Torn Pages

[Michael]

26

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

It's like they were from two separate worlds, together but apart. Stangers and lovers all in the same breath. An ocean of stars between them and no starship to cover the distance.

@noone

[Michael]

27

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

Gabriel's lips curled into a frown deeper than the scowl he usually wore. Behind his glasses his eyes burned with barely contained anger. Gabriel's Rage, a curse according to his brother, a tool to his sister, and a blessing to him. Gunblade in hand, Gabriel took aim with the weapon's pistol form. His eyes locked on a man that stood several feet away from him.

"I've thought about this moment so often. Played it over inside my head on repeat like a video. Obsessing over every scenario, every outcome, but I..." Gabriel's face contorted into a strange mixture of pain and anger. "I thought it's what I wanted. That beating you senseless would bring me some kind of closure. Maybe heal the wound you caused when you left me and Olivia to shoulder your burden."

The gun dropped from Gabriel's hand and he collapsed to his knees moments later. "But I was wrong." admitting he was wrong was never easy for Gabriel. Neither was allowing himself to he vulnerable, and for the first time in years he was just that. The feral yellow of the Rage faded from his eyes. A river of tears flowed down his cheeks.

"Why father? Why'd you let us lose both parents?"

@noone

[Michael]

28

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

Where did he belong?

What was his purpose?

Who was he?

He had nothing and was no one. A zero with nothing meaningful to share.

He's lost and he doesn't know what role he's supposed to play. He wants purpose. He longs for meaning in a life that’s felt meaningless for years. An escape from the depression that clouds his mind like a thick fog.

It's a hefty chain on his soul that refuses to break.

He's tired. Tired of carrying the weight. Exhausted from wandering aimlessly through the mist. Lost and screaming for help with a voice not loud enough to hear.

@noone

[Michael]

29

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

Caught in the middle. On the verge of progress but a mistake away from relapse. The feeling is surreal. Like I'm lucid in a dream, lost in a nightmare.

I'm standing on the line. Behind me, the darkness I've struggled to step away from. Ahead of me, the future I want shining brightly at the end of a road filled with bumps.

The devil's on my shoulder. He's tempting me back behind the line. Yet the angel in my ear whispers to move ahead. She tells me the road may be rocky, but the trip across it is worth the effort.

Quiet, uncertain, I struggle with my choice. Afraid of moving forward but terrified of going back.

@noone

[Michael]

29

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

Tucked into the shadows of a dimly lit alleyway, Kaiden struggled to catch his breath. Bent over, he pressed a hand against the alley's cobblestone wall for support. The faint glow of his golden eyes illuminated the cracked concrete beneath his feet. The familiar mixture of sweat and blood on his tongue made his temper flare.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd been pushed this far. Digging his nails into the wall, Kaiden attempted to move. The pain forced him to stop before he could even move. Like the pricks of a needle, the sensation stabbed at his side with every movement.

The Wyrmwatchmen looked down at his right side with a heavy frown. Soaked crimson with blood, he could make out a horizontal gash in his overcoat. There was only one metal strong enough to cut through its reinforced leather. "Damascus." he grimaced, "Enchanted Damascus." he pressed down hard on the wound. A searing hot pain shot through him that made his vision blur white.

Called forth by the pain, Kaiden felt a familiar sensation tug at the back of his mind. It crept closer to the forefront, his wound growing numb. "No." Kaiden gritted his teeth. Tempting as it was, he couldn't let his senses dull. He needed the clarity that the pain brought him. They were still chasing him, and while Yrasil's blessing would numb the wound. It would make him far too reckless.

@noone

[Michael]

29

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

You make me feel like I'm made of glass. See through and fragile. Even a pebble can crack my skin.

@noone

[Michael]

29

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

He hated the feeling inside his chest with a passion. It's an ugly, vile thing that refuses to go away no matter how hard he tries. Oppressive and cold like the arctic north. Doubt himself, his worth - believing that everything is his fault no matter the truth.

Replaceable. Forgettable. Only around to fuel jokes whispered behind closed doors. Dark and heavy, the whole world feels like his enemy. All out to get him, no one can be trusted.

Not even himself.

@noone

[Michael]

29

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

I thought the one place I'd be safe was inside these pages. Oh how naive I'd been. When I wasn't looking you tainted this space too. It crept up on me like a wolf stalking prey. My security attacked by these memories of you. I wished I'd known how deep the scar ran. It might have been enough to save these walls. Instead, they're scribbled on with black sharpie that I can't scrub away. Are you happy? You broke me. You shattered me completely and you'll never even notice.

@noone

[Michael]

29

synchroncity

IN A PAINTED WORLD

I hate it here but there's no place I'd rather be.

Emotions are complicated, complex like the innards of a futuristic machine. The moment I start to think I know how mine work, I discover another layer of circuits. Wires that cross and loop into a tangled mess which leads me nowhere.

