The warriors of ancestral times,

Back when they were needed,

When every breath rested in the hands of those who gave security

And behemoths and mutants formed within every crevice of the earth,

The very offspring of man and demon.

Our prized and experienced champions would be the first to use their uncanny power

To annihilate any foreign threat to the humankind.

Warriors are only needed if there is a threat,

Then the threats were slain by the hands of the strong.

Now there is only one of the forgotten knights that remain;

He rests in silence, never aging,

And fully clothed in the armour of his last battle.

In the company of his fellow soldiers who will sleep for eternity,

He waits for the evolving world to call for him once more.

 

Overlooked by the descendants of the ones who had once praised him

And left by his comrades who have gone to heaven,

The only thought of him remained in the mind of the reincarnated soul

Of the dame he had once saved,

Known,

And loved.

Returning from the seat next to the throne of heaven

She comes unto the earth as what she was once called,

The Ladybird.

 

Now, wickedness no longer slithers through the shadows of the dead and claws at the light.

Corruption has soiled the hearts of men into a thick dull mush

From what was once alive and beating.

The sleeping Knight had awoken to the absence of pure and pounding hearts,

Replaced by the crackling and depleting souls of tar.

The darkness of the cold walls surrounding him ruptured when they sensed his awakening,

But the cries of the pure-hearted were more apparent.

The cries of being dragged into the center of the earth

Were heard by the listening ears of the silent Knight.

A whir of a ladybug, red as wine, flew into the tomb through an eroded crevice in the wall.

It caught his eye for it appeared familiar to him,

But gave no attention to the beastie as it didn’t seem to move after it flew onto his shoulder.

 

The doorway of the mausoleum opened at the presence of the awakened warrior of old.

He paid his respects to the ghosts of his old friends,

Leaving the gift of his armour at the entrance of the crypt,

But still baring his sword for safekeeping,

Now he only wore fine linen to protect himself from the elements.

 

Vocalizing to the song of the ancient rocks and the breathing wind,

Venturing to where the horizon is all that you can see,

He saw the sun kiss the ocean.

There the young lady, as a ladybird beetle,

Tucked herself into the folds of his clothing.

The Knight could sense the pulling of hearts into the orange waters.

There his tune deepened, and

Even then its wondrous looks couldn’t mask what was being drowned within.

Taking steps into the water, its density didn’t phase him,

Walking deeper and deeper

The hearts pulled at him,

Calling him to the deepness of the ocean.

Gone to the coldest trenches, the sun no longer kissed the sea

But fell to the hollows of night.

The entrance of where the souls were being stolen

Seeped out evil like oil,

And pooled at the portal that lay at the deepest part of the ocean.

Approaching the opaque entryway, the oily substances gravitated towards him,

He clutched his sword close to his waist, but

The froth stuck to his clothes and sunk into his skin

Staining it a coral grey,

But the absorbancy of his blouse protected the small ladybird.

The oil turned his hymn into the cracking of vocal cords

Until his song was no more

And his soft voice taken.

Prying into his eyes, they rotted and decayed from inside his head.

Tears poured out from the holes that once held his eyes,

For the gift of Melody, given by the one he once loved,

Was stolen from him.

Evil poisoned his mind with every spray,

However, the liquid could not reach his heart.

The rest of the way, his allured heart guided his movements.

One step into the thick liquid and he slowly descended into the grease of the ocean.

At the center of the pool, he was fully submerged and entered a realm without color,

Seemingly endless empty space

Filled with the evil that clawed at his mind.

The pleading hearts were silenced,

This is where they were being collected and corrupted.

A fellow friend came out of the confines of his shirt

And somehow flew its way through the water.

She emitted a soft glow that provided warmth as a guide through the oily space,

And though unsure, the warmness felt comforting, so he followed.

The evil could not taint her

For her light, given by God,

Was her protection.

Only when her light shone the brightest she bore his protection.

 

The warmth of the light stopped moving,

She landed somewhere.

The knight blindly swam to where he felt the ladybird’s aura come to a halt.

He could sense the presence of the shadow’s core there.

Lifting his hand, he felt the warmth of the ladybird crawl into the safety of his sleeve.

He pushed his hand forward to feel a slick glass wall

Infected with the glacial breath.

The ancient warrior knew

He had arrived at the center of the earth.

Without a knock, he disrupted the stillness with three strikes of his fist

And with a boom, the glass shattered into thousands of pieces.

The pieces refused to move from where they stood,

But even so, he was unaware and swiftly passed through.

Warm air greeted his body as he took a step past the broken barrier and onto the ground,

Appearing as if he took one smooth step out of a pond of ink

To be standing upright on the moist, stony ground.

Finally breathing in air, he felt calmer, lighter,

But he was the very being of monochrome,

And he knew the darkness hadn’t left yet.

 

His unnatural senses heightened,

He heard a soft pulsing,

Beating,

Like a slimy heart

Bubbling and gurgling of ink and decay.

Moving closer to the sound it grew more eerie and gruesome to the ear.

