Chapter 1 - The Spoores

A stranger appears, who is this shadowy figure?

Chapter 1 - The Spores

 "Therefore, I hate you two." River said.
He looked back over his shoulder with spite and a vicious glare of deep hatred in his eyes.
Celestia looked down in disappointment with Andron.
 "No, this is all my fault," Celestia added, "but please, River, consider my actions for the better, perhaps even for a brighter future!" She looked up.
Andron noticed a glimmer of hope in her words, she was confident. He smiled lightly.
River chuckled silently, "Hm-h, does this look like a bright future to you?" He raised his arms to the sky, embracing the shadow, looking all around blindly in the murky and heavy fog that surrounded them.
 "Huh?! Is this what you had in mind?!" He stomped his foot, went down on his knees and repeatedly punched the concrete out of pure anger.
"Problem after problem, they never seize to exist!"
A hand calmly reached for his shoulder. "It's ok..." Celestia added, "times will change, trust me, we're in this together, remember?" Andron looked over toward River with suspicion followed by a cold shiver alongside his back.
River stood up, he violently threw her hand off his shoulder, "Look how well it turned out the last time I trusted you! Do you by any chance understand what we're dealing with here?!" River said.

He thought to himself, "I better calm down.. Nevertheless, it's her fault after all. I can't help but to feel hatred, It's burning inside of my chest. I must scream, but it's as if I had no mouth! Am I going insane?!"

Celestia noticed River's eyes glazing over and slowly approached him. River turned around as he slowly came back to his senses. "I am sor-" Celestia interrupted him with a low sobbing voice "It's true, I am one to blame for all the problems that I've caused, I really thought this was for the best.. And therefore I am sorry, you can beat me up all you want. You have done nothing wrong to deserve this River, I'm so sorry..." She lowered her head and fell down on her bare knees towards the cold concrete, with her hands covering her face.

River thought to himself, "I- I can't say no, this hatred, I can't stop it, my mind tells me too beat her up! She's giving me a choice to take all of my anger out on her, I must..." River moved closer to her with a steady fist ready to punch her.
He slowly approached her "It's always so difficult and I am tired of it all!"
He grabbed her hair lightly to look her in the eyes and thought, "You are so beautiful, I never wanted to do this to someone I really liked. I am sorry.".
 "What's wrong?!" she added "Am I too pretty to be punched? Is that it, huh!?". River tried to hold it back as he bit his lower lip.
 "You're weak Rive-" His anger took over, with a rapid movement, his fist flew towards her face, "Stop!" Andron blocked the punch "This is not like you River! What is happening with you mate? What is keeping you from telling us the truth?! What are you hiding?!"
River shrugged off the answer with a smirk on his face.
 "Don't you see that this is affecting all of us, huh?!" Andron looked him in the eyes.
 "You.." River said, "you don't know pain-" Andron took a step forward pushing River away from Celestia. "And this is the way it got to be?! You showing us what true pain is, your own friends - your comrades?!" Andron spat on the ground. "Give me a break pal! You can't be like this in a moment where we're all feeling helpless!" River turned his back to avoid eye contact.
 "Pch, man up, you're not helpless." River added.
Andron helped Celestia back up on her feet again.
He grabbed his own sweater and gently wiped off the tears from her gentle face.
 "Thanks" Celestia added, "there's nothing to thank for, hah!" River looked over his shoulder, noticing Andron sitting close to her.
"Move your butts slowpokes..." River said. "There's no way I'm spending more time in this already hollow place." Celestia looked at Andron and nodded as they followed River's lead.

 "It's time we go meet up with The Council to settle things once and for all."

I'm starving, my hands and legs are shaking, there's not much left of my fatigue. Judging from my condition, things will get even worse for Celestia & Andron. I know it's difficult to scrap up money for food and water, I consider myself lucky to have survived this far. I keep hallucinating water, food and even strange shadows. This is with no doubt the cause of lack of sleep. Holding a whole night shift for them was too much to handle even for me. But I can't let them know about my sleepiness. I'm not planning on getting scolded, only to bring up more anger and arguments up to the surface. We don't need that at this very moment.  
And this pain, I can't help but feel a strong pain in my chest.