Mixed signals.

The light of depression flashes a haunting blue, but life flickers with a washed out red within it. They're both so blinding and yet I can't look away. I'm hypnotised.

My heart beats but it's not alive. Blood flows through my veins without warmth. Cold, frigid like ice. A flame burns somewhere that keeps my gears from freezing, but eventually it will smolder.

And then the cold will take me.

@noone

[Michael]

31

synchroncity

IN A COLD, DARK WORLD

She's worth more than she thinks.

Brighter than a diamond, more breathtaking than the moon - she filled the sky with a thousand blinking, burning lights.

Without her, they'd be nothing more than cinders and ash. Desperate, tiny embers struggling to burn in a cold world.

@noone

[Michael]

32

synchroncity

IN A COLD, DARK WORLD

He's worth more than he thinks.

Braver than a lion, more illuminating than the sun - he holds the world upon his shoulders. A thousand screaming, pleading voices in need of their hero.

Without him, they'd be hopeless against the hoard. Terrified voices, calling out to no one in a cold, dark world.

@noone

[Michael]

33

synchroncity

ONCE A YEAR, EVERY YEAR

It never ceased to amaze him how quickly things changed. In only a few months, a city he once called his playground felt foreign. The layout remained the same. He remembered the twists and turns, the shortcuts tucked inside alleyways and abandoned buildings. They were hardwired into him, burned into his mind from years of use. No, it was the atmosphere that changed.

Dense, suffocating, a cloud of distrust and paranoia poisoned his city. His memory of home lay tainted by an ugly truth. While trying to raise an empire, the woman he loved suffered, abused by a man Killian considered his friend.

Inside his pockets, Killian's fingers curled into fists. He wasn't far from the casino, and with Kaito not around, it would be easy to get revenge. Burn his whole operation to the ground and be gone when the sun sets. Killian pushed the urge and reminded himself why he was here.

He rounded the corner to the graveyard. Old and rusted from lack of care, its iron gate squeaked open with a hefty push. His shoulders tensed as he walked down the cobblestone path.

Once a year, every year, Killian made this trip. Kaito hunting down Lex or nightmares from god wouldn't change that.

His pace slowed as he drew closer to his destination. God, he wished this got easier. Fifteen years later, it never did. Killian stopped in front of a plot of land without a tombstone. The withered flowers on the grass told him he was at the right spot. Killian eyed those dried roses sullenly.

"Sorry, Mom. I forgot to grab the flowers this time. There's...been a lot going on lately." The weight on his shoulders grew immense. He sighed, trying to lessen the load, but he only added to the burden.

"I almost couldn't make it, but I'm here. Like I promised." Killian pursed his lips. "I hope you're ready to listen because I've got a lot to unload." he chuckled dryly and bore his soul to the woman who broke it.

@noone

[Michael]

34

synchroncity

IN A COLD, DARK WORLD

I'm tired.

Breathing exhausted breathes and screaming into the void.

I'm tired.

And fighting is harder than you made it seem.

I'm tired.

But I'm not defeated.

I'm tired.

Of my weakness rooting me in place.

I'm tired.

So maybe I should sleep and wake up in paradise.

@noone

[Michael]

35

synchroncity

IN A COLD, DARK WORLD

Let's have conversations about the things we don't let anyone else know. About the random thoughts that run amuck in our minds. Let's explore the dark places together.

@noone

[Michael]

36

synchroncity

IN A COLD, DARK WORLD

In the moments where the darkness finds me, I miss your presence the most. Surrounded by people and awash in a sea of voices, I still feel alone without you at my side.

You're my light in the depths of the abyss - my north star when I'm lost and can't find my way home.

You are my home.

There's safety in your embrace, pleasure in your kiss, and escape in your love.

I look into your amber eyes and see only the future. Ours. Together forever, no end in sight - even if the world would try to stop us.

Always and Forever. Forever and Always.

I will love you.

@noone

[Michael]

37

synchroncity

IN A COLD, DARK WORLD

"It's okay to be tired. You're allowed to be exhausted and fed up with the world. Just do me a favor, okay?

Don't let it consume you.

You have this habit of letting it all weigh you down. You let yourself drown. Everytime I watch you do it, I worry it'll be the last.

Kaiden, you don't have to shoulder the burden alone. You're not Atlas. We don't expect you to be. We're - I'm here for you.

I...I wish you'd let me help. Let someone, anyone, help you.

You're not alone anymore."

@noone

[Michael]

38

weird dreamer

I'VE BEEN HAVING THESE WEIRD DREAMS...

