He’s not sure yet if what has happened is real or fake. Trapped in a dream or nightmare? Trapped in a different dimension? Or is this reality? It’s all too confusing, making his mind spin. His head remains pressed against the rough iron bars before he finally looks up, seeing others huddled against their cells much like himself. What have we all done to deserve this?
”You simply exist. Is that not reason enough?” A velvety voice says behind him and he turns slowly to see the gray stallion, eyes as black as night swirling with stars where his pupils should be. ”Welcome to my lair… Do you like it?” He asks with a cold laugh, gesturing about Ledger’s iron cell. Now he knows that this stallion is the reason why he is trapped here. A dark magical entity who wants to harm him. ”Let me go.” He responds flatly, wary and cautious as he backs as far away from the other as possible till his hindquarters press against the rough metal. ”Oh no worries Ledger, you’ll go home soon enough. All in one piece? That I can’t promise you.” Sharp cackling from his open maw as Ledger whinnies with frustration and fear. Ears flat against his skull and hidden beneath the masses of tangled flaxen hair, now is when he should have a backbone. Should fight for his freedom. Magnus’s words float around him, the angry words of hate and how he is worth nothing, that he deserves all this. Instantly his courage is lost and he closes his eyes, shaking his head, ”Go away.” He pleads quietly. The velvet voice answering, ”As you wish. But first… You must choose. Fire or Ice.” Ledger refuses to answer, refuses to give into his games. Another bark of laughter. ”Fine. Have it your way.”
The air is suddenly freezing cold and he opens his eyes to see himself in an arctic wilderness. An icy ocean to his left, everything else is an open frozen wasteland. The cell has disappeared again but he wishes he was back in it, it felt much safer than this. Dread sprawls along his breast as he merely stands there, taking in this new situation and shivering with the cold. It seems the Dark God had chosen for him and he has a feeling that the outcome will not be in his favor since he refused to choose. Before he can move, something quickly spikes out of the ground. Manacles made of ice that clamp around his four legs and hold him into place. Their cold touch burns where they are closed about his pasterns, an agonizing pain that he can’t escape no matter how much he dances in place, trying to shake them off. Surely ice would shatter but of course these are born of magic.
The gray stallion is back, circling him. ”This is better no?” Ledger merely glares at him, trying to look braver than he felt. ”You can’t fool me Ledger. I can hear your heart beating, trying to escape out of your chest.” It’s true, his heart is racing so fast he thinks it might explode. ”It’s quite distracting isn’t it? Very annoying actually. But I’ll put an end to that.” Without warning, a large icicle comes catapulting towards him out of nowhere and before he can even blink, it’s plunged into his chest. Piercing his heart. Blood bubbles out of his mouth as he falls to his knees, unable to speak as it pours out of the wound in his chest. The Icicle melts into the open hole, disappearing from sight. Wild eyed, gold flecked pupils stare up at Carnage. They are pleading, speaking for him as he is unable to talk. Asking why? And then they stare into nothing as the rest of his body collapses lifelessly against the ground.
For a moment he is nothing. He doesn’t exist. He is dead. But then slowly his gold flecked eyes change to a startling blue. His chestnut body changes from it’s reddish hue to that of pure white, flecked with snow and ice and frost that clings to his nostrils and his mane and tail. A sharpness fills his lungs and he inhales with a cry of alarm, quickly scrambling to his hooves. Revived. Looking down at his chest, he sees his been made whole once more. But he can’t feel his heart beating. It’s not alive, still lying dead and dormant within him. Taking in his new form, he looks to Carnage questioningly. ”I wanted to see what you would do without that pesky nuisance trying to guide you, slowing you down. Let’s see how badly you want to live, heartless Ledger.” The manacles spring open and he is free. Yet he stands there, having no idea what is expected of him.
