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sucker-for-shifters · 3 months

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From Beyond the Grave

Trigger Warnings: Mentioned character death & (Light) Body horror

Word Count: 3.6k

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Darkness.

It was the only thing that his senses could detect. There were no sensations on his skin. No warmth from the light, nor chill from the darkness. Even the tinnitus that accompanied complete silence was completely absent.

Was he really dead? Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was, given the last thing that he saw was a dragon staring him down.

No. He wasn’t going to die like that. He refused to die. Not before he could make her proud. Even though his life was on the brink of fading, he fought to cling to life as hard as he could. And against all odds…

He woke up.

“Ugh…”

His eyes slowly opened, feeling like a massive weight was being lifted off of his eyelids. He shut them again once he saw the light, with it being much too bright for him to bear at that moment. Eventually, they opened once more, gradually building a tolerance to its brightness.

At first, light was all that he could see. Then, it morphed into light and dark blotches in his vision, turning into more defined shapes over time. After what seemed like forever, his vision finally became clear, and he could finally see what he was looking at.

Something seemed to be resting over his head, as his vision was blocked in places. Even so, through the openings, he could see the branches of trees resting overhead, linking together and intertwining like a couple’s hands. Light from above slipped through the gaps in the branches, shining directly onto his face.

“Where…?” His voice was weak, and the fog that rested on his brain kept him from coherently verbalizing his thoughts. “What…is this place…?”

It took a few minutes for his body to regain its strength, eventually pulling himself up into a sitting position. Metallic creaks accompanied his movements, and he heard a slight ringing in his ears. He looked down, seeing his body encased in a suit of armor.

Armor? Then…what is on myne head is…

He raised his hands, placed them on the object, then pushed up. The light quickly became unbearable again, but eventually returned to normal. Bringing his hands back down, he saw that what was previously covering his face was a helmet, its metal being as black as night.

Night…

Right. He was a knight. But who was he?

He tried to come up with anything that could tell him who he was, but the brain fog kept him from remembering anything other than his death.

Or…did he ever die in the first place?

“He’s awake.”

The knight instinctively scrambled to his feet and reached to his side as he looked around. “Who goes there?” he asked, grasping at his left.

The voice instantly went silent. In the meantime, the knight’s eyes drifted downwards, realizing that he wasn’t gripping anything. The only thing next to him was the hilt of a sword resting next to his foot, the blade having rusted away. Grasping it in his hands, a flood of memories surged back into his mind.

All of the supernatural beings that his sword struck down… The countless victims he had killed, as well as the dragon that ended up killing him… So much bloodshed… So many agonized cries…

“GH-!”

He dropped the hilt like it was burning through his hand, scrambling backwards to get away from it.

The knight mumbled, “What on Earth…?”

He couldn’t get another word out, as a sharp pain made him stop in his tracks. It felt as if his skull was being crushed. And then, he finally remembered where he was. Why he was there.

What sort of danger he was in.

~~~

The knight found himself being pinned down by his adversary, his sword being flung off to the side from the impact. The green dragon bared its sharp teeth, glaring daggers down at the human underneath its claws.

“How dare thou show thy face,” it growled. “And alone for that matter. Dost thou have a death wish?” - it huffed foul green smoke in his face - “Or dost thou simply wish to insult me with thy presence? I have killed many of thy kind, and I will not hesitate to kill another.”

“…then go ahead.”

The dragon snarled, “Pardon?”

“Go ahead and kill me. Consider it payment to make up for what I have done serving the Queen… The sins I have committed…”

“Dost thou not mean thy Queen?”

“I woulde rather suffer the most horrifying torture known to man than call that woman myne Queen again.”

The knight looked his adversary straight in the eye.

“Please. Put me out of myne misery.”

The dragon went silent. “So be it.”

It opened its mouth, and a dark fog came out in plumes. Its noxious fumes made the knight’s eyes burn, and his entire respiratory tract felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside. The pain was unbearable, but slowly…it ebbed away…

…and everything went black…

~~~

“I see,” he mumbled. “So it decided to spare me just to spite me…”

The knight knelt down, keeping his head low. Frankly, he wished that he’d died the first time around, but the innate desire to live was too stubborn to quit.

“While I know not thine identity,” he said, “I suppose that thou art here for some sort of revenge as well. Punishing one of the Queen’s knights for slaughtering countless innocents… If thou wishes to kill me, go right ahead. In fact, I insist. Myne sins cannot go unpunished…”

There wasn’t a reply for the longest time. “…You’re…joking. Right?”

The words baffled him a bit, making him look up. “Pardon?”