Surrounded by a sea of darkness - falling, falling, falling into its depths. Being lost in the blackness and floating without purpose, ""How familiar." he'd come here in his dreams before, hadn't he? But this didn't feel like a dream. It seemed different. Kaiden felt lucid and more aware of himself and the void that engulfed him. Like he was caught between the realm of sleep and that of the waking world. "Yes..."

The hour is almost at hand.

The voice was foreign yet familiar and spoke directly into his mind. Its sudden intrusion into his thoughts took Kaiden by surprise. He'd been having this dream for months now. Every time he's drifting in the darkness, alone - constantly alone.

Until now.

Kaiden looked around to find the source of the voice. All he saw was the abyss. "What do you mean?" he questioned his voice barely a whisper.

Soon you will be faced with a great choice.

He, of all people, faced with a great choice? That made no sense. Kaiden was...

There was a flash as a beam of light shot up from the darkness below. Kaiden quickly tossed his hand in front of his eyes and shut them. "What hell is going on here?" After a few seconds, he carefully spread his fingers and peered out from behind the cracks. He watched as segmented rays of light slowly dimmed until they faded entirely. Gradually his hand fell to his side, and his head pitched downward.

Face bathed in warm light, golden pupils the sizes of dots, Kaiden stared on in surprise.

Where once there'd been only black, a circular pillar of stained glass now stood. Massive in size, it glowed with vibrant but narrow light that pushed back the surrounding blackness. Carved into the top of the column was a large portrait. Intricately detailed, the art was an almost flawless depiction of Kaiden. He was asleep in the picture - black, unkempt hair slightly obscuring the rugged features of his face. Drawn behind him was a moonlit and star-filled skyline of a city.

He held something inside his right hand, it resembled a key, but its design made it seem more like a weapon. It had bladed teeth that extended out from a piece of curved golden metal attached to the top of a black cylindrical rod. The rod was several inches long and joined to a gold square guard surrounding a red handle.

As his fall brought him closer to the surface of the pillar, more of its artwork became clear to him. Kaiden wasn't the only person depicted on the stained glass. In a blue circle just above his head was the face of a young man with shaggy brown hair that came down to his neck. His thin lips arced to a tired but inviting smile that didn't quite reach his turquoise eyes.

"Jayce..." Kaiden whispered with silent admiration.

Next to Jayce's portrait sat another circle but colored orange instead of blue. The portraiture inside the ring was that of a young woman. She had short, shoulder-length raven hair tied into a messy ponytail. Like she'd done it in a rush or didn't care how it looked. A busted lip adorned the top of her crooked, smug smile. Something in her eyes seemed to suggest she wanted you to ask how she got it.

"Naomi..." of course, she'd still be haughty here.

One last circle caught Kaiden's eye. Located below the others and next to his portrait's head, its inclusion left him baffled. Whereas the other two were of those Kaiden knew. This one showed a young woman that he was neither familiar with nor recognized.

The stained glass made it hard to tell, but she looked to be around Kaiden's age - either eighteen or nineteen. Long wavy hair the color of pink orchids reached down past her shoulders. Kaiden's eyes stopped at her chest, however. A heart-shaped gemstone pendant lay flat on her upper torso.

Attached to a silver chain, something about the gem radiated an air of importance. Kaiden couldn't quite place his finger on why. The jewel looked like a ruby, a deep red, but the color was far too bright. Not that he knew much about precious gems. Such luxuries might as well have been a world away.

The necklace wasn't the only heart-themed accessory she wore. Silver earrings dangled a less colorful scarlet gemstone below her ears. While no less impressively made, the earrings failed to draw Kaiden's eye the same way her pendant did.

Captivated and intrigued, Kaiden kept his eyes locked on her picture as he descended the last few feet to the top of the column. Who was she, and did she have some connection to this place? What did she have to do with him, for that matter?

He landed in the middle of the pillar, his feet touching down onto the stained glass with a gentle thud.

Power sleeps within you.

Three swirling pools of light formed at the left, right, and uppermost edges of the pillar. Kaiden watched, cautious and amazed, as three marble pedestals slowly raised from the light.

If you give it form...

A light flashed at the left pedestal - a staff with a rounded blue top now hovered above it.


It will give you strength...

The center pedestal flashed, and much like the left, a weapon now hovered above it. This time a sword with a golden hilt and dark-blue handle.

Choose well...

Mimicking the others - the right pedestal flashed, spawning a red and black shield into existence above it.

Kaiden lingered at the center of the platform, waiting to see if the voice spoke again. Several seconds pass in a heavy silence without a reply. Frowning, Kaiden glanced at the items. One of these would give him strength? "This all sounds like nonesense." and he'd turn and run, but something inside compels him to continue.

"A chance for power." All he needed was to pick an item, and power was his. If that was the case, then Kaiden's choice is obvious. He moved to the center pedestal and took the sword by the handle.

The power of the warrior.

Invincible courage.

A sword of terrible destruction.

