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Pain in the Universe
by Erik Neibaur
I tried to stop myself from the explosive impact of his blow, skidding across
the floor on my knees. Leaning heavily on my sword, I looked up
loathsomely at the person who had tormented my dreams since the death of my
family. My heavy breathing filled my ears so powerfully that I could
barely hear his next words, although my eyes could see quite clearly the
arrogant smirk playing across his face as he lifted his sword onto his shoulder.
"Finished?" he sneered.
"Not quite," I gasped in reply. "There are still debts to be paid back tenfold. Am I right?" The look on his face turned uglier still as a terrible anger graced his features.
"Indeed," he threatened, "if you have the strength to survive the onslaught that your filthy blood deserves!" He sheathed his sword and put his hand down to a quick draw. A power filled me, and I am sure an expression much like his found its way onto my face. I stood up and also put my hand on my sword. We were both grievously injured despite all of my attempts to dodge and parry his moves. The only undamaged thing in the house of my fathers, the grandfather clock, ticked slowly on. I stared into my arch-nemesis' eyes, the man who had murdered my family and seized our house and wealth. There was absolute silence as the ticking clock slowed to a monotonous crawl. As the grandfather clock finally broke and its pendulum swung onto the ground like a falling hope, we struck. Our blows toppled on top of each other, and a pain that surely could be felt throughout the universe struck my opponent. Our quick draw was finished, and each of us was where the other used to be, again facing our enemy. With a surprised look on his face my opponent coughed once, twice, then grimaced in pain and fell to the ground. I gasped and walked heavily over to the office chair that he had so long occupied in this house, then collapsed. Staring into my opponent's blank defeated face an old poem my father used to sing to me returned.
When the battle
end was nigh
And victory was assured
The commander got down and cried
As sorrow and grief overtook him
And the pain in the universe sang softly.
As I gazed at my fallen opponent I realized that my entire life had been about killing this man. But now that I gazed down at his blank, dark face I realized that he, too, had a history that would remain untold. Such a strange thing, the pain of the universe.