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Hollow Darkness

"Because sometimes, even the greatest lie can bear truth."

"I am nothing like them!" yelled Luther in protest, jabbing his finger at the two others chosen to accompany him on his mission. The morning had taken an acrid start, all three men perhaps equally displeased that they had to see each other at all, and on such a miserable day no less. The council stared down resolutely at the trio, their determination unwavering.

"Well perhaps you could venture into the deepest parts of the island on your own, and then you could perform this task without the aid of your... partners," said the eldest of the council, a human, his hair greying and his face sagging and wrinkled. Luther looked over to the two men that would be spending the next few days with him on a mission that none of them knew anything about. He resented them simply for what they were, Nephil and Southerner, furred beasts that would never comprehend civilisation, animals. "After all, there aren't any dangers in lands untouched by any of the three races." the elder quipped sarcastically.

Luther scowled at him and then grudgingly accepted the task set out before him, mostly because refusal would result in his banishment. With a resigned sigh he turned to leave the court, guards prodding the non-humans, Blackmane and Keith, with sharp lances to ensure they followed peacefully. Luther forced open the thick, extravagant wooden doors to the Court for what would be the last time that day, that week even, now he would have to gather his readied supplies and make for the dock of Port Vahlen. The trip to the "new world," as the council had referred to it, would take roughly a week, that meant at least one week on a ship with Blackmane and Keith... Thankfully for Luther, he would be able to avoid the unwilling partners for that week.

The trek across town was more silent than usual, and faster. It appeared to Luther that the townspeople were respectful of his mission and perhaps sympathised with him for having to undertake it with an alicorn and coyote. Luther smirked at this, noting that anybody else would likely, if placed in his position, choose banishment over a Southerner and Nephil. The harbour master pointed him in the direction of the ship he would be boarding, the only ship scheduled to leave that day... Come to think of it, it was the only activity taking place at the harbour at all, no ships were scheduled to arrive or leave, all the workers had been given the day off, it was the most still anybody had ever seen it.

"The Dark Horizon," Proclaimed the lettering on the rear of the ship. "You're late, boy," barked captain Amarod. Luther was about to answer, the words beginning to form on his lips but the angry captain pulled him violently onto the ship, causing him to stumble and fall roughly to the floor. "I don't take kindly to incompetence or laziness, now get up, your cabin is next to the Southerner's." Luther forced himself up, grunting in both acknowledgement and annoyance. It was going to be a long week.

"Gods dammit! Aren't you alicorns supposed to have at least some inherent magic or something?" complained Keith as they struggled to row the long boat toward the island that seemed to grow no closer, regardless of how hard they tried to reach it. Even the great mountain on the island seemed an impossible beacon. Luther found himself thinking that the least the captain could've done was give them rain coats before throwing them into a smaller ship with absolutely no protection from the elements.

"Shut up and keep rowing, dog!" Luther yelled, giving a grunt as he ploughed the oars through the water, each stroke stirring air into the liquid and causing it to foam violently under the boiling sky. The rain had been pouring since before they arrived, throwing waves many feet high and tossing the longboat (and its crew) all about the angry waters. The dark clouds that loomed above the island should have been warning enough.

The alicorn nickered, "I told you already, I'm not like the others, I was sent here because I have no talent whatsoever! You're lucky I don't fly myself off to the beach right now."

Perfect, Luther thought, the one alicorn that can't cast any spells at all, and the council expects the three of us to survive on this island? The three gave an angry and somewhat annoyed yelp as the long boat was tipped and they were flung yards away, any supplies that would have survived the rain were lost now, and Luther could already see himself wanting to put the blame on his non-human "partners." Luther was pulled under and began to thrash in the water, he was less than an adept swimmer and the party had a two hundred metre swim through whipping, stormy water that would more than likely kill all three of them.

He gasped for air as he finally broke the surface, at this point he was simply trying to keep his head above the salty water. It was seconds before he realised that if he didn't make for the island that instant, he would drown. That was all the encouragement he needed, his arms began to pull him through the water, his legs motoring to propel him as fast as they could, the waves were rough and whipped at his face with wet sprays, the salt in the water seeming to wear away his skin. Luther felt something grab his shoulder and clamp tightly, in a panic and given how the world currently seemed to hate him, he thought it was a shark that had bitten him. He kicked violently at his 'attacker' and quickly realised that it was Keith. He could feel his lips move and his throat burn as he shouted profanity back at the coyote, but his voice was hopelessly drowned out by the storm, inaudible even to him.

