The Storm

[The Dark Chronicler]

I had this idea in my head for the longest time, but never really wrote much of it. I wrote a shortened version of it as an entry named 'The Storm' in the Short Story contest, and I rather enjoyed it. Sadly, it didn't seem complete, like there was so much more the story needed. So I increase it, adding more to it, until I was happy with the results.The chilling wind swept across the empty field like floating knives, forcing the small blades of grass downward. The storm was coming, I could sense it in the air. A small drop of liquid dripped down onto my face, slowly sliding towards the ground. The water dropped from the edge of my mask, falling down to the grass below. The rain had come, and with it, the storm drew closer and closer. The weather was a sign, a grim warning. I knew that he was coming, charging headlong into the future, and towards a destined fight. The storm, it was only part of what was coming towards the field. But I knew that the storm was the least of my worries.My mask had shown me this many days, many weeks ago. It had revealed to me what I did not wish to see. I had pierced into the future, seeing what would be... and there was no way I could change it, no way to stop it. But I knew I had to push that from my thoughts, to concentrate not on what I knew would happen, to prepare myself for what was coming. The Mask of Clairvoyance had at times been the greatest of blessings... now it was a curse. I had seen the future, and I would have given anything to have wiped those memories out of my mind. The storm was coming.How had it come to this? I wasn't even fully certain myself. I had had the vision before I even knew what it meant, Back then, it seemed impossible, unlikely to even be close to reality. But now the coldness I felt wasn't the storm. I had known what was going to happen, and I could have done nothing to stop it. My death had been written out before my eyes, the end of my own life playing out in my mind. And my mask could show me what was coming, but I could not stop it... what I had seen, it was going to happen... and nothing could change that.My thoughts were shattered by a clap of thunder as it sounded in the sky. The storm was here, I could feel it around me, throughout my entire being. The air and winds were no longer peaceful. The storm had come upon me as I knew it would. He would be here soon... and destiny would enact itself just as my mask had shown. Death was awaiting me, as clear in my mind as the flashing of lightning across the darkened sky. I didn't want it to end like this... but destiny could not be undone. I had seen it, and it would happen... I just wished that it could have been differently.Kulse had been a good friend, a Toa to the core. He had been a great person, no one could ever deny that... But even the purest and kindest of hearts couldn't have saved him, nothing could have prevented the fate which had been in the path of the Toa. The twisted shadows had spread to be challenged, and they had been pushed back by the brave and the foolish, including Kulse and four other Toa, my brothers and sisters. Now, I wondered if we were less of the former, and more of the latter... fools for even trying.Something changed there, fighting against the darkness, forcing back the forces that threatened all we knew. He grew more violent and angry as the fighting continued. It started slowly, and at first no one considered it any more than rage against the forces we faced, caused by the constant strain of battle. But that was, as we would later learn, not the case. Kulse was not merely facing the effects of the war, something was wrong and it was escalating. There was only so much time before someone else got hurt. We were blind to it for too long.The nightfall of the sixth day in the fourth week of fighting held the first of many signs that we missed. Those signs could have changed everything... but I had already seen the future, it could not have been changed. The events were destined to happen, and no one could change that... destiny was as cruel and ruthless as any enemy. One of the Rahi carrying our equipment was burnt severely by Kulse's elemental powers. He claimed it happened while holding off an enemy, and like the fools we where, we believed him.That only emboldened him, it showed Kulse that he could get away with it. Two nights later the same thing happened again, only this time the Rahi did not survive. The damage of the fire was beyond what could be repaired, and the animal died before the rise of the morning. Again we heard of an unknown attacker, and again we believed Kulse. This was the last time that it would only be the health of the Rahi that Kulse affected. We could have stopped him... but it was destiny's choice, not our own to make.There were three days and nights that we went without incident, thinking it was over... but that did not last for very long. On the fourth day, one of the Matoran working with the Rahi vanished from the group, gone completely. We found no sign of him, though now it was clear to me what happened to the Matoran. Kulse suggested that it may have been the unknown enemy that he had been facing. We accepted it into our belief. He was growing more angry and violent with each passing day now... and we started to become nervous around him. Something didn't seem right, it was as through we were missing something, something important. We were, but we were not destined to know that... it was supposed to happen that way, nothing could change it.One week, and more violent fighting against the darkness had prevented Kulse from acting. There were only five of the six Toa of our team remaining at this point... and at nightfall we lost another. But it was not to an enemy, but one of our own. Treyla's tent was set ablaze, with the Toa of lightning still inside. She didn't make it out alive.... that was when we started to realize that something was very wrong with the events that had been happening. We thought it might be connected to Kulse. Treyla should have had not even the slightest of problems leaving the tent, even on fire... but she hadn't. Nothing added up right. Fulcrus and I decided there was no time to waste. We confronted Kulse in his own tent... and we were not alone. Toa Gedai was also there, a Toa of Psionics. She seemed as surprised to see us as we were to see her.If I had known at that time what I knew now, I would have killed her... but I would never have been able to... it was destiny that she live. She convinced us that she had been checking Kulse's mind, and that he was not the killer of Treyla. She was lying, she worked for the shadows. I have never learned how or why, but she was not our ally as we had thought she was. She was twisting Kulse, turning him into a monster of rage and violence. And once again, we did not react as I now wished we had. I have relived that day