"It always amazes me how many phantoms remain," the young man's voice seemed to resound through the chill night air, but the immensity of space surrounding them on the deck of the seaborne vessel diminished its size exceptionally. He leaned against the rail and let his vapory breath carry the words out into oblivion, blasting the night with the wispy wraiths that danced for but a moment prior to dissipating into the shadows of icy sounds.
"What amazes me is how little they are seen," the tone and voice were nondescript, and from where the figure sat in the shadows cast by the doorway, framed in the dim light from within but not illuminated, it was anyone's guess as to the speaker's identity, or even their gender.
The young man turned with a smile, still leaning on the rail. He cast his face up, letting the starlight wash over him. "Do you ever see them?" he asked, eyes closed, face yet upturned.
"All the time," the reply was decidedly haunting, wistful, and yet... hopeful, "Don't keep yourself up too late, Darius."
He looked towards the doorway then, but the shadow that had been standing there was already gone. "Don't worry, Face," he looked up at the sky again, "Just singing with phantoms for a moment... Forever is calling anyway." A swift glance was spared on the deep black waters below before he too disappeared below decks, leaving behind a silent and barren landscape, an unlivable sort of environment, abandoned and desolate.
Darius slipped through the passage, his hand barely brushing the metal frame of the hatch...
Burning, all around, the world in flames, everything so hot... unbearably hot...
Darius withdrew his hand instantaneously, grasping it with the other as though he had been burned. He fell back against the wall with a dull metallic thud, gasping for breath as he slowly slid to the ground. He could still feel the excruciating pain, though it was no more. His horrified eyes looked back up to see still the image that was burned into his mind, the image that he could still see as though it were indeed imprinted upon the world eternally. The figure stood there in the midst of the intense heat, that incredible force, just stood there, un-moving. It held out one hand before itself, staring down, watching as the skin slowly slid and... melted away. Flesh and blood oozed together as though the furnace without had melted them clear together, fused them into a like liquid, and slowly... oh so slowly, it began to drip off of the bone. One whole side of his body was thus transfigured, and the true horror was therein revealed. his other half was perfect and untouched, and the expression could be seen on his face, confused, sad, and more than anything stricken with an unspeakable and dreadful pain. He didn't speak, did not look up or away, merely watched his hand until the moment that he collapsed to his knees. It seemed an eternity until he finally dropped, and that was when Darius's face turned to see the figure who had watched the proceedings with him. He would know that dark and shadowy form anywhere, though he couldn't say the identity of the individual. He knew Face anywhere, only this wasn't the Face he had spoken with moments ago... This was the face that had been in that dark and burning place and watched the man die, watched him fall before her. Darius wondered how she could have just stood there, until he saw the puddle at her feet, so small and almost invisible, a single tear shed for a dear friend. Face turned then and, head held low in grief, departed with a speed that defied nature. The firelight caught her face for just a moment, and Darius could see her, as the face itself melted and shifted and reformed without rhyme or reason. And then she was gone.
On the floor, he lay panting, the dark figure bent over top of him. "Sometimes, it's better if the phantoms stay hidden?" Face's mask obscured the completely nondescript visage beneath. Darius just nodded dumbly and accepted the arm offered. Face hauled him to his feet. "They called him MELTING CRAB," Face's voice was so odd, filtered through the mask, "Most of them never learned what kind of irony it really was. Most of the others never lived long enough to find out. Hm... They were lucky. Now, don't keep yourself up too long, Young Pup." How she could stand and return to her bunk, Darius didn't know, but as he watched Face go, he found in himself his own kind of strength, and stumbled along. "It gets easier," a haunting voice seemed to echo back, it sounded like her's, but younger, "Just put one foot in front of the other. Eventually... It gets easier." And Darius took the advice, throwing himself down on his bunk in time. He could still feel the pain, after all this time. "This part doesn't? Does it?" There was a smile in the reply, "No... But I wouldn't wish my heart away too quick if I were you. That bit is important."
