of dead.  

***

She's falling.

She's plummeting towards the ground, spinning down to the misty earth. The frigid air steals every molecule of oxygen from her lungs, leaving her breathless and cold. Her hair whips against her skin as she continues to descend, stinging her skin.

She can't breathe.

I can't breathe, I can't breathe, why can't I breathe?

Darkness has completely enveloped her, robbing her of her sight. She doesn't know why she's falling, where she's falling from, how far she's falling, or even why she's falling. Her eyes are open to view nothing and her arms spread out, caressing the wind. Feeling it as her strength wanes as it rips her apart.

I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe—

Her eyes close.

There's a brief flash of excruciating pain as her body hits the oily water. It's a slap that knocks the blood out of her veins, sending her nerves into a frenzy of panic. Her body screams in agony but she finds herself unable to voice the pain she's feeling. There are pinpricks of pain racing through her body, lighting on fire, spinning with pain. Her senses start to dull, boney hands grasping at her, and she's blind. She's blind and deaf and she can't feel a thing except for the water that stings and soothes at the same time and her lungs are breathing and her heart isn't beating and she's falling, falling into a darkness that she won't be able to escape, a darkness she can't escape from—

She stops falling.

And she begins to sink.

She sinks and feels those hands clasping onto her dragging her deeper into the abyss, whispered words lost on her broken ears. Her heart hurts, hurts so much because it's trying to beat but it can't, not unless someone else helps it beat, and everyone else has already given up on it.

More hands clasped onto her wrists, onto her arms, onto her ankles, onto her legs. And they pull, they yank and tug and drag her limp body deeper and deeper and deeper, gaining speed. She can't tell if she's falling or sinking if she's breathing or drowning if she's moving or lying still. She can't see, she can barely feel, water is prying her mouth apart and slipping down her throat and all she can do is... nothing.

Her thoughts are vanishing, leaving her alone, her heart is giving up, her lungs filling with the water of the afterlife. The bottom of this vast ocean-like place is cold and solid and gritty and lined with barbed wire that shocks her until she becomes numb.

The damned howl in triumph as Winter Ookami's soul crashes into the bottom of the chasm.

this will be the last update until Sunday/Monday-ish. 

please comment and let me know your thoughts.