Chapter One: The Abyss

First had been the screaming – that had been the most unbearable part of the whole ordeal. For who knew how long, he’d been screaming, without words or even a voice. There had been nobody to hear, or at least nobody who’d particularly cared what he was experiencing. Beryl, he’d suspected, could possibly hear him; but, seeing as she’d been the one to cast him into this Hell in the first place, he doubted she’d be the one who was going to set him free. And now, nor would she.
    Then had come the pain. The unspeakable, agonising pain, that would have sent a lesser man than he into the depths of madness.  Paroxysms of agony had racked his mind and body for what seemed to him like seven eternitys.  His screaming had reached fever pitch, then, on the days when his entire being was twisted in pain. Then, after many a night and day…it had stopped.
   That was the silence. The pure, pristine silence, in the crystalline tomb he’d been buried within. Everything seemed so clear to him now. He had been such a fool, such a fool. The doubts and insecurities that had plagued him before had vanished, the taunts and mocking remarks of Neflyte seeming to be little more than a bad dream, a dream from which he had finally awoken.
    Everything would be all right now. He was clear of mind, his thoughts were once more his own. He had, for so long, been teetering on the brink of a yawning chasm, a limbo, purgatory, an abyss. He supposed that, perhaps, at some point, he might even have fallen in. But that was all behind him now.
   He was back. Back from the abyss.
 

The voice had begun perhaps a week ago, perhaps a year; time no longer held much of a meaning for him. At first he’d naturally assumed, to his despair, that his willpower had not been strong enough to withstand the freezing, and he had at last descended into madness. However, slowl, he had come to the realisation that the voice he’d been hearing was not one of his own invention; instead, it emanated from someone outside the capsule. It was a sweet, low, melodious voice, that reminded him of somebody he’d known far too long ago for him to remember everything about them.
   At first it had been hard for him to realise what the voice was muttering to itself, but, finally, he could make out snatches of sentences. “How long will it be before you can hear me? Do you not realise how much I need to be with you? I know you can hear me. You have to hear me! You’re all I have left…”
    Whenever the voice was speaking, he soon realised, a feeling of warmth rushed over his still form – an unknown source of energy? He wondered. After many days, he at last had the strength to reply to the voice’s pleas, although to ask him to recall what he said would be impossible. All he could do was mumble vague responses to the voice, who, he’d realised, was female – something about loving her and staying with her forever, the kind of lies he knew women like her needed to hear.
    At last, after what seemed like forever, he had begun to make out his surroundings – the cold whiteness of snow, and ice, the points of stalactites stabbing down toward the floor. In fact, the only visual relief from the constant white was something jade-green and black, flitting around in the foreground. The jade-green and black figure had turned to him with surprise when he’d groaned, and exclaimed “You’re awake!”
    When the green and black figure spoke, he instantly knew who it was that he was conversing with. It was the owner of the voice. He tried to say something else, but found that he was too weak to say anything at all. The voice whispered “Sssh…” and he felt a soft hand stroke the side of his face tenderly. “You’ll be all right soon. I’ve been feeding you energy from my own personal energy source.You’ll be on your feet in no time.”
    He felt her lips brush the skin near his ear, as she whispered to him. “Then we can be together as you promised.”
    More time passed, and the voice continued to care for him. Until, one day, at last, he could feel his arms and legs once more. He could move again. His thoughts were clear, free of the numbing ice prison’s confines. With a gasp, he fell forward, collapsing onto the cold ice floor. Lying there, he heard footsteps running across to him. Looking up, he could see that it was the green and black female who’d been caring for him for so long. She propped his head up, resting it in her lap, as he tried to speak. “Wh…what…?”
    “Just try and rest for a minute,” the voice replied. “I finally got you out of the ice capsule. You’re back.”
   “Who…are…?”
A melodious, tinkling laugh, like bells chiming together. “I told you. Don’t you remember? My name is Valkyria. Princess Valkyria.”
   “Princess…” he muttered. Inside, he was rejoicing. Not only was he free at last, but he also had a princess, willing to be at his beck and call. This definitely had possibilities.
   He opened his eyes, and blinked. Leaning over him was a young woman with a long, wavy mane of green hair, falling softly down to her waist. Her eyes were aquatic green, a shade darker than her hair, and her face was pretty and pixyish, with an uncommon touch of innocence, and ears that tapered off into points. She was wearing a tight black gown, the top half of which was an opaque black bodysuit, the lower half of which was a tight fishnet skirt, which matched her fingerless, elbow-length gloves. On one finger, she wore a large ring, a single green stone, which seemed to radiate a light of its own.
     “Valkyria,” she repeated, softer this time. She brushed a stray lock of golden hair away from his eyes, and smiled. “And you introduced yourself to me some time ago…General Jedite.”
     Jedite gazed up at Valkyria, and favoured her with his most dazzling smile.
 

Continue on to - Chapter Two: The Rebirth

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