Oneshot Collection

[Dr. Strange]

wow... :shcoked: that's intense. Very heartfelt. Keep going.

[Vince the Dark]

Yes, very emotional indeed. It's great to see that there is some light at the end of that path of your, and that short story showed it masterfully.

[flames]

Well, I decided to give a little insight into why Flames continues to fight time after time, against all odds...

An Eternal Promise
Silence. Emptiness. Alone. These are concepts you'll never truly understand during your lifetime, or even over countless lifetimes like me...No, the only way you'll be able to even start comprehending them is here, in the Void. Only here in this god-forsaken darkness that smothers and chokes you beyond death...it is only here that you'll understand what being alone truly is.

I've been alone for most of my existence: alive, dead and imbetween. But I'm not a demi-god, a being from above or whatever other powerful vision of a hero takes your fancy. I'm not an invincible warrior, I'm just like everyone else: fragile. I cannot survive alone and I cannot bear this constant fighting, the anguish I've been through. I've seen entire Universe's die, seen Gods erase things from existence, I've seen everyone I care about die slowly one by one. I've felt what it's like to be ripped apart by a Black Hole, I've felt my limbs be blasted off with searing plasma, I've had more weaponry pierce my heart than the Milky Way has stars.

And yet...I still go through with it each time, regardless of what I remember, where I am, who I am, what I am or even whatever rubbish the Gods try to trick me with next when I wake up again. People seem to think it's because of my morals, my determination, my noble attributes and incredible will...to some extent they're right, but no person (unless they are a demi-god in their own right), no matter how noble...nobody can rely on just those ideals for even the strongest wills tend to break eventually...

"And yet here I stand," you're probably thinking. The reason I am here is because I made a promise. To be honest, I made a seemingly never-ending list of promises; most I kept, some I broke. I hate breaking promises with all my heart and soul, I really do.
One promise in particular...one I made so long ago it seems like naught but a faded dream...before my first "death", before I joined the Resistance...I'm starting to believe that this promise may have been made before I was even born during Xan's reign in 24XX, maybe in a past life, maybe in the pre-life...

I may not know the exact details nor can I place when it happened, however...it is something part of me always remembers no matter what damage is done, no matter what havoc is unleashed on my memory...
A promise made not in words or thoughts or even emotions...A promise made on the core level of souls in response to something I cannot understand nor remember...but that untranslateable promise remains imbedded in my very soul.

An eternal promise: Wounds, love, death and the dissaproval of the Gods doesn't matter, this promise shall hold true for all of time............I do all I can to keep my promises, no matter what the personal cost.
"I won't hesitate...If an enemy appears before me, I'll destroy it, even if it costs me my life!"

[Dr. Strange]

very good, Flames. I like it.

[flames]

(Sorry about the shortness of An Eternal Promise everyone, it was originally going to be longer)
I've updated Inner Struggle, although it remains incomplete. Anywho, onwards to my next piece.
Warning: The following Oneshot contains angst, betrayal, darkness and content unsuitable for optimists.

...No more
I'm at my limit, the world pushed too hard. I can barely contain this feeling, an emotion you made. Rage, sorrow, abandonment, self-loathing...
All the ingredients for disaster cooked by a heartless chef seasoned with my own tears and blood. You know who you are, how much I currently despise you. Once the closest to my heart and now the one who left me in the dark...No more.

The world is a sadistic place of fun and games, the most popular of which allows involves mind, body, heart and soul. You trashed my sanity like an unwanted toy and made me bleed out my body as I screamed in anguish to a red full moon. You shattered my heart into a thousand pieces before everyone I knew, trampling the shards underfoot as you walked away. You corrupted my soul, made me a hollow shell: a puppet, a doll, a dog's chew-toy; all whilst I hated myself and hid far away.
...No more.