It was easily a half hour before Luther eventually reached the island, slightly less time for the coyote and alicorn that seemed to make it to safety long before Luther had any hope of actually reaching the beach. He dragged himself ashore, still half swimming across the white sand, panting heavily, his lungs grasping for air that was now thankfully abundant. "Gods damn this place! It's tried to kill us before we even reached it!" Luther choked, down on all fours.

"We should get moving, we'll need shelter for the night, and if this downpour doesn't kill us, something else will," Blackmane spoke, his voice bearing a hint of resignation. "And I don't want to find out what might try."

The three of them marched silently through the rain, the only words escaping anyone's lips being a profanity or blasphemy of sorts. Luther led the party, shoving through leaves and low hanging branches that swung back violently at his compatriots, occasionally smirking as he heard one of them yelp. "Luther!" called Keith, tapping incessantly on Luther's shoulder, "I heard something, we're not alone out here!" he whispered urgently. All but the rain stopped, the ever-present rustling of leaves died, short and raspy breaths paused for them to focus, silence...

"There's nothing th..." Blackmane began, but Luther silenced him with a glare. The rain pelted them incessantly, marring vision and causing them to shiver uncontrollably, Luther would have dismissed the sound Keith had taken for a creature if he hadn't heard it himself. It came once more, low and guttural, but somehow louder than the rain, growing in magnitude like it was... Getting closer...

"Run!" called Blackmane, who instantly broke for the denser wood, seeking shelter. Luther looked to Keith, realisation dawning on him. From the dense curtain of rain came a thunderous roar, the likes of which had never been heard by any of the three men, and then the silhouette of a huge beast, it was titanic, but it's body was of the most peculiar shape. For a brief second, Luther and Keith stood in stunned perplexity; from its head stretched a horn that curved, black wings splayed out behind its hulking mass of a body and its tail, shaped much like a scorpion's, was poised to strike. The creature surged forward, bounding on all four legs as a hungry predator, that was what it was after all. In the second they stood stunned, the beast had launched a volley of thin spines at them, and that was all the warning they would need, both of them began sprinting across the muddy floor of the forest, each of them trying to overtake the other in the hopes that they would not be consumed by the monstrosity that was hot on their heels. It occurred to Luther that he wouldn't need to outrun the beast to survive, he would just have to be faster than the coyote that would make a snack as tasty as any to a carnivore.

Keith quickly took the lead, being both stronger and faster than Luther was. Luther's desperate prayers to the gods went unanswered as the monster caught up and plucked him from the ground like a child's toy. He thrashed in the creature's grip, twisting and writhing to get free. By sheer dumb luck, or by the will of the Gods, Luther's fist connected harshly with the beast's eye and it dropped him to the ground, staggering backwards with pain. Luther landed with his back to the ground, winded but still alive, he jumped to his feet as fast as he could and took off after Keith again, quickly losing the monster in the torrents of blinding rain. His chest seared with pain, as did his back and legs, breathing and moving had become impossibly laborious chores.

The mountain loomed overhead, powerful, and lonely, especially in the storm. There stood a small black hole on the greyed silhouette of the up thrusting earth, a cave. Luther pondered it for a second, then made his way swiftly to it as the beast from earlier cried out in anger, its roar able to be heard from miles away, even through the thunderstorm.

The mouth of the cave was minuscule, just big enough, in height but hardly width, for something only slightly larger than Luther to fit through. He had to rotate his body ninety degrees to scrape through the crack that was the cave entrance. It opened into a larger but still small, damp hole that reeked of thick earth and a scent that Luther was not familiar with, he stepped slowly, cautiously so as not to wake any supposed denizens.

BOOM!!!!

Thunder cracked noisily from the outside, so near to the mountain that it caused the walls and ceiling to shake free dust, showering Luther with debris. Luther paused as the wind carried over a sound, familiar and slightly more welcomed this time, the sound of a hoarse cough. He released a breath he didn't realise he was holding and walked on to where he imagined the sound had come from. "I... See you... made it..." Keith announced between hacking coughs.

Luther only gave a grunt as he looked over Blackmane and Keith, who had apparently made it here only minutes ahead of him. A gust of wind blew gently, or at least gently comparatively to the storm, through the room that the tunnel had opened to. Both Blackmane and Keith were missing small patches of fur from when they had entered, numerous cuts and scrapes covered them and dirt was settling in their wet fur. "We should get fire..." Blackmane said, shivering. "Keith, Luther?"

"My friends_call me Luther, _you call me Mr. Ashcroft."

"Well I'm not risking my hide out there in the cold rain, with the... the monster," Keith protested, "You or Mr. Ashcroft can go get yourselves killed on a hunt for dry wood." He continued, mocking Luther's inappropriate formality.