A loud roar echoes around him and suddenly a mutant polar bear is charging across the tundra. It’s ginormous, larger than any bear he’s ever seen. It’s coat is a dull shade of white, it’s fur dirty and falling off in patches. The bear is large but skinny, winter has been unkind. It’s obviously hungry and heading straight for him. Ledger with a heart would run. He would care about his life. This time, he stands his ground. He cares about nothing and although his memories remain (his father telling him how worthless he is) it doesn’t bother him as badly as it use to. In fact it makes him angry. I’ll show him, he thinks. I’ll show that bastard whose worthless. And with a snarl on his lips, he leaps forward to meet the bear. A foolish decision. Some would say it’s courageous but when you have no heart it’s simply selfishness. Stupid false bravado.
A sudden wall of ice builds up before him and the bear. The predator doesn’t see it in time and collides into it with a howling wail of agony. Momentarily surprised, Ledger wonders… Did I do that? He doesn’t notice that the fur around his hooves have turned black along with the tip of his muzzle and the tips of his ears. Frostbite. The ice wraith Ledger grins with glee as the wall begins to come apart and the polar bear slowly gathers it’s bearing. Frozen particles of sharp ice form in the air, hovering as they gather and collect themselves. As his cold frozen eyes narrow, they shoot like arrows towards the bear and land in it’s flesh. It roars with anger and pain and Ledger is laughing. How great this powerful feeling is, one he’s never felt before! He still doesn’t notice that the blackening is spreading up his legs, his muzzle, his ears, and darkening his pupils. A few more ice sprays towards the bear and the blackness has reached up his cheeks, along his hindquarters. Mane and tail frozen in place.
He suddenly feels a burning sensation of unbearable cold along his body. Every power comes with a price and this is a lesson he is just now learning. The frostbite doing it’s work. How is that possible? He shouldn’t feel anything! Distracted, the bear makes it’s move. Sharp onyx talons slice across his neck and Ledger screams in pain. It feels as if a thousand cold knives are stabbing into his flesh. The claws come again, this time they strike against his face. Over his right eye. Ledger screams in agony, his ice body shattering and falling to pieces. No blood comes from the wounds, not yet. He tries to use the powers he had before but they have left him, leaking from his open wounds. Suddenly he can feel the full force of the frostbite and finds he can’t move his legs. The bear’s fangs are about to rip him to shreds and he falls back onto his side, screaming as it sinks into his teeth. Screaming as he dies once more.
This time when he awakens he is himself again. His heart is beating in his chest, he is his reddish color once more. He is whole again. Almost. Pain throbs along his neck and face where the bear had tore at him. Not phantom wounds but real wounds that now bleed freely. Blood thickens as it hits the cold air, dripping slowly down from the three slashes across his neck. Slick as it falls over his right eye. Funny that he can’t see the redness. A slow realization dawns on him as he tries to look out his right eye but all he sees is blackness. On the outside, the mutilated skin would eventually heal and scar. But the eye was lost, gone forever.
Hyperventilating from fear and pain, Carnage appears before him again. If he had been human, he would have been clapping slowly with a sneer on his face. ”Good try old sport but you lost yet again. You’re dear old dad was right about you. Even with my help you failed miserably.” Shuddering breaths turn into shuddering tears, Ledger can’t help but cry. Broken physically and mentally, crumpled on the frozen ground like a discarded tissue. He’s not sure if he can take much more.
”Put me back in my cell.” He whispers, not having the strength to argue or fight. The pain growing with each second, vomit rising in his throat.
”Just leave me alone.” He moans. ”In a moment but first…. Something to remember me by.” The velvet whisper as new pain burns against his left hindquarter. He tries to scream but nothing comes out, tries to struggle to his hooves but he can’t. It feels like a cold knife is carving into his side haunch, Carnage wielding his magic to burn his brand into the writhing chestnut stallion. When he is done, the gray stallion steps back to admire his handiwork. A bloody Ursa Major constellation traced ever so perfectly into his flesh. A permanent mark of the Dark Star God, something to make sure he never forgot what had happened here. As if he could forget.
L E D G E R |