Every step I take fills me with rage as I endure the countless mocking cries of this faceless crowd, these humans who are worse than demons, foul jackals feasting on the mangled corpse of one crushed by this world.
The self-blaming is over: I start to jog.
My pathetic remorse and unbearable sorrow shall end today: the jog becomes a frenzied run.
No longer shall I suffocate alone in the darkness, unsure of what is right and wrong: the demonic jackals flee, their cries of terror instead of glee.
I'm at my limit, you went far too far: my torment is the tidal wave destroying your home, my insanity is the tornado rushing and crushing its own path, my rage the vision of Hell smouldering all in an eternal symphony of destruction as you no longer laugh...

...No more.

[flames]

Early Apocalypse
A harsh wind blows through darkened skies, sweeping through silent cities like a flood as the thunderclouds gather, blotting out both Sun and Moon around the world. A stench most revolting, the essence of a rotting planet, pollutes the air like the thickest smog, turning lungs black and shriveled.
People everywhere, young and old, are barely moving, all hobbling and coughing and vomitting as if plagued by an epidemic disease. Some fall to the ground, writhing in agony. Others pray to their God or Gods, their pleas of help falling on deaf ears. But most are frozen, staring fearfully at the sky above as lighting briefly flashes, illuminating a darkened figure standing atop the tip of a skyscraper.

Silence. Sound fades away from reality as a barrage of lightning bolts lay waste to the distant land, illuminating the figure once more as he spreads out his arms and shouts down to the people below: "You had one last chance to set things straight and you all blew it. The End is not yet upon you, but I decided to give you all a present this year considering how you treated me; just your average lonely teenager..." At this point he made a swift series of gestures, causing a tornado to spiral into life not too far away as a tidal wave near the coast crashed through town after town, drowning them all in murky water.
"This year you'll be recieving your Apocalypse a few decades early. Happy Judgement everyone, I hope you're prepared for your permanant vacation...in Hell!" And with that he bid goodbye to the world and, more specifically, the people who had pushed him too far...

[Dr. Strange]

^^ He sounds ticked. (normally, I'd say calm it down, but I like the way he handled it.)

[flames]

Eternally Ashamed, Eternally Sorry

Darkness all around, a greater numbness I have never felt. This pain within this torture means nothing to me anymore, I'm just curled up here, on the floor. I see my firneds in the midst of this darkness but one by one they vanish away. One into a pool of brightest blood, another into a pool of saltiest tears. One by on they all turn into vapour, leaving me alone to my self-destruction.
I brought this all upon my self and worse still I brought this all onto the people I care for. I'm a monster in human form and I hate it, I loathe what I am with every fibre of me being and then some more again. The few who I have yet to harm are there trying to assure me, comfort me; they have no idea what this is about. I was born into this world as a selfish, evil excuse for a living being and no amount of friendship, love or attempts to reform will ever change that.
Humans make mistakes, but I make disasters. I have hurt those I care most for in a way I never could have imagined. One hangs on the edge of life, the other I have inflicted such great agony on it makes me vomit.
Unwilling to live, unable to end it all and die; all I can do is curl up into a corner far, far away, locked up and put under heavy guard, hoping and hoping that I will never harm again, never cause such grief.

This pain, I deserve it, I only wish that this pain was mine alone. Those I have hurt in any way over the course of my lifetime, they don't deserve such treatment, such betrayal. Oh powers that rule this sick world, if you exist, surely you would take their pain and clean history for their sake? It matters not if the combined forces of their pain cripple me, it matters not if my new life is worse than an immortal, never-ending hell in which I suffer eternal damnation!
Just...don't let them suffer. Everything is and always will be, my fault. Apologies aren't enough, neither is honour or sacrifices or even the world's finest gifts. This damage is one wound time will never heal. Eternally Ashamed, Eternally Sorry...

