The Underneath

The Underneath follows a banished Guardian named Tala, and we see from her eyes what The Over does to ones who don't agree with them, it is 40 years before The Kingdom War, but the real war has already started.

THE BANISHED

It was a dark and cloudy evening, all the leaves are in the midst of falling off the trees and the cold is creeping near. Two young adults make their way through the park, trying to avoid any suspicious eyes. The female with different shades of blue for her hair and eyes, wears a nice tank top with her boyfriends hoodie and blue jeans and sneakers, she looks up at her boyfriend and with a bit of hesitation asks

“Have you heard of the Underneath?” they both stop and the male who’s hair shines a creamy white against his black shirt and ripped jeans and boots, gives her a look of horror

“Coral, you know we can get in trouble for even mentioning that place…” he said in a whisper, Coral looked at her feet and nodded

“Yes Xerocole i know… i just… wanted to know if you’ve heard of it and all…” Xerocole pulled Coral close and sighed

“Yes i have heard of it, what Guardian hasn’t, but what we know cannot be said or else we’ll end up like that banished Guardian…” Xerocole quickly covered his mouth in realization that he said too much, Coral gave him a confused look.

“Listen Coral, i shouldn’t be telling you this but… long ago, after my world and i were made there was a girl, her name was Tala, and Tala was suppose to be the Guardian of dimension M-0424… but she got curious… she wanted to know all about the… you know what… and our superiors got rid of her and Poliahu became M-0424’s Guardian… and… you and i both know how torturous it is for a Guardian to not protect anything… what that does to the soul and the mind...” (Tormented Character)Xerocole looked at Coral and Coral nodded in understanding, they held hands as they continued to make their way through the park. Jezie looked away from his earth like orb, with the image of Coral and Xerocole walking through the park inside of it, and glanced at Zecra, a big strong dragon who’s black scales, green horns and green claws and golden eyes reflect beautifully off the multiversal stars surrounding them.

“What do you think my love?” Jezie, a golden dragon with white horns and claws, questioned his wife.

“What’s the point in punishing them, it’s not like they’d be stupid enough to go looking for answers about The Underneath.”  Zecra crossed her arms and looked down her snout at Jezie,

“Heh, i bet you don’t even remember the girls banishment into The Underneath.” Jezie snorted and glared at her.

“Of course i remember, it’s insulting that you dare question my memory Zecra.” Zecra chuckled and glanced at the orb.

“Heh sure you do,  some protector of the multiverse you are.” and she disappeared into the darkness, leaving Jezie alone with his orb. Jezie glanced around to see if Zecra had actually left, and once he was sure she was gone, the image in the orb changed to show a giant hole, a wormhole. The wormhole that connects The Over to The Underneath.(supernatural)And with a flick on his claw, more images appeared, and there at the edge of the wormhole was a young girl about fourteen years old with dark red hair and light grey eyes, she has a twilight colored cloak and blue pants, a dark green bluish shirt and black shoes. And there, standing in front of her, were him, Zecra, and his two sisters Mira and Lira. Jezie closed his eyes and listened, letting the orb fill his mind with the memories of the event. But before he could hear his final words to Tala, she was thrown into the hole by Mira, sending the girl screaming and crying on her descent into the closest thing to hell''' '''

CHAPTER 1: THE BANISHED

Tala could see the light fading from the top of the hole as she fell, only darkness surrounded her as she fell. She could feel her powers being ripped from her soul in an agonizing and painful motion that seemed to last forever, and before she could process what was happening, she came out of the other end of the hole and fell like a meteor in the night sky toward the darkness (Isolation), she thought she could see something shimmering at the bottom as she looked for something to grab onto or to land on, so she braced herself for the impact of the sparkling silver inside the endless darkness and she crash landed, hitting the ground with a thud, her shoulder dislocated, hip chipped and three ribs broken. She whimpered on the ground for a bit and slowly sit up, looking around at her surroundings. It was all black like she’d seen from the sky but, it wasn’t endless darkness she was seeing, it was sand, black sand that seemed to stretch onto infinity.(Setting) Tala looked up at the wormhole above and saw the deep red of what looked like a mountain peak, she followed the peak down a bit and saw more mountains like it but nowhere near as tall. Tala made her way into a standing position and took a deep breath, only to end up coughing and nearly throwing up. The air, it was tainted with some sort of toxin, something unsafe to breath, but it didn’t harm her skin, so it must be toxic only if breathed in or sent into the bloodstream. Tala pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and a clear barrier appeared in the space where Tala’s face was visible. Tala looked around one more time and started making her way along the mountain range, hoping to find some sort of sanctuary.

