Writing Championships #3

Orange Ornaments

Words: angst, margin, lamplight, gone

It was dark.

Night.

Black and wrapping and surrounding the shopping district.

The only lights were still, warm glowing bulbs of the street lights on the sides of the cobbled streets.

Something was wrong, though.

It was frozen.

Too frozen

 Almost suspended in time.

Something was moving, dark and purple and dangerous. Like a snake, the mycelium spread like vines beneath him.

He could feel it beneath his feet, poking up and slithering in the night.

The night blinded him, and he tried to race away from the vines licking at his feet, a monster about to surface.

He dove into the lamplight again and again, trying to escape the darkness, the boiling, wave-like vines. The circles of suspended light were the only still salvation left in the blanket of the night.

But the lights were crushed in the second by the dark.

It had finally come for them.

He had warned them, he had warned Grian, and oh, it was starting now.

He knew it was going to happen, he knew it was going to happen, he told them-

It was too late. 

 Or was it?

No, it couldn't be too late.

He had to try to save them.

He had to.

Running along the spore-covered streets of the cowmercial district, the mayor frantically searched for his friends. The darkness would have it difficult for most people, but Scar was not most people. Scar was vex-cursed.

Shifting quickly, the transformed man extended his paper-thin wings, peering into the shadows with enhanced eyesight. He stopped in his tracks.

The monster was directly in front of him on the path, but it wasn't focused on him. Flying up quickly, Scar was met with a horrible sight.

Cub. 

And the vines were coming closer.

Cub's eyes met his own in the moonlight, the gentle warm and orange lamplight illuminating his features, his face shining.

The margin between them was big. Too big. Scar was frozen.

Dust floated in the light.

Cub's eyes widened.

And then he was gone.

NO! Scar's hands flailed out from where they had been pinned by his sides, the magical force breaking in that instant. But it was too late; he was gone.

And in his chest he could feel a heart wrenching pain, like his soul was being ripped out from him, and he was left with only a little.

He felt like something was missing. And something would always be missing.

Cub was gone, a part of the pair.

Convex.

Tears came to his eyes, red and hot as he gasped for air, his core empty.

He could hear a woman's scream far off in the distance resembling False's voice. They were all being taken. Ripped from his hands. His heart started to fracture.

One man yelled, and a second shortly after. Xisuma and Tango.

Gone.

He couldn't save them. He couldn't do anything.

Not when the mycelium was still around.

He felt a hand tap his shoulder, and he turned around, coming face-to-face with Bdubs. "Bdubs, thank God you're still here-" He pulled his friend to him, wrapping his arms around his friend.

Bdubs didn't hug him back.

Something was wrong.

"Bdubs...?" He felt cold in Scar's hands, a lifeless corpse. What was wrong with his friend?-

Tentacles of purple neared them, wrapping around Bdubs' ankles, and the anime man didn't move a muscle, letting the monster take him.

"BDUBS!" Scar's hand tightened, grasping Bdubs'. The mayor kicked at the tentacle, but it wouldn't budge.

Blinking in the lamplight, Scar saw the moment before it happened. Bdubs, smiling a dead smile, eyes empty. Purple freckles forming on his skin, the mycelium coving him and infecting him with the spores.

And he was gone.

Scar ran after his friend, dashing through the dark, empty streets, avoiding the different shops. Running straight into the ocean, sinking down, chasing the tentacle into the depths, the cold water soaking his clothes.

He needed to save his friend.

He needed Bdubs.

Cub was gone; he couldn't lose Bdubs too.

Not after everything they had been through.

Not with everything they had left to do.

Swimming deeper and deeper, tucking his wings closer to himself. More streamlined so he can speed up.

He didn't notice how little air he had left.

The world started going fuzzy, a pounding starting in his head.

Then, the edges of his vision darkened, his pace slowing, no longer gliding through the water.

The lamplight was gone now, only the glowing of his eyes illuminating the water surrounding him.

He closed his eyes...

...and hit the bottom.