(to be finished/re-wrote ASAP)

[flames]

Accursed Flames - Waiting
People have some very strange ideas about where you go when you die. Some believe you join with the Gods in dezth, others preach on how you'll burn in Hell for all eternity and a few say that your soul reincarnates. Variations of these ideas often cropped up when I asked people on my travels, with only one or two radically different ideas; but that was about to change...
It was here in the little-known town of Setsu that I first heard tale of the so-called "Dark Inferno", Accursed Flames. I had luckily chanced upon a wise old woman retelling an ancient legend within a tavern when my interest was first captured. Setsu had many legends the outside world knew naught about, so I naturally chose to listen to her tale. Nothing about it struck me as odd until she was close to finishing her story:
"...and it is there, in the infinitely lonely and eternally empty Void beyond life nor death, it was there that the Dark Inferno waits for us, ready to decide our fate as he constantly fights his bitter foe who very nearly destroyed all life as we know it. The Dark Inferno knows not happiness or company, only the frozen blizzard of isolation and the corrupted flame of his anguish. A finer mage nor warrior there was none, for in his lifetime he was Accursed Flames: a mortal who had his very soul cursed, along with others, by his foe. He survived against all odds and after 50 hard years he threw his life away to undo the danage wreaked upon the world by his foe...but that is a tale for another time..."
And with that she left, leaving behind a spellbound audience, captivated not by the story as much as the sheer power she put into her words, somehow capturing the legend and projecting the images directly into our minds.
I had to know more, it was if the notion of this cursed being forever waiting alone in the Void, still trying to vanquish his foe, had stirred something in the depths of my soul.

Mentally counting down my days left in this world, I set out after the woman...

[Vince the Dark]

Very interesting brother.

[Dr. Strange]

Agreed ~nods head to Vince's statement~

[flames]

The following is very loosely based on a dream I had and more may be added later:

Eternal Drifter
Crunch, crunch, pitter patter and the blare of a horn...Even now so little has changed as I crush the snow underfoot with my worn-out boots, ploughing through the constant fall of snow; ignoring both man and vehicle as I aimlessly continue walking through the frozen streets. A second ice age was coming, or so the self-proclaimed experts had said. What a joke, what good was this information now? Had it been spread but 20 or 30 years ago Earth might still have had a chance...
Mentally cursing mankind and the generation before me who had ruined the world, I continue walking, not feeling the subzero temperatures. Those few still outside in their countless layers of thick clothing can only stare in shock as I casually stroll through the town wearing a shirt and an old leather jacket that wasn't even zipped up.

It's been far too long that I have been alone, endlessly drifting with neither purpose nor a heart...I had frozen that useless organ long ago, back when everything had gone wrong...
How long ago was it now? What year is it...2014? Hmph, 5 years or so, huh? And yet I am still alive on this planet, despite the overwhelming odds stacked against me, despite my only support being the bag on my back and despite my only source of income being what little I could do from town to town.

Even in such harsh conditions where I tend to get barely one square meal a week and struggle to survive, I don't wish I could go back and change things. Nay, not anymore...
Once upon an accursed moon ago I always wanted to turn back the clock and prevent getting hurt, preventing my mistakes...I could laugh at how I acted now were it not for my body no longer knowing how to or indeed, the point of laughing. Laughing wouldn't get me to the next town, regreting the past would only slow me down; the wishes and hopes of making amends naught but delusional fantasies getting in my way. I know my path by now and I'll walk it all the way through hell with barely a blink: I've felt far worse during my pathetic existence.

I still blame myself for that incident, nay, for every little thing that ever went wrong with anyone. Old habits die hard and it seems that saying holds true now despite everything else in this sadistic game called Life being a lie.
I should know better by now, especially considering how I was able to break every other habit, like and dislike which made up my personality; stamping them into dried earth, never to be seen again.
I gaze onwards into the veil of falliing snow, eyes even colder and devoid of life than the lethal grip of the ice age to come, all warmth and humanity faded away as I can only stare; thinking, moving, barely alive.