for many sleepless nights. Even in my dreams, I can not fight destiny... and it plays back as it always had... a nightmare brought to life.Fulcrus didn't make it through the night. He was killed during his watch, when I was asleep... or supposed to be sleeping. I was awake... and heard the events as they happened. I could hear Gedai whispering to someone in the tent next to my own. But I could not hear the words. She was speaking to Kulse, still tainting and twisting his mind into a dark void, as dark as her own heart. I heard the screaming that followed, the shouting and the clash of weapons, but I did not react with enough speed.I dashed out of my tent, into the scene of horror. Fulcrus was dead, his life stolen away by the blade of one who had been a hero. I knew then that Kulse had gone mad, he was not himself, he was a monster, a creature with the body of a Toa. Kulse was dead, whatever this was, it was not him. Fire flickered out of the shadows, blazing around the body of Fulcrus, lashing away at the corpse like a starving scavenger. Within mere moments, it was nothing more than ash and molten metal. That was when the shadow turned towards me... and I enacted the path of a coward. I ran, I fled away into the night, fleeing from those who were once my friends. I did not try to avenge them, I merely ran like a frightened Rahi.It has been centuries since that day, and it seems so long ago. But I have been waiting, as destiny has planned, for the day when the future comes to life as I have seen it. I have waited for this day for as long as I could have hoped. I have been able to live for longer than I had ever thought I would... though I know it has all been for nothing, Kulse is coming... I can feel it. I have seen this storm, this very field. I know that this is where I shall die.I can do nothing about it, I have no choice but to fight. I can run no longer, destiny has placed me here, and here I shall face the future. Though it is futile, and I know that I will not win, or even have a chance... I will fight as I have been destined. But I will not just surrender to death, I will not die easily. Kulse shall get his fight, and he will learn that I will never surrender.I can see a small shape far into the horizon, a speck against the unending landscape. The rain makes it hard to tell, but I know for certain that it is him. I knew this day would come. He has been tracking me for centuries... twisted in his mind, his only intention to kill me. I had fled as far as I could. Now it was time to face him, to show him that destiny may choose our paths, but that it had no power over if I would fight back or not. If I was going to die, I would be doing as much damage as possible while dying.It was getting closer, the field illuminated by the flash of lightning. I could make out the shape of my foe, and it only confirmed what I already knew. It was a Toa, and I knew that it was Kulse. Only he would come here in a storm, only he would go through all of this just to reach me. Destiny was as cold and dark as the Toa I was to fight. Death crossed the field before me, each step he took was one less moment of my life. There is no way to describe the feeling of seeing death coming, no way to explain the thoughts that crossed my mind. There was fear, terror, horror. But with it was a strange calm, like I would no longer have to fear, no longer have to run.The sounds of the storm seemed dull compared to the footsteps that echoed through my mind. I could not hear the sound itself, but I could feel them as he neared. I could clearly make out his appearance now. It would not be long before he arrived and I would have to fight. I wished that it could have happened differently, but the time for wishing and hoping was over. All I had to look forward to was the battle... and it would be one worth remembering.He had arrived, merely a few Bio stood between us when he stopped. There was a moment when neither of us moved, not a word was said... silence. Then Kulse pulled free his weapon, a sword the color of fire. I did the same, drawing my axe in preparation for what was to come. For a mere moment, I had forgotten the curse of destiny I faced, and the battle had seemed it would be even. That moment was far too short."Vlernan, listen to me!" He shouted against the wind and thunder, trying to be heard. "You don't know what you're doing! You've been tricked, fooled! I'm not your enemy!" He lowered his weapon, the look on his face seemed oddly familiar... but I pushed it aside."No Kulse, you aren't yourself! Gedai, she did something to your mind!" I cried back, not lowering my axe, I would give him no openings. I was not letting my guard down for anything. Destiny itself could fight me all it wished, but I wouldn't go out without trying."Don't you see? She showed me the truth... you don't understand what's happening. The Toa, the Dark Hunters... none of it matters..." He took a step towards me, and another. His face as cheerful and friendly as it had been many years before. "Fulcrus was a traitor, working for the Dark Hunters! He gave away our location... that being who harmed Treyla, and the Rahi... he was one of their agents!"I was not convinced in the slightest by his words. I had seen the future, I knew that he would kill me. I knew that it would happen, no matter how hard I fought it. But I wasn't going to be fooled by his words, no matter how hard he tried. He could say whatever he wanted, but I knew that it had been him. "No... no Kulse, you killed them... and I'm not going to let you get away with it."Frozen shards of ice lanced out at his face, as I entered into the battle that would be my last. If I was to die here, I would die fighting. Though I did not truly want to harm him, his mind had been torn apart by Gedai, and I had no choice. I only hoped that after my death, the wounds I inflicted upon him would be enough to stop him from ever harming anyone else.

[fishers64]

I recognize this from the Flash Fiction contest, and I think you've done a terrific job of expanding it here - giving the shadow character a face, so to speak. One thing I particularly liked was how you ended it - you left the possibility open that the main character mistaking Kulse's motives was the cause of his/her death. Minor-league grammar nitpicks:

I had had the vision before I even knew what it meant, Back then, it seemed impossible, unlikely to even be close to reality.

Should be: "I had the vision before I knew what it meant. Back then, it seemed impossible, unlikely to be close to reality." You don't need the word "even" in there - it's jarring and messes with the flow of the story.

But it was not to an enemy, but one of our own.

Should be: " But it was not to an enemy, but to one of our own." The grammar errors aren't noticeable unless you're specifically hunting for them, and for that I commend you. Good job, keep it up, etc.