“Why would I want to kill you? Also…how?

He was even more confused at that. “Why? How? Why dost thou needst such answers out of me?”

“…You’re either not aware of it or in denial, but…you’re dead. Like…heart-not-beating dead.”

He almost laughed out loud at that. “Surely, thou jests. A deceased person cannot hold a conversation.”

There was a long pause. “…There’s a pond to your left. You’ll see what I mean when you see your reflection.”

The knight was confused, but complied regardless. He figured that whoever was there was playing a prank on him. He was up and walking! Of course he wasn’t dead.

That is, until he saw his teeth and gums on full display.

He stumbled backwards, then looked at his reflection again to see if that first glance was a hallucination. Safe to say, when he could touch his teeth through a hole rotted in his right cheek, he was certainly proven wrong. Despite his hair remaining a vivid black and his eyes remaining a dark brown, his skin was practically pale, having no trace of color in it whatsoever.

“What in the…? What in the…?!”

He looked down at his hands, wondering what sort of damage the rest of his body had suffered. Dreading it all the while, he removed one of his gauntlets, staring at the monstrosity that rested underneath it.

Bone. Nothing but bone.

He stripped off the rest of his armor, feeling sicker and sicker the more armor he removed. When it was all off, the knight wondered how his body was even being held together.

Everything under the rags he had for clothes… Everything below his collarbone was a raw, exposed skeleton.

Yet, at the same time, it felt like his organs were running amok despite not having any. His nonexistent stomach churned. His breathing hastened despite not having any lungs. His heart raced despite not having a heart to speak of.

To be honest, he wasn’t even sure if he had a brain anymore either. Though if he did, he thanked the Lord for sparing it.

“What in the world…?!” the knight exclaimed. “I am a…a skeleton.”

He grabbed the pieces of his armor, putting them back on in order not to see his boney body. The fact that he was truly dead… He had no idea what to think of it! Hell, he couldn’t think, with the brain fog lingering on his mind and all.

If he was dead…why was he up and walking?

“You've been lying there ever since I was little,” the other voice stated. “I didn’t think anything of it for a while, but even after a few years, your armor hadn’t rusted a bit. I couldn’t smell any decay, so I figured that your body wasn’t rotting either. So, I set up camp. And waited for you to wake up.”

The knight’s eyes widened, pausing right before putting on the last piece of his armor. “Thou…waited? For this?”

“It’s not like I had anything else to do. I guess all that waiting paid off. I looked away for two seconds, and you’re back in the world of the living.”

“…How long?”

“I’d say…about a hundred years. Since you died, I mean.”

The answer made him tumble backwards, lying on the ground in a stupor. A hundred years? A whole century had passed? If that was the case, then…

…Then everyone he knew and loved was already dead by then.

“A whole century…” he mumbled.

“Honestly, I’m surprised I’m still around to see you wake up,” the other voice said. “Guess we’re both lucky to be up and walking by this point.”

“What dost thou mean? Who art thou?”

“See for yourself.”

The knight turned his head, seeing a small figure walking towards him. It was a young man, standing at five…maybe six inches tall at max. His moss green hair covered his left eye, and his visible right eye had clear dark circles underneath it. However, the most striking feature of his was on his back. Covered by a red shawl that concealed his upper torso, a pair of translucent green wings idly twitched as they rested folded behind him. The knight immediately sat up and backed away, realizing what he was.

“A fae,” he mumbled.

The young man seemed intrigued. “Huh,” he said. “Haven’t heard that term in a while. Most people just call us ‘fairies’.”

“Thou have not come here to make me thy slave, have thou?”

He immediately snapped back, “What do you take me for? A human?” He realized what he said after a few seconds, swiftly backpedaling. “Sorry. You’re human.” - he folded his arms - “Anyway, my name’s Cen.”

The knight’s eyebrows raised. “Thou woulde give thy name so readily?”

“If it helps calm you down, yes. And your name?”

“I…do not recall.”

He didn’t look impressed. “Look, I know that the fae are famous for trapping and controlling people, but I’m seriously not planning on playing tricks here. No need to play the amnesiac card.”

“What? No, I physically cannot recall myne own name.”

He flinched. “Oh. You’re…legitimately an amnesiac.” - he awkwardly looked down as he mumbled to himself - “Damn it, Cen. Way to screw up.”

“No no. It is alright. Thou did not know.”

The smaller man looked back up at him. “So…how much do you remember?”

He put his hand on his head. “Truthfully, I cannot recall much of anything at the moment. Perhaps death did indeed claim part of myne brain.”

