As I lie in my rain-soaked caravan I finally realized, I do care.

“Why should I care?! It’s not like my life’s changed!

“But that’s just it; it has!! Everyone’s has!!”

I had left Mehta’s hut to curse and scream into the non-existent wind. I didn’t do anything!! However, the more I thought about it I sorely care to realize I did something horrible. I did. Mehta and Tokiin, the two worry wart brothers as I called them, tried to convince me to put together a rag-tag group of weirdoes into a “caravan”. WHAT THE FLIP IS A CARAVAN!?!? Man, everybody’s on my back these days. I didn’t know that egg-looking-thing was the “Seed of Destruction” (My impression of Tokiin)!
Rek, Sam, Dioz, Sngej, and many more were part of the disaster that was to become my caravan. We traveled for months, wandering aimlessly looking for the “Obsidian Castle”. Most of my crew didn’t even know what was in the Castle, and those who did seemed disturbed. We continue to wander in the black hole that is our now transformed lands. Sympathy flooded my eyes when we were ambushed by gruesome, hellish spawns of the destruction of time appeared and slaughtered Dioz and Sngej. The grotesque images run through my head tonight as I write about them. We could barely make out who they were from what little was scattered around the Field of Omens.
The Obsidian Castle lies ahead at last, after enduring through out the Bone Crater, escaping the Demon Maze and reclaiming our stolen soul in the Drifts of Misery. The things I’ve seen have changed me, and even I can see the deviousness and selfishness escaping from the bio-walls. The caravan must rest tonight. Three will stay awake and guard while five men sleep and switch every three human hours. As I lie in my rain-soaked caravan I finally realize, I do care. I care that because of my selfishness, wanting that…that…horrible…egg…I have set fire to all around me and I didn’t even want to fix it. I’m sure of it, what ever is in that castle in our portrait of ruined earth it will fix what’s wrong. It must. It must. Right?
Last night four more men were ensnared by the spawns. We’re now down to four men going up against, even the lord doesn’t know what, in that castle. I’m starting to get apprehensive. What if we don’t repair time? What if it’s just another map, to somewhere even more fatal? What if we have to fight something? Like a chief hell-spawn? And with some sort of status it must be fierce or underhanded.

“Sir, it’s time to continue on, sir.”

“I know Rek, I’m just worried. That’s all. That’s all.”

As we came upon the front ‘gate’ Rek took out the two creatures guarding while I watched in awe. We were eaten inside by the bio-mouth that is the door and Rek taught me the basic fighting skills in here. I now realize there will be more than a few guards; we have entered the ‘base’. It will get difficult. In the room to the left of the main room, I fight my first monster. Narrowly sidestepping his lunge at me, I stab back and slash diagonally downwards. I am drenched in blood. We choose a room and decide to continue forward. Four more monsters all evolved more than the last. I am getting better; however, the enemies are getting stronger, faster than I am. We turn to the right and reach a barrack. I drop my standard issue ‘blade’ for a thick two handed blade and a light arm guard concealing a hidden dagger. We return to the second room we visited and continue left. A Behemoth. The colossal monster towers above us and Rek dodged the first downward claw strike to run around upon his back. I stayed in front blocking and cutting the paw constantly thrown at me. Rek impales the behemoth’s eye with a cut spike from its back. We move on. To the left a monster-less room next room contains but two monsters and Rek and I dispose of them quickly; however kill Naru. I do not sympathize; we must continue. Two more monsters disposed of easily. On to the next room; north or south? We choose south. Wrong choice. Five monsters feast upon Sam, not knowing we’ve already killed three of them. We turn left again twice and we’re in the beginning room. We turn back and pick the north room. Rek kills the first three low levels spawns and I kill the other 2 low levels and 2 higher ranking creatures. It has almost become a game. However a very deadly game; It’s only Rek and I left. The next north room has an extremely high level spawn and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for us to defeat them. Next room. As we walk in Rek falls victim to impatience. There is no floor, only sand and Rek falls straight into it and he becomes carried away by the rhythmic pulse the sand emits. Like a heart beat. Oh no.
“Rek!! Rek!! Grab my hand!!”

“I can’t rea…”

“NO!!!NO!!!NO!!!”

Rek disappeared into the winding sand. I sat there on the little floor there was at the door crying for him. He was the only one who tried to help me. I didn’t know I would see him again in a few seconds.

