The Void

I knew this would come back to me. It's been 30 years since I've been sane, and now I have to face this all again.

My name is Grant, and 30 years ago my girlfriend was murdered, I was stalked by skeletons, and I entered their realm to fight their king. Pretty normal stuff right?

I thought my life could go back to normal after that, but I guess that was too much to ask. I'm picking up where my last entry left off. Read that if you haven't read this one.

It was a Monday morning, and I was sitting in my living room reading a newspaper. I was living in a relatvely new suburban home. Definitely an upgrade from my old, shitty 80's apartment.

Once I was done, I got up to go for a walk. That's when it happened. I opened the door, and there was a large box. I wasn't expecting anything that day, so I was a bit confused.

I took it into my house, and I opened it. Then I saw him. My old friend, the one I fought all those years ago. King Skelly popped out. I hadn't seen him in so long, and this nearly gave me a heart attack.

"Grant! It's so good to see you!" he said. "Um, good to see you too." I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Look, I need your help. I didn't know who else to turn to." he replied. I had no idea what he meant. Why would he need my help?

"Things are changing, Grant. I've awoken to my own reality!" he said.

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"I... I'm not who I thought I was. Memories are a strange thing."

I was even more confused at this point. Who knew a skeleton could have an identity crisis?

"You and I... we are bonded through the forces of the universe. That's how I found you. I need your help!" he said.

You know, after being an old hermit for so long, I was ready for anything

"Whatever is going on, Skelly, I'm in." I said. He began to explain the entire situation.

"For centuries, my memories were stable, but I realized that something was wrong. My first memory... when I declared myself the King of Skeledonia. I never thought about it until recently. How did I ascend to the throne? Then my mind started changing. I began to see new memories in my mind. From a time before. It wasn't my realm. It was this one!"

I couldn't believe it, but I had no idea what he was talking about.

"You're telling me... you're from our world?"

"That could be the case, Grant." he said. Suddenly, the house began to shake, and the lights flickered on and off. Then all we could hear was a disembodied laugh. It echoed through the walls.

"That laugh... I've heard it before." King Skelly said. He dropped to the ground, with his hands over his head.

"Another... another memory! That's where we have to go!" he said.

"Where? Where the hell are we going?" I said.

"Another memory came back. A village... Fontina! In... England." he said.

"Are you fucking crazy? I can't afford to go to England!" I said.

"I've got a solution, dear Grant! Come outside!" he said.

He led me outside. I was a bit put off. What if the neighbors saw a skeleton walking around in broad daylight? I walked out with him, and he pointed with his bony finger.

"Right over there!" he said. I looked to where he was pointing. It was a giant, skeletal hawk.

"How the hell did you get this?" I said.

"You can only find these babies in Skeledonia! Hop on!" he said

We both hopped onto the skeleton hawk's back. It took flight. I could see everything as this giant bird soared across the sky. The sensation was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I've been on planes, but this was really something different.

It felt like hours, but we finally arrived. The hawk landed in a field in England, and we dismounted. King Skelly and I began to walk down a hill. At night, this place was a bit unsettling. I don't know why though.

He suddenly froze.

"There it is! The village!" he said. There was an abandoned-looking village in the distance. The houses were decrepit, and there was no sign of life.

We walked through the village until we reached an old graveyard. Skelly stopped once again, and dropped to his bony knees.

"I'm not King Skelly... I never was." he said. Before I could react, someone shined a flashlight at us.

"Who is that?" I said. Skelly pulled out his sword. We saw a woman. She looked about early to mid 20's, and she was dressed in hippie attire.

"I'm not here to cause trouble!" she said.

"Who the hell are you?" Skelly said.

"My name is Celeste, sirs." she said, while holing up the peace sign. I was confused, mainly because she was unphased by the talking skeleton.

"I was cursed. Something manipulated me, made me immortal." she said.

"You're not unique shit, lady. That happened to me too." Skelly said.

"What are you talking about?" I said. Skelly let out a deep sigh.

"My memories finally came back. I came to this village over 700 years ago... and my name was Asher."

I couldn't believe it. King Skelly was a human, and he was cursed.

"Did the void do this to you?" Celeste said. Skelly looked at her.

"...How did you know?" he said.

"The same thing happened in me. Back in 1967. I was tired of my life, and I nearly ended it. But then, this void sweet talked me into staying alive. Little did I know, it made me immortal. I'm still tired of living. I want to die, but I can't." she said.

"Well I'm sure a sword in the heart will do nicely!" he replied.

"Skelly!" I said.

"Right, right. We both have problems. How do we solve this?"

"LONG TIME NO SEE, KING SKELLY!"

The voice surprised us all. It was coming from a portal in the graveyard. King Skelly recognized the voice.

"You bastard. I knew we would meet again." he said.

Skelly stepped into the portal, and Celeste and I did aswell. We were immediately surrounded by darkness, but we could clearly see each other.