“Well, maybe we can jog it. That old hilt made you remember a few things. Maybe there’s something else that’ll get your memory to work.”

The knight got up and looked around, but all that he could find was the old hilt and his helmet. Nothing else was laying around where his body was.

Except…

Something red was caught in a tree nearby. He couldn’t tell what it was for a second, but as he approached it, he saw that it was a scarf. It was dirtied and frayed near the ends, but otherwise remained pristine. He took it into his hands, and…

~~~

The knight headed to the door, sword at his side, but he was stopped before he could leave.

“Where art thou going?” a woman said.

“The Queen requested myne aid,” the knight replied. “Thou knowest how spontaneous she can be.”

“Thou shall not leave like that.”

“Huh? Is there something wrong with myne appearance?”

“Of course there is. Thou art missing something.”

“What?” The woman wrapped something around his neck. “…A…scarf?”

“The last time thy duty had taken thou away, it was over a month before thou could return. So, I wanted myne son to have something to remind him of home.”

“This… Thank you. Thank you so much, mam—mother.”

“Hahaha! Now, be safe while thou art away. Make thy mother proud.”

“I will. I shall be back soon.”

“Take care of thyself, Wynn.”

~~~

“Mama…”

Cen piped up, “Remember something?”

He clutched the scarf in his hands. “Ma……Myne mother wove this…so I coulde have something to remind me of home…” - his grip tightened - “I cannot remember her face, but I remember her voice… And myne purpose…”

He wrapped the scarf around the metal covering his neck, letting the fabric rest over his shoulders and drape down the back of his black armor.

“I wanted to make myne mother proud…helping those that are not able to help themselves. As long as myne name is Wynn Ashewood, that oath shall never cease to be.”

His new companion clapped. “Nice speech. But you could’ve just told me your name from the get-go.”

His cheeks flushed pink. “We…Well… That’s how the information came to me. I simply relayed it accordingly.”

“Or you have a knack for theatrics.”

He couldn’t come up with a retort, much to his dismay. However, that pause allowed him to process his thoughts, and having that part of his memories back made something click in his mind.

Wynn had been given another chance at life. Another chance to make his mother proud, even if she wasn’t with him anymore. And more importantly, a chance to make amends for all that he’d done in the past.

“So?” Cen asked. “Making plans for your second life?”

“How did thou know?” Wynn asked, looking in the fairy’s direction. Admittedly, he blended in a bit too well with the surrounding grass, so Wynn couldn’t see him.

“Your face doesn’t exactly keep any secrets. Planning on going back to the old routine?”

“Of course not! I woulde prefer to stay dead compared to going back to slaughtering more innocent supernatural beings!” - he clutched his scarf with one hand - “In fact, I wish to do the opposite. Helping them in order to atone for myne sins.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.”

Cen’s tone was nonchalant, but he was swiftly spooked by a metal boot suddenly appearing in front of him. Admittedly, that was a fault on Wynn’s part, as he couldn’t see him until that point. The knight knelt down, getting a better look at the young man.

“Lord!” Cen cried out. “Watch where you step, okay? You nearly crushed me like a bug!”

“M-Myne apologies,” Wynn swiftly said. “But…if I desire to help people, I may as well start with myne courteous guardian.”

“Guardian?” His brow furrowed slightly as he looked away from the larger man. “I’d hardly describe myself as that. More like…an overseer. One with nothing better to do.”

“Thou mentioned something similar earlier. Thou also noted that thou were also lucky to be up and walking by this point.” His eyes drifted to Cen’s wings. “Is it the same reason why thou art not using thy wings?”

He didn’t reply for a few seconds. “…I’m…not like the other fae… I’d like to say I’m ‘unusually weak’…but the general consensus is that I’m crippled.”

“Crippled?”

“Can’t do magic. Can’t fly. Can’t do a lot of things that other fae can do. Without risking losing consciousness, I mean.” - he rolled his eyes - “In other words, I’m a lost cause. A paperweight.”

“That is awful.”

He nonchalantly shrugged. “Eh. I’m used to it at this point.” - he looked up at Wynn - “But hey, if I’m going to use my time for anything other than sitting around, it may as well be used for catching the old man up to speed.”

Wynn was instantly taken aback by the remark. “Old—?! I turned twenty-five just days ago!”

He smirked. “I think you’re off by a hundred years, bud.”

“Then how old art thou?”

“Twenty. In fae years, at least. In human years…” Cen had to pause to do some mental math. “About two-hundred.”

“Thou art calling me old when thou art clearly the older one!”