“GOD NO!! NO!!! NO!!!!!”

As I looked up I saw Rek scream for his life and become devoured by a… a… sand squid-armadillo thing. I look it straight in the eye; I am pissed. I charge towards it ignoring the sand begging me to join it. As Dead Meat, which is what I named it in an instant, swung his towering tentacles towards me, I pounce upon them sword trailing behind me slashing what I’ve already walked on. I get to the base of his tentacle I jump on his shell and as I land, I slam my sword sideways into Dead Meat’s shell, bending my great sword into a hook. I lunge towards his head, slash his neck, force him to look up and condemn my sword into his eye and gouge the sucker right out. As blood rains down upon me, I stand in the most heroic pose I could muster. Slowly, the sand starts to cave in and falls into the floor until the body and all the sand are in another room; below the demons pit. The body turns to sand.

“Well well well, I can’t believe you actually got past my ‘pet”
Who are you!? What do you want?! Where are you?!

“My name… is Ví…”
As a dark figure steps out of that shadowed area I see a lizard foot at first then black leg armor until I can see his whole mutated self.

“What are you?”

“I used to be a Spanish rebellion leader. I wanted to wage nuclear war upon Great Britain. British pigs…”

“…but…”

“Once the Time Seal was broken everything morphed. Hence the creatures you’ve endured”

“…”

“Everything morphed according to what was around it. I was praying to the Virgin Mary at my own altar in the jungle when a deadly Machuataían iguana bit me. I did not die. Before the poison could devour my flesh, you spared me by destroying Czechisa’s seal; destroying the fabric of time. So I will spare you… leave this castle and return to your village with an army of your own amazing demon weapons and food and metyal chunks to last a lifetime or stay and fight and die. Choose.”

“I will never back down!! I won’t waste the lives taken to get me here just to walk away and profit!! No!! I will stay and fight, and win!!”

“Come on Ziiro what a sob story; let’s face it you want to leave.”

“Who? Who’s Ziiro?”

“you are”

“My…name…isss…”

“Ziiro: guardian of time, the keeper of chaos. Why else would you risk your life to repair time? You don’t think… you’re doing this out of the kindness of your heart? Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!! No mere human would do anything out of their black heart that’s not for themselves! Trust me, I was one of them!! You are Ziiro, you just haven’t discovered it! Foolish Human!! You deny your own potential!”

In that very instant I wondered if I am was he proclaims. Am I a gate keeper? I’ve always been different from society. Never understood nor accepted. Maybe… maybe… I am Ziiro. The moment I realized that, I underwent an astonishing transformation in body and spirit. My mind became clear on my objectives-cloudiness gone, frustration over. I felt my body burn with passion and excitement ready to blaze across the field and whoop Ví’s lizard tail all over this castle. I unsheathed my newly grown sword and realized the new armor I’d grown from unlocking my inner self. I charged forward with the strength of an angry rhino. Fueled by love for my fallen comrades I slashed.
WHAM!!
However that was not my sword. Ví sidestepped me and took his scaly claw and slammed my head into the wall before me. My great sword dropped from my hands with a thud. I could smell the blood dripping from my head.

“Do not attack me in love. That will get you nowhere, Ziiro. You must attack with Hate and Rage the heart and soul’s primal instinct from the blackest parts of the human mind. DO IT OR DIE!!!”

Ví runs, almost gliding, towards me and bites me on my torso within the massive guillotine that is his teeth. He shakes me and throws me into the bottom right curve of the circle arena. I feel nauseous. Loss of blood… I think. No, this is worse, like a sickeningly putrid nausea. Like a poison.

“You feel it don’t you? It consumes all that you love you fear leaving only what you hate forcing you to attack in anger.”

“And if I don’t attack?”

“I will kill you”

I picked up my sword with my bloody hands. I had to. I gathered up all the hate I could recall. Hate for my 1st grade teacher. Hate for my school enemy Jonathon. Hate for everything I could think of. And I destroyed, massacred and slaughtered Ví. Strangely enough he didn’t even move. His body tore apart into pieces like a mirror. I could see the banshee he left behind. He started to float into the arena walls.

I stepped outside to reclaim the correct time. I popped my neck stretched my arms and sighed in relief before I even opened my eyes. The world has not changed.
I suddenly heard Ví’s lizard voice sneak these words into my ears…

“Death is only the beginning…”

-:v:-Back-:v:-