Obi Land

Fragmented

The harsh light of the darkness surrounds me, threatening to blind me with its brightness. I close my eyes to escape, to run from the shattering glare of darkened light. Rough grit digs into my knees, brushes against my skin with enough force to tear the skin. Splinters burrow their way into my back as I am pressed against a wall of rotted wood. A vile, intoxicating scent assails my nostrils. A ripping sensation on my throat…what is that noise engulfing me as I kneel before you?

Am I…

Am I screaming?

Yes, my voice is erupting forth in a cry of rage, sorrow…fear…It's sheer volume deafens me as the force of it turns the inside of my neck raw. I open my eyes only to once again be blinded by the brightness of darkness. How can this be? How can the dark be so light? My eyes finally adjust to the light, and I see you, standing there, smirking down at me…

I want more than anything else to wipe that smirk from your face. Without it though, I fear you wouldn't have a mouth. Do you ever smile, or frown? Do you know how? I can teach you to frown. Stop smirking at me already!

Your red eyes seem to glow in the dim light, giving an even more terrible look to your evil smirk. How many people have looked into your eyes and seen death?

Dark hair frames your face; hair so much like my own it makes me cringe. All I can say is, mine is short and yours is long. My hair is still short, right? I no longer am aware of my appearance…I suddenly seem to have forgotten. Do I really look as much like you as I seem to find myself thinking?

Why are you still smirking! I want nothing more than to rip that vile thing from your villainous face. Is that blood on it? Does the blood of your victims stain you even now? Ha! Stain him blood! If ever you leave the face you reside upon now, I shall kill you!

Is it possible to kill blood? Is it possible to kill you? Why do you not move! Speak, frown, smile, laugh, jump, run, shift position, even kill me if you wish! Just cease to stand there with that infernal smirk.

Where are we now? Why are we no longer in the blinding dark? This place is familiar, like a song you once knew but have not heard in years. You somehow find you know the words, but cannot remember what the song is. Where are we? Why do I know exactly where everything is?

I must get home! I am running? Yes, I'm running...how? When? I'm tired…so tired. I haven't been home all day. Where was I? I was…training. Yes, that's it. I spent the whole day training so I could make father smile. Father smiles when he's proud. He smiles for you more than he smiles for me.

The door…wow, it looks exactly as it should…should it look like that? It slides open easily. The clean, calm interior seems to have been altered. Like Mother moved a chair and I could feel it from the door. Only, it is that magnified by about a thousand.

Red…why is everything red? A red rainstorm seems to have furiously blown through the room…red rain? Does it truly rain blood? You answer my question for me without even knowing it was there to be answered. You slide steel through mother, spraying crimson liquid through the air.

A vile scent, oddly intoxicating, seems to flow from the blood surrounding me. I feel as though I may drown in it…. will I? As panic rises within me, you look up, finally noticing me. Only, rather than the look I usually received from you, I instead find myself being gazed at as tough I were no more than a slightly annoying insect.

That is how you are looking at me…why? Why will you not remove that smirk?! Wait…we are once again within the shining shadows…I am no longer creating any sounds. Odd. I thought I would still be screaming. Maybe I should scream for you to stop smirking? Nope. Didn't work.

Why is there a bright red gash running along your jaw line? When did that get there? I look around, but we are still alone. Even with you here I feel I am alone. Hmm? What's this? I slide my finger through a dark sticky substance on my shirt. Raising the finger to my nose, I breathe in the familiar scent of blood.

I have to defeat you! I cannot allow you to bring pain and suffering to any more people. I cannot allow you to simply blow out the flickering candles of life of so many people surrounding us. I cannot allow you to smirk down at me any longer, Brother.

And I won't.

There! The smirk has finally left; it's now become a frown. Why are your eyes so wide? Is it truly that much of a shock that I decided to fight back? So many little cuts…so much red. It really is beautiful, you know? I think you do. Why else would you kill so many people?

Sharp needles of pain accompany an equally sharp scream of the same kind. It hurts my throat, it really does. But…how can it? I was cut too, yes, but you screamed, did you not?

Either way, you're about to scream. I have your blade. Hahaha! It is now mine, and it shall be known as your bane! The steel glides smoothly, easily, through your skin. Red eyes fade to a dull black, and that cursed smirk is gone forever. I'll never see it again!

Beside me, a broken mirror. And that smirk. There it is, I see it again! How can it be that it is there staring straight at me when you lie dead at my feet? That is…that is me. My hair is longer than I remember…nearly as long as yours. I look older…though not near as old as you. My eyes…. my eyes…oh, God, my eyes. When did they turn red? Fear courses through my body, but I see only annoyance in my features as they show in the mirror. Soon…if I do not move…soon others will witness me as this.

I must not be you, Brother. I must never be you.

The me in the mirror replaces the smirk and red eyes with a face lacking expression and black pools through which I witness life. Why, when I have been after this for so long, why do I feel so broken? As though I were the shattered mirror. No more than a being who was dropped and left forgotten, being shattered into far too many fragments to repair? Maybe…maybe that is why the dark can be so light…