It seems like hours passed, Tala limps her way through the dark shadows of the lombing mountains overhead, the ground around her has changed from the dark black sands to a rust colored soil that stretches into the mountain range and possibly beyond. And out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something in the incoming treeline. The trees looked sick and intoxicated but somehow still alive and prospering, the leaves had turned into a bluish purple color that was nowhere near natural. Tala stopped and looked into the thin intoxicated trees, she waited and waited to see if she could see something beyond the smog that had built up. Tala made her way forward, looking all around her as she moved, hearing what could possibly be voices in the dark toxic forest, but… how could anything live and survive in a world such as this? And just like that, a heavy weight pushed into Tala’s side and sent her flying. Tala groaned and rested on her elbows, looking up at the spot she had once been and her eyes went wide with fear as she starred face to face with her attacker. Her skin a twilight purple with silver dots all over her, thin light blue hair, sunken in black eyes with golden pupils, brown bloody teeth and eight very long claws also covered in blood, and what scarred Tala the most was the permanent smile plastered onto the monsters face. The monster Tala faced also had holes in random parts of her body, and Tala could swear she saw a millipede in one of the holes. She’s wearing what was once a nice pink shirt with open shoulders but is now ripped and tattered like her shorts of unknown color due to all the blood she was covered in. Tala backed away and the monster approached in almost a curious fashion. Then as the monster reached one of her hands forward, Tala cowered, preparing to be ripped apart and eaten, but nothing happened. Tala looked back at the monster to see her crouched next to her and holding out her hand, the monsters permanent smile seemed to have gotten bigger, Tala hesitated but took the monsters hand. And they shook. The monster pulled Tala to her feet, accidentally hurting Tala’s shoulder without noticing, and the monster said in a demonic creepy voice

“Hello there! Im Twilight!! now, tell me little morsel, who are you.” Tala could feel fear creeping over her whole body as Twilight cackled up at the empty black sky. Then in one swift motion, Twilight grabbed Tala’s wrist and pulled her arm close, a psychotic expression on the monsters face. Tala, in a desperate plea, tried to pull her arm away, but Twilight’s grip was strong and she showed no signs of letting go.

“Now my little morsel, lets see how you taste!!!” and Twilight’s brown sharp teeth went right into Tala’s arm, burying in to the bone. Tala screamed and tried to beat the monster off her arm, Tala’s blood pouring down her arm and down Twilights chin, making a thick dark red pool underneath the two as Tala’s screams filled the desolate trees.

THE TOXIC BOGS

Tala awoke to a rustic metal roof and sides, it smelled like rotting flesh and decay. Tala reached to rub her head from the incoming headache and realised her left eye was covered in bandages. And she remembered something she hadn’t realised before. When she was descending into this corrupted world she could feel all her powers being physically ripped from her, and her left eye was the thing symbolizing her magic with it’s unusual golden and green color against her right light grey eye. And through all the time she had already spent here and she hadn’t noticed her left eye gone. Maybe it was from the pain from the fall or the new wound on her forearm… and at that thought Tala looked down at her arm to see it also bandaged up. Someone had put a lot of effort to keep her alive, maybe it was that monster? What was her name? Twilight maybe? But a simple name didn’t matter to Tala, she had to get outta here and get back to the mountain where she fell, maybe, somehow she can send herself back to The Over through the same wormhole. It was a long shot but it was the only option Tala had at the moment. Tala sat up and swung her legs over the bed like structure she was laid on. It was very dark, darker than earlier when she was attacked by Twilight. But to Tala’s surprise, there was a lamp sitting on the little table next to her. Tala grabbed it and turned it on, the warmth of the fire inside it heated Tala’s skin to a comfortable temperature. Tala saw that also on the counter was a notebook, or what looked like it with skin as the cover and a leather for the pages. Tala started flipping through the notebook, reading the dark purple writing. To Tala’s surprise it was owned by Twilight, Tala wouldn’t have suspected that the monster could even read less than write. But here was her notebook, and with very “nice” handwriting, well nice was an overstatement. Tala started reading a page labeled “The Ravengers” out of curiosity Tala read.