The stench was of death’s breath, and

Soon he could feel the pulsating of this mysterious object.

Its contents pounded faster and harder every step he took,

Violently shaking the ground beneath him.

Trembling at its greatness,

The knight knew what was before him.

He drew his sword

And with a swift inhale

He plunged his sword into the rotting mass and the smell grew fouler than before.

Shadows in the form of the most unpleasant creatures

Flew and crawled out of the opening from the sword,

Taking the form of rats, maggots, flies, and all other putrid parasites and animals

That would disgust you at the mention of their names.

The possessed beasts chased after the blind knight in a swarm of wickedness

And the warrior waved his sword at his unknown opponent,

The buzzing and stinging of the insects slowly overwhelmed him,

His supernatural strength weakened as moments passed,

And the weight of the sickly animals grew heavy on his body as he tried to shake them off.

He fell to his knees and felt the heat of the ladybird quickly escape him.

She was no longer with him anymore.

The pressure of the darkness grew too great for her light to fend off;

She could not glow at her brightest,

For the sting of a deteriorating wasp drained the light and color out of her,

Making her a cold and blackened mite.

Straining to find the bit of warmth that fell out of his sleeve,

He was met with an icy prick in its place.

At that moment, God revealed the ladybird’s identity to him as the maiden he had once loved

And he finally understood who it was that assisted him in the world without light.

His soul cried out

And his heart tore in two.

Where the most powerful shadows could not reach,

The death of her young soul shattered his passion.

Even the tears of Heaven silenced the swarm of shadows around him.

Pleading with the King of all kings he wished to be a sacrifice,

The knight rested a finger on the ladybird

And despite the sting, he pleaded

As the shadows silently watched.

The stillness of the bird was replaced with the color of love,

But the illness was given to the knight.

He then lay his hand on the closest creatures beside him,

And color returned to their beings as well,

Still infecting him with their poison too.

From every beast, the shadow within was drained and taken in by the knight,

And the weight grew heavier and heavier.

Soon the shadows from the inky portal were drawn to him as well,

Screeching on the way into his body where they knew they could be contained.

The stains of every person in the world were being dragged to the center of the earth,

And there they were being enveloped by the knight’s ancient body,

Turning him from achromatic to the very color of darkness.

Because it was the darkness that stole from him,

His eyes and song were returned when he gained the essence of the shadows.

 

The ladybird transformed into a wonderful lady, dressed in a thin gown of the purest white,

And with a thin red ribbon tied in her long black locks of hair.

She awakened as if she had been in a deep sleep,

Silent and refined.

Looking up she saw the face of her love

And a bright smile appeared on her face.

Upon seeing the angel that guided him

The knight grew strength to bear the load of the world,

And when it was finished, he gazed into her soft blue eyes once more

Then fell asleep.

 

The knight woke up the next morning above the ocean, on soft grass,

And in a forest away from the horizon.

The two were carried by angels away from the center of the earth onto someplace peaceful.

The knight heard his love humming,

His ladybird,

His darling,

And they got up and traveled back to his fellow warrior’s crypt peacefully,

For the darkness was no longer in the outside world to him.

They spent the day’s travel together exploring the modern world of new plants and flowers,

Savoring every moment together,

Feeling as if it could last forever.

However,

They both knew that could not be possible.

Once they got back to the mausoleum,

They could not be together.

The knight gained back his eyesight and enchanting song

And saved the world from the corruption they didn’t even know they had,

But by doing so he took all the wickedness of this world and placed it upon himself.

Whilst his dearest was the very being of purity,

The dark knight was not.

He bore the weight of the world on his shoulders

And knew it would eventually and inevitably infect her with the illness as well,

Slowly killing her.

 

Upon returning to the mausoleum,

The lady clung to the knight as she always had,

Trying not to think of what she knows will happen.

She wished she wasn’t the reason why he had to leave,

But she is the essence of purity,

Which is why he must go.

 

Standing at the entrance of the crypt

They stood in silence,

Embracing each other as they wept.

After a long moment of time, he knew he had to say goodbye,

So he let go of her warm embrace and their lips met,

But only for a moment,

Or else he would’ve been tempted to stay.

She mustered a smile on her face and squeezed his hand

Never wanting to let go.

He gently pulled her soft fingers off his hand and began to walk to the corner of the tomb.

She cried out for him, grabbing his arm,

Pleading for him to stay.

The Poor Dark Knight gazed at her face one last time as he shed tears in awe of her beauty,

And she let go.

She watched her knight turn the corner of the tomb and disappear around the wall.

She ran after him one last time,

Around the bend,

 

But he was no longer there.

 

Still baring the wickedness of the world,

He watches the one he loves in the darkness of the shadows

As she goes on about her life.

He sings a song of his loneliness and sorrow,

Hoping she would be able to hear.

 

When asked the Knight

Where the Shadows roam

The Poor Dark Knight

Bears this burden alone

When asked the Knight

What was he doing there

The Poor Dark Knight

Sees his lady fair