River let out a painful sigh, "What's the matter?" Celestia asked-
 "Nothing, let's just keep on moving shall we? We need to focus on our main goal now, to find The Council."
Andron shrugged, "And how precisely do you think we're going to find The Council? We have no clues whatsoever, we're lost in this dump of a city,  not to mention, our main priority should be survival not finding The Council. Celestia haven't eaten for over a day and neither have I."

 "It's ok" Celestia whispered, "No, It is not OK! I am not going to stand for this! From now on our main goal should be to find some food to fill our empty stomachs. If we're dead, our main goal - to meet The Council, will be nothing more but a dream of foolish teenagers whom died out of nothing but something simple as starvation!" Andron kicked the side of a trashcan. With a loud metal thump, It fell down and rolled over as the trash poured out.
River quickly turned around and grabbed Andron's sweater by the neck.
 "If you don't calm yourself, I'll have to do it for you. If you don't follow my orders I'll have to teach you discipline and if you disobey, you will die." River looked deep into Andron's eyes, "We did not! Come this far, only to be spotted as refuges, later to be taken to prison for interrogation. We might as well wave our flags and shout out that we're here while we're at it!" Celestia sunk down with her hands covering her ears.
 "Celestia has already made enough noise for us to be spotted, luckily, we're still safe from problems. And I for one don't feel like testing lady-luck." Andron pushed River away and proceeded to comfort Celestia.
River shrugged and spat on the sidewalk, "Pathetic."
 "If we didn't stay together, we'd all be dead at this point. So don't tell me that this is pathetic, for it is not! Be happy for once River, will ya'?!" Andron looked angrily at River.

Oh I don't think that's pathetic, but I think that you comforting Celestia, as if I was the antagonist - is pathetic.

 "Whatever." River shrugged, "Let's keep on moving. This time, we make food our main priority."
River forced a smile at Andron and Celestia.
Celestia looked up, stuttering, "Riv-River?"
 "Let's go!" He interrupted, "There's no time to waste, you're all hungry, right?".
 "Whatever you say, boss." Andron laughed it off.

Celestia was without a doubt scared of me. She knows I've changed with time, even when I look her in the eyes, she sees something, a wish to free me from my darkness.
I am making you worry, aren't I.

Before we knew it, we were faced with a shadowy figure at the end of the alleyway.
It seem to be a skinny but tall figure, there's smoke and a red bright dot just where his head is.

 "I figure you aren't from around here, are you." 

River drew his sword, "Celestia, Andron!"
 "We know." Celestia drew her daggers.
 "Oh how thrilling. But there is no need to be hasty here gentlemen. In fact, it looks like you aren't in a good enough shape to even fight. Why don't you lower your little toys and listen to what this gentleman has to say, shall we? It would be very impolite to greet me with a knife to my throat, when all I really wanted was to help you."
 "Give us one good reason not to take you out right at this very moment!" River steadied his sword.
 "Gentlemen, I already gave my answer. You all need help, and I am here to lend you a helping hand."
River chuckled, "Yeah? Well guess what I got the last time I trusted somebody.."
 "Then Consider me a friend of yours and not just 'somebody'." The man approached and dropped the glowing red dot on the ground. "My name is Vide, a pleasure to meet you sirs' and miss beautiful." He smiled at Celestia.
River blocked Vide's sight towards her, "We don't need your he-".
 "River, stop!" Celestia interrupted, "We're all desperate for food and water, we're shaking from hunger and lack of sleep. We continuously fight with each other! This is no time to pick up a fight with someone who's actually willing to help us! Don't you remember what our main priority is?" Celestia hid her weapons. 

 "Ah finally, someone who's willing to negotiate properly. Tell me beautiful, what is your name?" He smiled as he stepped on the red dot on the ground.
 "Celestia, my name is Celestia. And this is my friends - River and Andron."
Andron waved, River looked aside. "Pch, what a player.."
Vide chuckled, "There's no need to be snide Mr. River, in fact, I came here to help you. And this is how you wish to treat me?" Vide smiled.
 "No matter, you'll get over it, with time."
 "So.." Andron added, "Where do we go from here on out?".
Vide smiled and wavered his arms, "Ah so we are in an agreement then! I'll help you gentlemen, and in return you will help me with a.. 'Certain matter' hmm?."
 "What?! No! We didn't agree on anything!" River took a step forward.
 "To begin with, we don't even know who you are nor do we know what you need help with!"
Vide bowed down, "My apologies, let me explain then. All I need is for you all too answer some simple questions. In return, you will get a roof over your heads and a great feast to fill up those empty stomachs of yours."
 "I'm not even hungry.." River's stomach gave of a loud growl.
 "Oh really?" Vide chuckled.
Celestia looked over at River with a smile and giggled.
 "Whatever.." River added, "But I still don't trust you.."
Vide looked over at River, "Then it's settled. Let us move forth then."