The sword vanished from Kaiden's grasp in a flash of light. As the weapon disappeared and left him feeling no different, he frowned. That couldn't possibly be it. His muscles didn't swell, he didn't grow six inches taller, and inwardly nothing about him felt different. "I still feel..." his grimace deepened, "weak." the same as always. Had the voice lied to him?

A match struck, a candle lit.

Your path is set.

"What does that mean?" Kaiden shouted, looking into the darkness above. "My path is set? I don't understand any of this. Where am I and who's that girl next me on the glass? What's that thing in my hand?" the questions came one after another. If only the answers did the same.

Kaiden sighed, "Explain something - anything to me." Silence lingered in the air for what felt like forever before an answer finally came.

You have been chosen.

Selected by the key.

Instinctively, golden hues darted to the key-like weapon in his portrait's hands. "To what, unlock a door?" he tilted his head up and stared into the darkness.

"None of this makes any - "

A push. A firm hand against Kaiden's back shoves him forward and toward the ground. Kaiden stumbled, tripped under his own two feet, and sent flailing to stop a face-first collision. Except the air suddenly grows heavy and thick. His once speedy fall turns slow like he's moving through syrup.

"Kaiden." a cold breath in his ear.

Crack the sound of thunder.

The world goes black, and he jolts awake on his bed in the dead of night.

"Another weird dream."

@noone

[Michael]

39

weird dreamer

I'VE BEEN HAVING THESE WEIRD DREAMS...

A luminesce butterfly in darkness. It's a beacon for the lost and weary, the crushed and broken. Each beat of scarlet wings scattered ember dust through the dark. Picturesque in how the soot fell like snow, blanketing the world in the orange glow of possibility.

Deep below the curtain of cinder, he looked up, awed and breathless. How can something so small set his soul afire? The beautiful butterfly with crimson wings turned the ash in his heart to a brilliant flame. It's both flint and steel. He, a mere vessel meant to carry the spark.

He reached for the heavens, desperate to catch it but grasped only ember dust. Warm against his palm, he held what he could close to his chest.

Then he wept, cried silent tears, not of sorrow and gloom but joy. At last, he was free of the darkness.

At last, he had hope.

@noone

[Michael]

41

weird dreamer

I'VE BEEN HAVING THESE WEIRD DREAMS...

It doesn't matter how badly you wish to undo your mistake. The soul has been broken, the bond destroyed. Words once spoken can never be retracted. Remember this as you go forward my child, as it is a key lesson. We have entrusted the fate of the world to you and your Keyblade. Do not prove us wrong.

@noone

[Michael]

42

weird dreamer

I'VE BEEN HAVING THESE WEIRD DREAMS...

From the heavens, was created a single stone. A stone forged by god himself, made to grant a single wish. The only requirement is that the wish must be spoken aloud. With such a simple condition, men and women alike rose to the challenge, to find the stone and have their deepest aspirations granted with a simple sentence. Yet for all of their desperation, their yearning was selfish. Greed ran rampant, and all wanted money, power, omnipotence, and replacements for those that had been lost. With so many selfish desires resurfaced, problems were created for this world. Thievory and trickery quickly turned to violence and betrayal. In time? As the blood was shed, it quickly turned into war.

The simple tale of two ambitious kings, both thirsting for the power of god - turned into a nightmare for all involved. With the Kings gone, war polluted the world. Chaos ran rampant throughout the entire world. Food was scarce, water ran dry, even the rain stopped falling: perhaps the earth's own testiment to the carnage, a plea for the bloodshed to stop. If it was truly a message, it fell upon deaf ears. The five year war seemed endless even to the few that remained peaceful, and death became deeply rooted into the warring world.

Things only changed when one man rose above all odds and found the stone that the Kings were looking for. Holding the gem within his hands, he looked about the world that surrounded him. It lay in ruins, tattered beyond recognition - and he realized that it needed more help than he could ever imagine needing for himself. It was then that it dawned on him, the reason that the stone was created. The Delta Stone was a test from god, to show the true nature of human beings. The soldier should have taken the stone to his King, to hopefully end the war... but that would not fix things, the world would still be in shambles.

So instead? He made a wish.

"I wish that the world would return to the way it was. A world with food and forests, water and rain. I want the world to be something to be proud of once more - and for this gemstone to fade into a tale of faslehood."

His wish of course, was granted. The area was coated into light: blue and bright and powerful. Water flowed from empty riverbeds, charred forests towered once more throughout the land. Life returned to the way it was meant to be.

As for the Delta stone? It was no longer sought after, it was something of myth - folklore, a childish story to tell your children at night. The soldier disappeared along with the stone, granted immortality as a gift from god for being more pure hearted than any other seeking the stone. He guards the gem with his very life, from the greed and selfishness that had the power to infect the entire world.

@noone