Cen burst out laughing, laughing so hard that tears started to come from his eyes. “Coming from the person who’s clearly lived more.”

Wynn cocked an eyebrow. “Pardon? Lived more?”

He wiped his eyes as he regained his composure. “Yeah. And you’re going to live more once you’re out in the world.” - he waved him off - “You might wanna get going. Even if it’s summer, it’s a long walk to the nearest town. Besides, it’s best not to let me keep you tied here with small talk.”

The knight remained silent, quietly standing up and walking over to retrieve his helmet from nearby. If he was going to get anything done, it’d be best if he started early. Even so, he felt uneasy. He wasn’t in the world that he knew anymore. He was alone.

And…Wynn wasn’t the only one.

“Cen. May I ask thou something?”

He replied almost immediately, “Right. Directions. If you head northeast for a while, you’ll eventually run into a river. Follow it downstream, and you’ll get to the town in no time.”

“That…was not what I was going to ask, but it is noetheless appreciated.”

“Hm? Then what did you want to ask?”

“How much have thou lived?” There was an extended silence between the two of them. “What dost thou believe that living entails?”

“…I dunno. Doing what you love. Maybe…experiencing what the world has to offer.”

“Traveling the world?”

“If that’s what you like to do.”

“…Well, it woulde not be as exciting to experience the world on myne own.”

Cen immediately knew what he was suggesting. “Being crippled doesn’t exactly make one a great adventurer.”

“I woulde prefer to say that one is ‘unusually weak’. Although, thy wit is ever strong.”

“It’s called being pessimistic. Besides, why would you ever want to drag around a paperweight? Just sounds like a waste of time…”

Wynn sat down nearby. “Because thou art alone as well. It is only fair that both of us continue living.” - he shrugged, mimicking the young man - “Thou did say that one woulde live more once one was out in the world.”

Cen visibly tensed, looking rather awkward. “I was that obvious, huh?”

“As much as thou tries to hide it, thou art not adept with keeping secrets either.”

The fairy looked off to the side. “I told myself this would happen if I got too chatty. But come on, a guy comes back from the dead a century after he dies. The least a person could do is have a friendly face catch him up.” - his body closed in on itself - “And…it’s rude to leave a question unanswered. And it’s lonely here…”

“Why woulde thou keep thyself from accompanying me? Because thou art a paperweight?”

“A fae that can’t use magic or fly is a liability. They can’t do anything that’s worth anything. Why try to be optimistic and ask for a human’s time when the other fae don’t even give me the time of day?” - his eyes drifted downwards - “I knew from the second that I set up camp that I’d live and die here. At least I could do something good during that time.”

Wynn opened his mouth, but paused to think through his wording. “Others do not decide thy fate. That is for thyself to decide.”

“Come again?”

“Thou believest that thou art not worthy of others’ time, simply because others have convinced thou that thou art not. Thou believest that thou is useless because of thine illness, simply because others have convinced thou that thou art useless.” - he poked Cen’s torso - “Think for thyself. Believe in oneself. Do not let the judgment of others hold thou back from thy greatest potential.”

There was silence. Then, a light chuckle. “You’re hilarious, y’know that?”

“Eh? I thought that was more reassuring rather than funny.”

“It’s both. Like I said earlier, you have a knack for theatrics.”

Wynn sighed as Cen laughed. “Regardless. Thou shoulde trust what thy heart wants, no matter who may bring thy spirits down.”

“Yeah…” He paused, then looked back up at the knight. “Do you think…it’d be alright if I tagged along? I’ve been in this place with my pessimism for too long.”

Now it was Wynn’s turn to laugh. “How coulde I decline? As long as thou does not mind riding in myne scarf.”

Cen smiled as he approached the knight, standing next to him. “So? Ready to get going?”

“Art thou not going to pack?”

“Why would I?” - he gestured to himself - “It’s not hard to carry everything that I own.”

“Ah… I suppose not.”

Wynn grabbed his helmet and put it back over his head, hiding his undead appearance and, more importantly, the hole rotted away in his cheek. He looked down at his new acquaintance, hesitating for a second before offering his open palm. Cen clambered aboard before carefully being brought up to the knight’s scarf. Stowing himself away in the folds of the fabric, he soon gave Wynn the signal that it was okay to start moving. The knight took a deep breath, then slowly but surely rose to his feet.

“Let us see what the world a century in the future is like.”

He and his new companion slowly made their way out of the forest, leaving behind their intended graves.

#from beyond the grave #g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing #sfw g/t #tw death #tw death mention #tw body horror #cw death #cw death mention #cw body horror

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