With all the bad luck we've had, we finally stumbled upon a fellow stranger who wants to give us some food and a shelter to stay in. If you ask me, this sounds fishy. However..
We will finally be able to rest. For days we've been sleepless, and we have yet to eat.
As the leader, I'll have to stay on guard for everything that surrounds us. If anything ever happens again, to people I care about, I will never be able to forgive myself. One time is enough, twice will be my undoing.
Things seem to brighten up a little, but that's when our guards drops down the most. Therefore, I need to take care of my comrades, I need to be sure, I will succeed and I will not give up until it's all over.
This.. overwhelming.. feeling..

 "River, what are you-" Andron helped him from falling down. "River?!"
 "It seems your friend is in pain, we better hurry now."
 "What happened to River?!" Andron shouted.
 "Andron.." Celestia said, "please be quiet, we don't want to be spotted now."
Andron bit his lower lip, with a small red tear moving down along his chin.

 "We will take a look at him once we reach-" Andron placed River, gently on the concrete. He picked up his hand and felt River's wrist, checking for a pulse. "His pulse is extremely fast.." Andron proceeded to listen to his breathing. "But his breaths are very deep and slow. He's sweating intensely too. He's losing a lot of fluid."
He took of River's sweater and shirt, there was a huge, green covered pulsing area under his ribs.
"This.. looks atrocious.. Almost living.. I've never seen anything like it before" Andron said.
"Your friend suffers from an infection, it is also a parasite which festers onto his body and feeds on his flesh and blood. When it's done feeding, it'll take over the host and become a walking Spore Abomination. Quickly, we must move with haste."

River, ever since we met, you've always been quiet, always been so sad and depressed. You never were someone who people would come up to if they needed talking too.
You were too straightforward for their taste.

However..
 I enjoyed your company, and even in the darkest of times, you still had a smile on your face. Deep within, you were always so thankful for everything you had. I know that what you've gone through is tough, and that's why I like you. You are a fighter until the bitter end. I remember, friends usually thought of you as the worst of the worst. You were a monster in their eyes. You were someone who never cared on bit about people's feelings.
You said you didn't care, but once I found out that you were actually crying after fights.
I saw who you truly were.
You aren't like anyone else in this world, you have a burning passion which makes you want to protect everyone who's important to you. And I'm glad to be a part of just that.
But who's going to protect us if you were to be gone.
Who's going to sarcastically joke about problems. Who's going to lead us.
River.. You are awesome. The best friend I ever had and will have.  
You can't die here River.. Think about Celestia, and me.
Please.. Not now.

 

Author's Note

If you spot typo's and errors. Be sure to let me know!

Reviews

[K. J. Lucas]

Intriguing :) It was sufficient to draw me in and retain my interest. You asked for guidance on typo's and errors. Here are some minor ones that I spotted, along with suggested correction.

"Problem after problem, they never seize to exist!" Suggest you replace seize with cease.

With a loud metal thump, It fell down and rolled over as the trash poured out. Suggest you replace It with it.

"Let's go!" He interrupted, "There's no time to waste, you're all hungry, right?". Suggest you omit full stop at the end as you already have a question mark.

"Your friend suffers from an infection, it is also a parasite which festers onto his body and feeds on his flesh and blood. Suggest you replace onto with inside.

Who's going to sarcastically joke about problems. Who's going to lead us. suggestion: 'to sarcastically joke' is a split-infinitve, suggest re-order words to read 'to joke sarcastically' Replace full stop at the end with a question mark.

The best friend I ever had and will have. Suggest replace 'and' with 'or ever'

[Ayrayen]

Hello!
Thank you for helping me out. It is very frustrating that all my typo's are invisible to me, but clear as sky to others. I guess I learn with time.
So thank you, i'm glad you read it! Thank you very much!