Gunfire. A scream. Another death, another faceless person wiped off the planet. It doesn't concern me unless that person had a bounty on their head I could have collected...it's as good a source of income as any other and I do accept such bounties from time to time. If I succeed I earn enough to continue my aimless journey, if I die in a fight, my journey takes me off this doomed planet: It's a win-win situation for me.
...It's becoming harder to lie to myself with every passing day, you know? I've known it along...heh heh...I always knew I wasn't entirely to blame, that not everything that happened to others was my fault; that all these years blaming myself and ruining my life over it were for no reason.
But I refused to accept it and I sank to being this pitiful creature that I am today, a wreck nobody would ever recognise as the person I was 5 years ago. And...
I prefer it that way.

This...this is my ideal world: simply me and an endless road with infinite possible routes to take in life...no social interactions, no need to hide my true nature behind the various cloaks civilisation hides its weapons behind; concealing daggers and poison behind their "law" and "order". How foolish.
In my world I am free, truly free; with no government, taxes, laws, regulations or group morals to hold me back. Should anyone b3 so inclined as to punish me forever by attempting to force "rules" upon me...they'll meet their short end here in the pure and innocent snow, the price of their mistake tainting that innocence a shadowy red.
A world with no limits, no expectations to meet and an eternity to explore to your heart's content. A world in which punishments are always served, where you know full well what sort of scum you are and don't protest as your life goes down the drain. A world where no veil obscures your view, where the gritty truths of the Universe lie in plain sight and you don't have to walk on by in ignorance...
Drifting aimlessly for the rest of my no doubt short life as punishment therefore is not so bad. An endless tempest strikes down from above on my doomed and shattered soul, but I am free none-the-less, even as a drag the heavy burden of my actions through the deep snow; where I could slip on hidden ice at any moment.

This is my fate...and the will of all decent life...

<Unfinished, please be patient>

[Vince the Dark]

Awwh... That one was very sad bro.

[flames]

This was wrote during one of my brief depressed/self-loathing phases a while ago...I'm better now:

True Identity: Virus
I've been blind, an ignorant fool unable to see the truth laid before me. As dim as the midnight sky, a detestable smudge on humanity. My blindness is almost as shameful as the truth I've ignored for so long, only grasping my true nature as a living being when I looked beyond the mirror, beyond what I believed and what others thought of me...
I am a virus

A parasite, a leech; a cold, barely alive cell draining others for my own needs: a virus. I've been infecting all those around me without realising it, relying on their support to further my wretched existence. Just like those tiny cells who can only exist within other (living) cells, I too exist only by draining the energy and happiness of those around me. They don't even realise what I am, refusing (much like I did) to see beyond this humanoid shell, to see the mindless organism intent only on furthering its existence, on multiplying...

Living this lousy imitation of life, harming all I care about, unable to exist without hosts to feed on...I am a living paradox, a virus who can think for itself and can emulate human emotions...
This is my design flaw. Viruses aren't supposed to have a mind, heart or soul...My one purpose is to infect others and multiply, but I cannot do it. No, I cannot continue to hurt others like this just to continue my agonising existence. If only I had not inflicted so much damage already; if only I had known sooner and released my parasite-like hold on those I care about...
It's not too late!

I can save them. I can end my suffering and more importantly, their's. Heh heh heh...a virus can't survive outside a living cell...it can't survive alone in this harsh world, exposed to the elements and countless cells designed to destroy them.
In my last moments I remember better times and ponder on the nature of these humanoid viruses...so identical to humans, yet they only mindlessly destroy nature and all around them...Not long now, my vision is fading slightly...heh heh heh huh?

Humans...?
Viruses?
Nay...I was wrong...about everything.
Humans...and viruses; two very different organisms, right?
In my last moments as the world goes black, my eyes widen in shock with sudden realisation:

They are one and the same...

[Vince the Dark]

Very interesting piece bro. So sad, yet still interesting. I can't find the right words to describe it.