Will of a Prince

Ripples scattered on the floor of an infinite dark plane. The ground looked like it was made of sort of liquid, but Maria was able to stand perfectly still on it. With every step, every movement she made, the sound would echo infinitely outward.

"Hello?"

Her voice rang through the air.

No response.

Maria tried shaking her head and smacking herself.

"I have to be dreaming. I... don’t remember much after Jacob sent me away. Did my body collapse from exhaustion? Where am I? And why am I talking out loud?"

She grabbed hold of her mouth. Suddenly, the first bit of movement started to course through the ground below her. Maria balanced herself as she prepared for the worst. Her glowing eye moved feverishly trying to assess any sort of threat that could attack her. However, there was nothing... yet.

Just then, Maria noticed a slight glimmer off in the distance from some sort of light. She ran towards it, desperately hoping to find an answer. Stuck into the ground, was none other than her favorite spear that Lucy had crafted her. However, when Maria tried lifting it, it would not budge no matter how much power she put into her muscles. Her eyes drifted to her left arm before widening.

"The skull mark..."

There was no longer a skull on her arm.

"Maria Rose. Harbinger. I am... here."

Maria jumped and turned around, raising her fists towards the area the voice came from. The voice was nothing like she had ever heard before. It felt cold, infinitely cruel, and yet... it also felt empty, as if it was missing apart of itself. The sensation was so odd that Maria caught herself trying to figure out why she felt that way for an uncomfortable amount of time, almost forgetting that there was even a voice calling to her in the first place.

"Who’s there?!"

A small silence followed her question before an airy exhale flowed across the vast expanse.

"I am... you. You are... me? I... feel what you feel. You are afraid."

Maria shivered as the voice flowed through her soul.

"Show yourself!"

Nothing happened. The voice continued to speak.

"There’s another. I feel him. He is... scary. No. He isn’t human. Are you human, Harbinger?"

Maria didn’t know what to say. This creepy voice was making her far more uncomfortable than she was willing to admit. The only thing scarier than an opponent you can’t hurt is one that that you can’t even see.

"I am human."

Suddenly, a chuckle sounded through the air. Maria tried covering her ears, but it was useless. She still heard the laugh perfectly.

"If you are here, if I am you, and you are me, you are beyond the mortal realm. I can’t remember anything, yet I feel everything there ever was and ever will be. Why is that I wonder?"

Suddenly, a strange grumbling sound came from the voice.

"W-What is this? This feeling of the future. It keeps... changing."

Small footsteps began clacking louder towards Maria. She held up her hands and prepared for a fight. However, what she saw made her want to drop to her knees.

A raven-black skeleton was slowly walking toward Maria. Some of its limbs looked like there was muscle and skin desperately trying to grow, but something had halted its progress. The skull had the same exact structure as the one that was on her mark. It was practically identical.

"What the hell are you?! Stay the hell away from me!"

The skeleton looked around aimlessly as if it was lost, or trying to find something.

Suddenly, it’s empty eye sockets glared deeply into Maria’s eyes. It lifted its hand up and gestured Maria to come closer to them. Maria was effortlessly lifted off the ground and shot towards the skeleton like a rag doll. She gasped and kicked through the air trying to break free, but it was hopeless. She was completely at the mercy of whatever this skeleton was planning on doing with her. She clenched her teeth and thrashed around further, trying to break free of an invisible force wrapped around her.

It slowly came close to her and wrapped its long black fingers around her head. Maria screamed in pain as she felt something sink into her head. It felt like the skeleton was skimming every nerve in her brain for something it wanted. She thrashed desperately trying to break free, her mind started going mad, and her arms began to twist in response to the stress.

"Squabee... Who is this, Squabee?"

Maria screamed. Blood began pouring out of her eyes. The skeleton let go of her head, causing it to go limp on her neck. She panted heavily while staring at the ground.

"Are you going to answer me?"

Maria spit blood towards the skeleton.

"Go to hell, you bastard. Take me back. How did you end up taking me here?"

The skeleton turned its head, confused.

"Do you not recognize your own mind? I would have thought you spent time in here already."

Maria’s eyes widdened.

"My mind?"

Suddenly, she was finally released from the invisible grasp. She landed on the ground and coughed up mounds of blood while holding her stomach. The skeleton simply walked away from her without a single sound. Maria lifted her hand calling out to it.

"Wait... what the hell are you? Where am I?"

Instead of responding, the skeleton simply dissipated into thin air, as if it was never there in the first place.

"Damn it!"

Maria slammed her fist in the ground. She looked back over at her spear that was still stuck in the ground. She limped over to it and wrapped both her hands around the shaft.

"Give me my spear."

She yanked as hard as she could. Her muscles began to pop under her armor.

"Give me. My. SPEAR!"

Maria’s strength exploded even further. A small groaning sound started growling under the surface. Maria got lower on the shaft and used the force of her entire body to pull.

"RELEASE!!"

Maria’s muscles roared with power. The spear that was stuck in the ground began to slide out of the ground. She pulled and pulled, her heart beating out of her chest and her hands going numb. With one final yank, the spear ripped out of the ground, causing a deafening explosion to ring across the area.

Suddenly, the ground beneath her began to shatter and crack like glass. Maria fell through and flew into the darkness, fearing for her life. Just as she was ready to accept her demise, she jumped awake, her body immediately moving on its own, continuing on the direction back to Paria Empire.

She panted heavily while trying to look around. Even though her body was moving on its own, she was still able to control some of her body to an extent, as long as it followed Jacob’s original command to return to their friends. In her hand was none other than her spear. However, something strange was happening with its tip. Her glowing eye was able to read some words that appeared next to it.

Name: Blighted Spear of Hell

Item: Spear

Enchantment: Laic Conquest

Item Description: You know, you look beautiful even when you cry.

[Laic Conquest]: This weapon will stay till the end. Bring them all down, Maria Rose.

Maria panicked reading every line of her weapon.

’What the hell is that description?! What happened to my spear?’

Something deep in Maria’s soul told her to throw the spear away. Therefore, using all her strength, she tossed it as far away from herself as possible. Cursed weapons were never something she wanted to be a part of. She shook slightly as she continued walking east.

A loud squaw of a creature sounded nearby. It busted out of a small clearing near her and tried to close its jaw around her armor. Maria was so caught up in her mind from the crazy events that had just happened that she didn’t even have time to look its direction. The creature’s jaws tried to slam shut... however, something stopped them from closing.

Maria slowly opened her eyes after flinching from the attack. The creature had been killed instantly, and inside its mouth was none other than the spear she had just thrown away moments ago. It had pierced right through the creatures’ gums and mangled its brain. It looked like it had simply appeared there, completely out of her control.

Not only that, but her hand was also already wrapped around it, as if her body was forcing her to hold it tightly.

"This can’t be happening. Why is my spear doing this?"

Maria held her head as she ripped the weapon out of the creature’s carcass. She looked eastward wistfully. Even though she didn’t want to, she had to face Lidia when she got back. The betrayal was still fresh in her heart. Maria was not sure that she would be able to force a happy look on her face when they saw each other again. In fact, there was a lot they needed to discuss.

Just as she was getting lost in her mind again, Maria lifted her head and saw it in the distance: a giant dark steel wall with spikes littering the entire surface.

She was moments away from returning home.