Luther stepped back and slid down a wall to sit, his clothes plastered to his skin by mud. Blackmane bristled as Keith repeated Luther's action on the other side of the cave, he nickered indignantly. "So we'll just sit here and wait the storm out? No definite amount of time? No fire? No food?" he fumed. His wings flitted violently behind him, causing a gust of wind to bounce off of the walls. Luther could swear that the sound came across as faint laughter rather than the general flurry of air.

***

A minute went by and nothing happened, Blackmane shifted his weight uneasily from leg to leg, his hoof had been cracked when he tripped over a rock as he fled the beast from earlier. Neither Keith nor Luther so much as cast him a glance, "I see how it is then, I'll just take a seat at that side of the cave." Blackmane stomped his way to a third wall of the cave, planted his rump on the most comfortable patch of earth he could find, and wrapped himself in his large black wings, shielding him from the view of the others. He hid in his 'shell,' segregated from the others by an onyx wall of feathers, this did nothing to warm or dry him, and he was shivering profusely. Time passed by and numerous cracks of thunder showed no sign of pause in the downpour, light was scarce and growing more rare as the few rays that had slipped through from gods knew where, were dissipating.

The cave immediately grew colder, but there was no wind, Blackmane peeked through his 'wing-shield' but found that the outside was only barely brighter than inside his shield. He squinted in the darkness, only barely able to make out the shivering shapes of Luther and Keith.

Blackmane felt a chill zip down his spine, but this wasn't because he was cold. It was because he knew there was something wrong, the realisation of a new barrier between the men, something that had appeared more strongly since their arrival on the island, a distrust and perhaps genuine hatred between them. "Guys?"

Keith and Luther both stirred, craning their heads to see him, but not speaking themselves.

"We can't just sta-ay in this c-cave..." Blackmane stuttered. There was no reply from either of them, in the dark Blackmane could only barely see them turn away from him and each other. "Gods d-damn you guys! Th-this is no time t-to act so child-dish! We'll die!" Blackmane yelled, but with the temperature as low as it was, he was only slightly louder than normal and it tore at his tightening throat. He was beginning to feel extremely tired. At least, the rain was beginning to recess, Blackmane found himself wondering.

***

Keith sat in silence, listening to the subsiding rain and doing his best to ignore the yapping alicorn. They weren't going to die, not just yet and certainly not in this dank cave. His ears twitched, swivelled at every sound, listening for anything, but nothing came, even the rain had hushed to the point of being inaudible. He considered getting up, but that would mean leaving the relative warmth of the position he'd taken. There was undoubtedly something that Keith could do to save the three of them from the bone-slicing cold, but why should he when the others just sat? Why should he fight for warmth for the three of them when he would be the only one to earn it?

Keith was the best suited to fetch wood for a small fire, to sneak into the forest and steal some bark or branches from one of the colossal trees. Wet wood may not have burned, but Luther was an adept mage who could at least muster the power to dry the wood to the point where it would be capable of burning. But who would light the fire even then? Perhaps Blackmane, being the strongest could smash two dry cave rocks together and create a spark. Then maybe the three of them could survive, huddled around a small fire, keeping wind from killing it while it was still young. Why then did each man sit apart in silence?

***

Each of them eyed the other suspiciously, watching for who would move. None of them did. A weak blast of thunder echoed throughout the cavern, laughing at the trio, mocking them. More dirt poured from the ceiling, already beginning their burial. None of them would admit that they were going to die as they shook off the dirt that felt as heavy as the world itself. The island had been the prize of the three races, each of them seeking what lay beyond its mysterious shores. Many small expeditions such as this had been launched but somehow nobody ever came back. Had they found a paradise? Or had they met their ends? All three men closed their eyes almost simultaneously, one thought on their minds; rest now, tomorrow can only be better. As Luther closed his eyes, he saw his family and how they had abandoned him, leaving him alone in a dark world. As Keith closed his, he saw his tribe raided by humans, he witnessed the carnage all over again and remembered his oath. His vendetta against the furless creatures. Finally, Blackmane, the strongest of them all, closed his eyes and he saw nothing. Not because he hadn't experienced loss, not because he hadn't been rejected or disowned, but rather because it was then too cold to think. Laughter ripped through the cave as each of the men drew their last breath, causing thick layers of dirt to fall, unearthing bones of humans, nephilim and southerners alike. Like Death's still hand, nothing moved there again. Like Death's black cloak, night shrouded the island that would continue to be a mystery. Like Death's icy heart, hate lay buried in that mountain.