stardustcboy's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...The Dreamer at the end of time... ...his hand trembled as he clasped the golden door handle. the pull from within seemed to become stronger as he slowly opened the doors. there was a rush of air...a great exhalation of dust and ancient secrets. beyond the door all was dark. he stepped within. even with the light of his sword he could not make out any detail within the sightless chamber. he took a few tenative steps inward and the doors shut behind him, closing him in stygian darkness as lightless as space itself. uncertain he kept moving forward. sweeping his free hand in wide arcs before him in search of something, a wall, door, some sort of architecture, but there was nothing. he blindly moved forward and as he did he began to notice small pinpoints of light, far off, like stars in the sky. as he kept moving more began to appear until at last it was as though he stood at the center of universe. all around him were stars, a myriad of cosmic gems twinkling in every hue of the rainbow. he gazed around himself in awe. he was disoriented, but realized his feet were still planted firm. when he looked down, he saw that he was standing on a narrow stone platform that seemed to span the gulf of infinite space around him. he followed it with his gaze. materializing before him was a round platform at the end of the narrow bridge he stood upon. at the center of the platform was an intricately carved, raised stone dias of purest marble. upon the dias was a sarcophagus made of glass. his eyes stared in wonder. the Dreamer lay before him at last. a faint blue light emanated from within the glass case, it had the faintest form of a person. the light seemed to flow outwards from the casket, washing over him like warm ocean waves. he began to hear the breathing of the Dreamer within, the slow, rythmic inhalation and exhalation of a sleeper. beneath the soft sighing he could hear the low bass throb of a hearbeat. the pull continued, this time harder, firmer and more demanding. it was almost as if the Dreamer willed him forward, he was hardly aware his feet moved at all. he stood before the sarcophagus. his eyes strained to see the Dreamer within, to see her face, but the soft luminescence prevented him from discerning any features. "wake up." he said softly. he hadn't any idea as to what to do next. the sarcophagus seemed to lack any real mechanisms to open it, completely seamless it encased the Dreamer within. he reached out and as his hand met the smooth, warm glass an arc of white-hot energy shot forth. he dropped to the floor in agony as the energy tore its way through his body, burned deep into his mind, and burrowed to his very core. he screamed, the pain was brilliant and unending. it began to rend him down the middle, from temple to groin the electric fire cleft his body in half. the mark of Baalgorgon, the dark fetid skin that covered his left side, began to writhe and tear itself free from his body. he screamed again and his flesh twisted and burned. the mark began to detach, bubbling and slithering off his body to the floor. it left his skin red and blistered, but clean despite. the pain began to subside, and he watched as the foul, oily substance began to take shape. at first it was merely a blob of black sludge, but as it gained in girth and size, small eyes and mouths began to appear all along its surface. they stared in hatred and gnawed hungrily. the stench of the thing was merciless, like wind from the dark and seathing bowels of hell itself. it continued to grow, and he slowly got to his feet. his left side was useless and limp, the skin burned and tingling. the thing took a human shape, dark, rubbery nubs grew into hands, arms and legs. it rose up, covered with mouths and eyes. as it stood a head formed upon its shoulders, the mouths and eyes arranged themselves into a hideous parody of a human visage. he was horrified, the thing looked like him! a sick mockery of himself. two red eyes with horizontal black slits for pupils stared malevolently, soulessly from a black slimy face. a mouth ringed with pointed teeth smiled back at him, instead of a crown of long, soft brown hair, there was instead a wreath of thick and oily tendrils each ending in another rasping mouth or eye. "Baalgorgon!" he hissed. he thought the dark god-king dead, all this time he believed that he had killed him in the Chambers of Balgrath, but he was wrong. "Yes..." the mouths spoke in unison, a symphony of hateful voices. "it is i, Baalgorgon." the thing laughed an empty and lifeless laugh. "but...you are dead! you fell to my own hand in the Chambers of Balgrath! you are but another phantom!" "no, no, no boy. i am indeed Baalgorgon. you had only slain my physical form in the cold silent depths of Balgrath, buy my soul, my essence lived on in you!" he laughed again. "you have done your job quite well, boy. for you have brought me here to the Chamber of Dreams." "no!" he levied his