"Welcome back, Skelly. Oh! And Celeste too? Wonderful!" the voice said.

"But who is this? Ha-ha! Grant! Don't be fooled, they can't be returned to normal!"

Skelly was angered by this.

"Void, I'm proposing a challenge to you. Let us fight you, lower your omnipotence." he said.

"WHAT?! You're asking for a fight? Fine... I'll lower my power, but don't think I'll be weak!" the void said.

The darkness transformed around us. Now it was a massive, hellish cavern. It was red, and there was fire burning everywhere. This really gave my experience 30 years ago a run for its money.

"I expect it'll be wanting us to find it." Celeste said.

She was a quirky character. Hippies were a bit before my time, but she was... I want to say beautiful, but nothing compared to Becky. My girlfriend who was killed so many years ago by the skeletons.

We began to move through the cavern. Skelly seemed the most dedicated to finding this thing. I had no idea what to think. What could I have expected out of a formless voice that curses people.

Then we came across a door.

"This is it. Let's kill the piece of shit." Skelly said.

"Guys..." Celeste said, adjusting the crystal around her neck.

"He's bound to have a lot of power, but I think I know a way for us to all be bonded, so that we'll have more power."

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"Well, there's no easy way to say this. To become increase our spirital energy, and to receive aid from the goddess, we need to..."

"Hold on one second! A goddess? Spirital energy? You're suggesting some kind of demented get-together, aren't you?" I said.

"Yes, yes I am. It's the only way to increase our power if we hope to win this battle!"

I thought she was crazy, but I had to agree. Skelly did as well.

King Skelly was first up. He took her to the side of a large cavern wall. He dropped his grey cloak, and she took off her hippie clothes. I never knew I'd see a skeleton's... thing, but he had one.Then they started "bonding". I could tell he was more dominant. After all, he'd probably never done anything like this in centuries.

I was next. She walked me over to the wall, and we got to work. The sensation from this was amazing. Here I was, 51 years old, with someone who was older than me, but in a young person's body. It was incredible, but almost nothing in comparison to Becky. Actually, Becky never let me be on top.

After we were done, we got back into our clothes.

"We are all bonded now. The powers of the goddess will help us all. This is the climax to our story!" she said

"Now can we get on with killing this thing?" Skelly said.

He opened the large door, and we were presented with a horrific site. The true phsyical form of the void, or so we thought.

It was about twenty feet tall, with eyes that glowed bright red, and giant claws too. I can barely describe what we saw. It was the most disturbing being I've ever seen.

The thing held out its claw, and from it I could see a body rise out of it. I felt like I was hallucinating. It was Becky. She was older, my age, but I knew it was her. This was where her soul was, with the void. Even though she was older, she looked just as hot as the day we met in preschool.

Skelly pulled out his sword, Celeste took out her odd crystals, and I... oh fuck. I didn't have anything.

With his fast movements, Skelly scaled the creature, with his sword in hand. He hung onto its back for dear life, and stabbed it. The monster screamed, but this only hurt it. I then ran over to Celeste.

"What the hell are you doing?" I said.

"I'm casting a spell. You'll need to trust me on this." she said.

I really had to choice but to do so. Celeste spoke several words relating to some goddess, picked up one of her crystals, and crushed it in her hands into a powder. It was strange. Those things looked hard as rocks.

"This spell will weaken it once Skelly gets that thing on the ground!" she said.

King Skelly was still on the thing's back, attempting to stab it once more. He stabbed it one more time. The beast thrusted its back, causing Skelly to be launched into the cavern wall, dropping his sword as the creature fell to the ground.

Celeste quickly blew the powder from all her crystals onto the monster.

"Grant! Take my sword. Kill the damn thing!" Skelly said.

I rushed over to the sword, and I picked it up. With one thrust, I stabbed it right on the back of its head.

The creature's body began to rise, and it exploded, leaving another portal.

Becky rose off of the ground. I quickly ran over to her.

"Grant... is that you?" she said.

"Yes, yes it is. I may be old and grizzled, but it's me!" I said.

She giggled and hugged me. I finally had my woman back. At long last, I finally felt happy again.

A bright light surrounded Skelly, and he was no longer a skeleton. He was his true self, Asher.

"The void is gone. We can all go back to where we once belonged." he said.

"What does that mean for the both of you?" I said to Asher and Celeste.

"The portal will send me back to my era, and I can finally live my life without the misery the void caused me." Asher said.

"I will ascend to the realm of light, and finally be at peace." Celeste said.

"Good luck to both of you. Now that I have Becky, everything's going to be alright." I said.

We all stepped into the portal, and I was happy knowing that we were all going back to normal.

I woke up on my old couch, and I immediately looked around. It was 1987 again!

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

Becky had a smile on her face. She knew what had happened, and I could tell she was glad to be back.

"So, after 30 years of loneliness, I get to do it all over again. This time with you." I said. I gave her a hug, and now we were ready to live these years all over again.