The Sufferers

By Adins

Image a place of perfect contentment: A sprawling field of emerald green on the edge of a forest that stretches on as far as the eye can see to the foot of snow-capped mountains reaching high into the clear blue sky. Imagine a place where men want for no earthly desires, where needs are provided for, and where poverty, sickness and war have no definition. This is where, until recently, I dwelt. I was free of the pain, guilt, suffering, and sorrow I had so long endured. Here in this place called Elysion I was finally at peace.

In long ages past I was one of the Shitennou. I hazard to guess that no one living this dark time knows the word. In short, I was a guardian. I pledged my life to defend and honor my Master, a man who did not simply lead peoples and nations, but the very Earth itself. There were four Shitennou, each called from one of the four corners of the earth; as powerful as the four winds, as unchanging as the four elements, and, as fate would have it, as destructive as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Now there is but one Shitennou left, me, and I wander a broken world alone. For what I did I can think of no better punishment.

We betrayed our Master in the distant past and the Earth was savaged by war and wiped clean of life. It was an unforgivable act, but by some miracle we were brought back from the brink of death and lived again. We sought him out, our noble Master, hoping to right what we had wronged, but our past sins had bound us to the darkness and we were ensnared once more. Again, in the service of a wicked Queen, we brought this world which we were sworn to protect to the edge of ruin. Even after we passed out of life for a second time the spirits of the Shitennou would not quietly fade. We searched for our Master through energy and thought until we found him at last. With our bodies reduced to mere stones and our souls longing for release we were allowed to return to the world we once fought so gallantly to protect: Elysion.

He would call on us for counsel and the Shitennou would appear. When the Silence threatened the world we offered our advice. When our Master took ill in a battle against creatures who harvested dreams we watched over him. When his star seed was plucked from his body and our Master died, the Shitennou offered our lives in exchange. We did not deserve the peace of Elysion. Had we not betrayed our world and damned ourselves to live our endless days trapped within mere rocks we could have protected our Master! Even when Sailor Moon saved the world and our triumphantly revived Master wed his ancient Princess we could not find solace. The Shitennou deserved no love or to join the rest of the world in jubilation. For our sins we should have been cast off into cold darkness forever.

That is exactly where I find myself now.

I cannot say what day it is. Clocks stopped working the moment the darkness fell. Electricity evaporated as though it were water in a desert. We heard our Master call from beyond the borders of the dream in which Elysion thrived. An earthquake had struck. The sky was red and black spires of lightning rained down en masse. We saw our Master's hand outstretched towards us and we could hear his cries, but we could not act or answer. We were falling; falling away from him, falling down. Four stones glittered brightly in the unnatural storm, tumbling through the sky. The apartment building split in half and crumbled. A thunderous explosion ripped through the air between us and the four stones were scattered. I saw my companions fly away and fade into the hellish night. I lost myself and when I awoke I felt cold. I had not felt anything in many years. To my utter shock and immediate horror I found myself alive, not simply existing as consciousness and thought, but truly alive, naked, and cold.

Something had happened to the Earth, something beyond terrible and difficult to describe. The cloudy sky above did not disperse even after days of my aimless wandering. Thunder constantly pealed in the distance, yet lightning never struck and rain never fell. The city was crumbling all around me. Buildings had collapsed or were in the process. Streets were littered with shells of rusting vehicles, papers, and the detritus of a missing civilization. A cold wind whistled through the dead streets and no matter where I tried to hide or find shelter it was always bitterly cold.

Weeks passed, perhaps months and still I wandered. I found my way to the edge of the sea and contemplated throwing myself into the frigid ocean, but still I stubbornly survived. I lived on scraps of food that I found only after rigorous searching. Sometimes I would swallow a handful of dead, dry leaves or eat a page out of a discarded magazine just to fill the void in my stomach. I tried to fish in the ocean, but after days of effort I succumbed to failure. In this personal hell it seemed not even house-flies survived whatever tragedy befell the planet.

But something did survive…

It wasn't long after I first spotted one that I began seeing many more. I tried my best to stay downwind and keep a low profile, but the deeper I went into the city the more plentiful they became. If I tried to retreat back the way I came they seemed to close in behind me. They were everywhere! I thought my own torment of isolation, starvation, and the lingering guilt of my betrayals set me upon a pedestal of woe, but these poor creatures were true lost souls where mine was simply unclean. I pitied them, I cried for them, and I killed them without mercy or hesitation. They were the unfortunate who did not survive the devastation of the world. With the Earth dying they hungered for any and all life.

The Sufferers.