sword at Baalgorgon, his left side burned still and he favored his unwounded right. he wasn't certain if he could hold against the dark god-king himself. "silly child. you're in no shape to confront me. the Dreamer is mine, and thus, the universe. i shall rule all and all will bend to my will! you have a choice. we were one! we can join again!" "no, Baalgorgon! i will not accept your offer. i carried your vile mark, bore it for you across the Sea of Sargus to the heart of the Eternal City, i will carry it or you no more." "you stand at the center of the universe boy! the power of creation and destruction lie before you, the power of the all seeing one! every answer to every question is here at your command! you would be an idiot to turn down my offer, we could rule forever...together!" "no, it is my destiny to awaken the Dreamer. you shall not stop me, i may not be at full strength, but if there's half the will left then that shall be will enough!" "FOOL!" Baalgorgon boomed, all the voices rising as one, echoing through the chamber out into the reaches of space beyond. "then you shall be damned! the universe is mine!" He reached into his chest, digging his hand in the viscous slime of his body. his hand seemed to clench around something and he threw his head back, cackling gleefully. with a pull he drew a sword from his chest, it was made of blood and darkness and it dripped upon the sarcophagus, creating holes in the blue light that shined from within. he drew back his heartlight sword as Baalgorgon rushed at him and swung it in an arc at Baalgorgon's throat. a loud thunderclap resounded through the chamber as his blade collided with the blade of Baalgorgon. he drew back and swung again, but his attack was parried aside by his nemesis. he retreated, looking for a weekness, waiting for Baalgorgon to make a move. they circled each other, looking for openings, flaws, sizing each other up. Baalgorgon's red eyes seemed to burn through him with hatred. he hefted the Heartlight and surged forward again. another loud boom as their swords met, and another, and another. the blades danced, retreating, swinging, spinning, meeting with a sound greater than the shaking of the heavens. he cried out in fury with each swing, only to be deflected back. each strike left him that much less stronger, and quickly his strength was waning. "you see, you are no match. we are one, i know your moves before you make them." Baalgorgon jided, a thick purple tongue rolling out of his inhuman mouth. "it isn't over yet." he said between gasps. his side ached, burned, he tightened his grip on the heartlight and with the last bit of strength lunged again at Baalgorgon. the beast feinted to the side and swung the bloody blade outwards. its blade bit deep into his chest and he howled as his body was tossed backward onto the platform. blood poured from the wound and his mind swam. he struggled to his knees. he looked up. Baalgorgon was standing above the sarcophagus. his red eyes burning. "now, witness the destruction of your universe, and the beginning of a new one, one made in MY image. the Dreamer must die!" Baalgorgon raised the sword of blood and darkness high, it's point leading straight down into the heart of the Dreamer. he let out a laugh and brought the sword down hard. "NO!" with the last droplet of will he lept to his feet and thrust forward with the Sword of Heartlight he jumped and manuevered his body between the sleeping Dreamer and the deadly point of Baalgorgon's blade. anguish and sorrow shot through his body and he cried out. the blade of blood and darkness had pierced him through the middle, driving straight through his body and into the glass sarcophagus beneath him. he screamed, the pain of regret, of loss, of despair. but his cries were not alone. through his tears he looked, and saw that the Sword of Heartlight had also found its mark and pierced Baalgorgon through the chest, through his foul and souless heart. he howled and bellowed, his body dissolving, melting into bubbling and steaming pools of thick, black sludge. the slime ran down the blade, corroding the shining metal and burning into his hand. he could no longer feel. his body was done, and he lay bleeding on the glass casket. he looked into it and saw, for the first time, the face of the Dreamer. she was beautiful beyond anything. a great mystery of light and birth and creation. she still slept soundly. "wake...up..." he choked, blood spilling from his mouth. her eyes fluttered open...like butterflies in the summer sunshine. her gaze was warmth and love and timeless wisdom. the glass around her dissolved into shimmering stardust and it swirled about him. her hands outstretched she caressed him. she was the cosmos, she was the stars and the planets and the moons, she held him in her arms. he vanished in her, disappeared into the infinity of her heart...
2:24 p.m. - 2002-11-21 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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