Project Boussh: Deep Sleep
by Brad Corletti

Brad ran.

He ran through the void, chasing. Always chasing. Before him sat the
glowing red bird. No matter how he chased, always it flew, out of
reach.

Others ran with the bird. They were apace with, and ahead of, the
bird. Brad saw the joy on their faces. The red bird offered freedom
and happiness. How he longed to be with the red bird.

A light joined him, and Brad began to close. Some of those with the
bird turned and looked at him with menace. They pointed at him
angrily, and his progress was slowed. One of the others reached a hand
out to him, but this aid was insufficient, and once more, he fell
behind.

The light was lost. In its place sat a blue shield, patiently floating
beside Brad as he laboured to keep up with the red bird.

Darkness began to gather. Black stars appeared on the red bird and one
of its companions began to deform. Its flesh tore and demonic eyes
stared at Brad from above a tusked jaw. Another's flesh dropped away
completely, leaving only an ivory skeleton.

The darkness spread, touching each of the red bird's companions in
turn, though none as severely as the first two. Brad desperately
sought to catch the bird, to somehow protect the bird from the
darkness; although he was not a party to its blessing, still did he
wish to protect those who had.

Still the blue shield sat, untainted.

The demon and the skeleton blocked his path. Beyond them the red bird
flew through the blue skies of this suddenly material landscape.
Rolling hills blocked his view of the horizon.

Brad drew his shining sword and adopted a guard stance. None could
defeat him. Not here. Not in the bastion of his will. He twirled his
blade in a complicated pattern. How many had he bested here in his
battles with darkness?

The demon was the first to attack. It bellowed in rage and swung in to
attack with its mighty claws. Brad flashed his blade across the
beast's forearms, slicing them off, but one of the talons landed,
touching him, tainting him. He skewered the beast on his sword and
danced back, watching the patch of darkness on his arm slowly expand.

The demon retreated, black blood dripping from its wounds. As it
passed the skeleton it grunted something to it. The skeleton
immediately moved into the attack.

Still the blue shield sat, untainted.

Brad stared at the black patch on his arm. It was growing. It
threatened to devour him in darkness. The blue shield drifted towards
him. Brad understood and reached for it. The blue light washed over
his arm and removed the taint. He strapped the shield onto his arm and
smiled. This was an ally.

The skeleton stood no chance. Brad fought like the cobra, striking
hard and fast. But his blows did not faze the skeleton. How was this
possible, in the bastion of his will? But Brad understood. Stripped of
its humanity, the skeleton was not vulnerable to mortal weapons. He
blocked a blow from the skeleton's sword on the blue shield. The sword
broke. He bashed the blue shield against the skeleton, shattering the
skeleton into a million pieces.

Brad liked the sound of crunching bone as he walked across the
skeleton's remains.

Brad watched the red bird go, the flapping of its wings becoming
harder with every stroke, weighed down by the weight of the black
stars upon it, its promises betrayed. Dooming those who followed it.