“The Ravengers are the second most mutated monstrosities in The Underneath. We as a clan come in shades of blues, purples and sometimes grey but on a rare occasion white. All Ravengers have long striped tounes and eight long sharp claws. If the chief of the Ravengers feels like a new offspring is unfit or doesn't look like us, we eat it. In my 115 years i have only eaten three unfit Ravengers. And it wasn’t the most tasty or comfortable thing in this hell. We do not get our names at birth, but rather when we do something before 90 to earn a name, ones without a name have died or have been killed, like my mother. I think. I can’t remember anything after 110…” Tala’s face turned confused. Only five years of memory? Even in this hell with these monsters, their memory shouldn’t be THAT bad. So why is Twilight missing her memories? Tala shook her head

“There is no need to worry about anyone but myself. I need to focus.” Tala mumbled to herself, she tucked Twilight’s journal into her cloak and worked her way out of the shack she had been kept in. and once she emerged outside she remembered the toxins, she quickly tried to pull her hood over her head without harming her arm more but in the middle of doing so she stopped. She breathed in a deep breath and realised that the toxic air does not harm her lungs anymore. Tala stood there puzzled for a few heartbeats and glanced at her wrapped forearm. She shook her head at the silly thought that had emerged in her mind at the moment. She smelled the air and picked up an odd sent. It smelled like a walking corpse and immediately realised who it was. It was Twilight. She was coming back and dragging something heavy and very much dead. Tala wanted to run, wanted to hide somewhere but she didn’t. She just stood there waiting. What was she waiting for? Twilight? And then there she was emerging from the smog filled forest and into line of sight. Twilight spotted Tala and stopped walking, and they just stared at each other. Finally, Tala spoke in her assertive, sassy, arrogant way.

“So your here, finally. Now what. Are you gonna kill me or what. Because if you try i’ll have to fight you for real and that would make things ugly.” Tala crossed her arms and awaited a response. Twilight’s mouth opened and closed multiple times until she said

“Well i can see why you were banished here… your a brat.” Tala sneered at Twilight, taking a step closer.

“How DARE you! Do you know who I AM?!” Tala took another step, Twilight not moving a single inch, barely fazed by Tala’s verbal attacks.

“I am a Guardian! I was born to fight monsters like you! I was born to kill and banish monsters like YOU!” Tala was only a few feet from Twilight’s face, and until Tala was only a foot away did she notice something. Twilight was crying. All of Tala’s anger and rage suddenly diminished as she wrapped her arms around Twilight, holding her tight.

“I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.” Tala mumbled into Twilights shoulder, Twilight isn’t that much taller than Tala, but her long arms and claws made her look bigger. Twilight, hesitantly, hugged Tala back, dropping the meat sack she was holding. Tala could smell it now, she could smell something on Twilight that was familiar to her, to the Guardians. Tala itched her brain, trying to remember what happened to  Guardians once they were banished. And she remembered what Athena had told her once. ‘Guardians who are banished slowly lose who they are young Tala, and once they lose who they are, they change. They forget why they were made, they become lost like a ghost in the void’ Athena’s voice echoed in Tala’s head. Tala hugged tighter at realisation of what really happened to Twilight. Twilight flinched at the sudden tightness, Tala let go and stood only inches away from Twilight’s face, the tears stopped, and Tala could finally see close up what Twilight’s eyes were really like. It was like looking at an ember that was losing its light in the darkness but was still fighting to live, the determination Tala could see buried deep in Twilight through her eyes was clear. Twilight was a banished Guardian just like her, and she was indeed a ghost lost in the void.