6/11/2005, the Background
So much time has passed, it was like I was in this dark, long dream that seemed to last for a couple of days. I opened my eyes, and it felt no different; I felt strong again. I pushed on the walls, trying to find a way out of the cramped space. I saw just dim lighting outside through the crack of the door. I leave and fall to the floor. The ground was a jet black, glassy style. There was nothing but an infinite black sky. I felt the strongest chill ever; it was so cold in this place, as if it were in the negatives of degrees. Everything but me would have died from hypothermia right now; even water would have crystallized in an instant.
I step out on both feet, walking up the longer a stand. This place was very mysterious; there was no other sound except my footsteps and a strange humming coming from the ground. As soon as I got a few feet from the sarcophagus I was in, the ground in front of me softened into a liquid, and a giant dragon-like serpent emerged out of it. Behind it was a large tail with a sharp, pointy blade that looked like it was used to spear boats, sort of like a scorpion. It was bigger than Ryoth was, with two sets of horns, a slightly long jet black body that blended in as if it were invisible, and on the top side of its back were wings that seemed torn, like a shadow cloud thinned out into a sheet. In front of me, it walked over with four legs, claws scarping the floor into the same soft, black liquid.
It opened its mouth, revealing a row of sharp teeth inside. It spoke! "You have finally arrived, lord. You have no idea how long we waited for you. I spend eons keeping the place heavily protected for you." Said the Guardian.
The sight was strange at first; I had never seen a living thing this big before. "What...are you?" I said.
It replied to me, lowering its form, as if it tried to bow to me. "You are our lord in this dark reality. You saw the paradox, yes? You are the other half of it, both the same mind yet with different purposes; you were separated from your other half when you came to be. You always existed, even longer than you can remember. We are your protectors of the Background. You need rest once in a while to regain energy from the darkness, so you can wake back up and travel across dimensions to find and destroy rifts that form in universes to devour them whole, causing what man believes to be the Heat death of a universe." Said the Guardian.
I think for a moment about this, I look at my hands, wondering what exactly I was. That bright place I was in before I died, the darkness that went inside me...I gained some knowledge I hadn't kept before. The paradox I am part of said I would be given my power, while I protect everything else in return, my other half carried a warm love that bound every broken piece of me. Leon wasn't just another person; he died so he could be blessed. I am Leon's spirit, and the other half of me is the vessel I inhabit.
It spat out something on the ground in front of me. It was a longsword with many carvings. But one stuck out to me; I felt like I had seen it in old memories. "What is this...I don't understand what to do." I said.
It turned its head slightly; the look it made showed that it had trust in me. I reach for the sword. It was heavy in my hands, but very balanced. Each time it moved, the end kept ripping open reality like paper. The other side of the tear was a bright opening into nowhere but an eerie static noise. It turned into a mirror, and I was able to see myself in it before it closed. My skin is slightly paler than I remembered. "It is your weapon; you use it to travel anywhere in the Omniverse at any time you want. No one else can use it unless you willingly give it to them. This is how you will travel and break the formed rift from breaking dimensions." Said the Guardian.
I swing it again, trying to open a way back home. The only thing I got was a mirror. "How do I use this thing? It only opens to here." I said. I continued to swing it more, creating many openings back to the same place. "You need to think about where you want to go; you cannot just expect it to send you where you need to go. You have to control it." Said the Guardian.
I step back to keep up a good posture and close my eyes. I think about home, West Virginia, People, and Callith. I swing again, but this time the cuts open a path to a forest. I stared into the greenery, feeling my arm through it. I bird flew in here, freezing into a solid chunk of ice before shattering into the ground, slowly getting absorbed into the floor. I felt a warm breeze outside, similar to the weather where I live. I turned back to the Serpent; he was gone; it was just me now. As I got my full body through the opening, it closed behind me.
The trees blocked out most of the sunlight, but whenever I got very exposed, I began to feel a slight headache and streams a darkness evaporating off me. I felt very exposed to the light ever since I got back up.
Eventually, after I stopped walking, I found a dirt road. On the other side of it was a corn field and a couple of scarecrows. I passed by the side of the road. Soon, an old truck came by. I wave to get it to stop. It started to slow down enough for me to see who was inside. There was an old man with a cigarette in his mouth who raised. "You okay, pal? Can I give you a ride? Hop in." He said.
I nod, walking to the other side, opening the door. "Thank you. I am wondering if you could drive me to Charleston. I hope it isn't much of a problem for you." I said.
He pulled out the cigarette, putting it out on the dashboard. "You kidding? That's 30 miles from here... you're lucky I ain't busy today. The diesel prices aren't cheap nowadays." He said.
It was a long ride there, and the man chatted for a while. He said some pretty interesting stories. "Back then, we didn't get strange people like you on the road. They all had cheap cars...so no one needed to hitchhike. Prices keep going up every year. My wife once had a 1940 Packard 180 Club Sedan...a real beauty, but a noisy one. One of the wheels had a grinding sound coming from the suspension coils scraping the disk. I got a new one and put it on, and she never made a sound again." He said.
I look at the road, think about the path I took. I called Callith a murderer, which hurt him. I wish I had gotten a chance to apologize to him. "You ever had a brother?" I said.
He chuckled, nodded. "I did, we don't talk much anymore. When we were kids, we argued over who was brave enough to remove a hornet's nest by hand. Eventually, he gave up trying to prove himself right, and so he went out to do so. He got stung so much that he went to the hospital...but made it back okay. After that, he didn't get along with me anymore; in fact, he was 18 already, so he left to live somewhere else in Nevada." He said.
I reflected on those words. It seems we all have our family issues. "Did he still care about you? I mean, your brother would still love you, right...despite what happened." I said.
He turned to me and smiled. He nodded his head and patted my shoulder a few times. "Family is stronger than that. I think my brother still loves me...because years later, he arrived at my house for my birthday. Sure, he didn't talk much, but I think we still had time for things to become normal again. If you are having these struggles, remember this: You, Mother, Father, Brother, or whoever still cares about you, I can guarantee that." He said.
Just then, we arrived at the border of Charleston. I got out, he waved goodbye, and I waved back. I stopped in front of the Welcoming sign.