Fight of Defiance By Melanie D.

I had been running and fighting for too long to give up now. I would not die before I broke the curse that bonded me with this ongoing nightmare that seemed to have captured my reality. It had started when I allowed myself to be lost in the mind games of life and had forgotten who I am for a fraction of a second, but even that was long enough to let this corrupt creature escape from my locked soul. I had no control after that point; it had run instantly away from my grasping clutches, and begun its destruction of every aspect of my life. It ran wildly, searching for every way it could find to abolish the person I had become. Before I could react, my whole town was lit in blazing flames that seemed to have seized the entire world known to me. I was confused beyond all reason, until I realized that this other, darker part of me had somehow been disconnected from my body and was now running lose through our small town, destroying anything that dared to cross its path.

Captivated by the horror of what was happening, I became immersed by a shot of adrenaline that absorbed my body, as I ran through the fires and past the shrieking citizens with fierceness greater than anything I have ever felt. I arrived at my house without even realizing it and charged through the rooms screaming hysterically for my family. I knew they were not there, but the fruitless bonds of false hope convinced me otherwise, and I searched anyway, not ready to lose faith yet.

A chilling voice echoed in my mind, “Your mistake will see them forever lost to you.” I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but it seemed as if the voice was latched in my own mind. I was sure that this creature was a deranged part of me, but it had severed the physical connection between us.

“No! I made no mistake, please just bring them back!” I cried as tears flooded my vision, yet the only reply I received was a ghastly laugh that mimicked my pain. With one final hope remaining, I sprinted through town and arrived at my best friend’s yard. Shock and disbelief spread through me when I saw the ruin that had overtaken the once beautiful home. The house lay in a blackened wreck on the smoldering ground, surrounded by the flames that had brought its death. This creature had gone too far, taking away my friends and family, leaving me with nothing left to live for. In that moment, standing amongst the disaster my life had become, I vowed that I would destroy this creature in any way possible.

I had heard somewhere before that the only way to truly eliminate an unknown being was to stab it with a silver blade, but I had no idea where to obtain one. I had also heard that if your need is great enough, and your ambition is strong enough, that miracles can happen without explanation or reason. As I was thinking this, a glimmer of light immersed in the blazing flames caught my eye, so I walked by to pick it up, and held in my burnt hand a magnificent silver sword. I was ready to fight and rein victory.

It had come to the final battle leaving me to fight something that I wasn’t even sure was real. Defiance held strong within me. I would not let this overwhelming force pull me away, I would not let it take me into the black depths of what lay beneath my mind. Tragedy had overtaken everything I knew, there was nothing left for me to fight for, but I still held on to that one last strand of hope with such strength that nothing could defeat my determination. I did not believe in giving up, and that certainly would not change now. The only enemy I had to face was myself, and once I had victory over that, the world would lie at my feet and I would be free.

I was trapped in a prison within my own mind that held unthinkable tortures in an unexpected way. I was so close to obtaining the knowledge of how to defeat it that I could imagine the possibility of never having to endure the inescapable pain that had chased me endlessly until now. That thought alone gave me the last surge of energy that kept me fighting with all the strength I had left, prompting the last victorious moments of the battle. The intensity and confusion that entangled my brain seemed to clear for a single instant that allowed me to strike down my enemy.

I gallantly raised my sword, and struck against the black abyss that claimed the body of this ruthless creature. As the metal pierced its insubstantial form, it released a horrific screech that could deafen any living being and scar their memory with the estranged sound of it. It gave its final stand in the fight it had begun and surrendered itself to the deathly hands of defeat, leaving me shocked, standing on the cold ground that just witnessed a heroic battle. I finally had the power to watch my enemy fall to my feet and collapse in a defeated bundle landing with a crash to the ground. Victory was mine to indulge myself in, and with it was brought my life that was once again free.