We had walked for a couple of hours now, both unnerved by the ackward silence looming over us. Neither of us spoke much. I occasionally asked her for directions to her packs whereabouts. Apparently they had set camp in the Everfree forest. It was not supposed to be that far away by now.

I finally got sick of the infernal silence and tried to strike up conversation. ”So,” I began. ”Why is your pack here, in the Everfree?”

She stopped when I asked the question, and so did I. I saw her fidget her hands nervously.

”What ever it is, I won't be mad at you. Does this have something to do with Green Shield said about slavers?”

She took a while and nodded. ”We take ponies to mine gems. No gems, dragon mad.”

”So the dragon is harassing your kind?”, I concluded. She nodded.

”No gems, dragon eat us.”

So basically it was take slaves or become dragon food. I can't blame them for doing what they do. If what I believe is true, dragons are big, have sharp claws and can breath fire. What chances do the diamond dogs have against them? None, zero, nada. They were just food on legs for the dragons.

”I can see why you would do that.” I said softly. ”When it's the matter of life and death, sometimes it makes you do things that might be fundamentally wrong.”

I really couldn't blame them. I propably would rather die than resort to slavery, but anyone else, who are afraid to die, will go to any lengths to survive.

One thing came to my attention now. ”I apologise for the question but, what can I call you?” Her ears perked up in suprise. ”I mean, it's bothering me that I can't refer to you in other ways than 'diamond dog' or 'she' and 'her'.”

Her ears fell down again. ”Me tell you me have no name. Why you not call me like rest of pack?”

”Because I find calling someone a runt is offensive and rude.” I said honestly. It was just so unfair. To judge one because of the way they were born. The thought of doing that made me feel wrong, just plain wrong. I put my hand on my metaphorical chin. ”How about I call you...” I was thinking of a good name. Something that fit her. Her race seemed to be semi aggressive and non-friendly, yet she appeared to be very timid and kindhearted. A name popped into my head and I smiled. ”Eve”

She looked at me and mouthed the name a couple of times. Then she smiled happily. ”Me like it.”

”KRYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

We both flinched as a loud screech echoed in the air. We both searched the direction of it's origin. The diamond dog, that I will call Eve from now on, pinpointed it and her eyes went wide. ”Pack that way.”, she said before running off.

I ran after her and soon caught up. She was pretty fast and I really needed to try to catch up.

It didn't take that long for us to get to a clearing where the pack was. And what we saw was horrifying. I could see the look of pure horror on Eve's face.

Many diamond dogs lay in the ground, some bleeding badly, others missing entire limbs. There was blood all over the place. Only one figure stood in the middle of the carnage. The alpha.

”Dad!”, Eve cried out and walked forward. ”What happened?”

The alpha turned around slowly and looked badly damaged. His body had many deep looking cuts. With no warning, he fell over his decapitated head rolling on the ground. Eve screamed on terror and ran to me. She looked at me and saw that I wasn't paying attention to her. I got ready to draw my weapon. I had a very bad feeling about this.

Right behind the alpha's corpse stood a dark shape. A shape nearly identical to the one I had right now. A samurai that instead of being light gray, was almost black, minus some white lines on it's body. It's cylinder head had three white oval shaped horizontal slits instead of six diagonal one like me and it had a Jack O' Lantern-mouth. On it's back were four obsidian black swords. Instead of the Nobody symbolls on it's sleeves, it bore the mark of the Heartless.

”Well, well, well. What have we here?”, A distorted voice said. I recognised it immediately. ”If it isn't the lost lamb! Still as pathetic and weak as allways.”

I drew both of my swords an took a defensive stance. ”Who are you? What are you? Answer!”, I demanded. I gestured Eve to get behind me, which she did.

The dark Samurai laughed like a madman. ”I am you. You are me.”, It said. ”I am Xolhowl and I will kill you and your little doggy.”

As it said that, some words appeared on the edge of my vision.

Soul Fragment discovered

Name: Xolhowl

Type: Anti-Hollow

Classification: Heartless

Represents: Evil

Status: Enemy

The words soon disappeared.

'Looks like we got a status screen.'

Thanks Brain, I could have figured that out. I didn't get much time to argue as the dark Samurai rushed at us, swinging two swords.

”KRYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”, It yelled as it started to lash out attacks.

I was able to block all the attacks and stop them before they could hit either me or Eve. I was at a disadvantage, however. If I moved, that thing would get a clear shot at Eve. I was pinned down to this one position. Things were not looking good.

The dark Samurai jumped backwards, gaining some distance. ”Well, the lamb isn't so weak anymore.” It snickered. ”Well, that won't do. Not at all. Such a pathetic thing is not allowed to be strong!” It attacked again, but this time so fast that I couldn't react in time. It stopped, it's face inches away from mine. It's blades ready to cut off my head. ”Goodbye. Little lamb.”

Time froze for me. There was no way I could escape. As Xolhowl's blades came closer to my neck, I saw my zipper begin to open. In a flash the dark Samurai was thrown backwards. It soon smashed to the ground. That was not the most suprising thing though. There was a leg coming out of my chest. Eve was looking at this sight with wide eyes, and so was I.

The zipper opened completely and out jumped a figure. A feminine voice spoke up. ”About time I got out. It's really dark and boring in there. The thing is like a maze with no walls.” In front of me, stretching her's limbs, was another Nobody, a Dancer to be precise. The text appeared on my vision again.

Soul Fragment discovered

Type: Dancer

Classification: Nobody

Represents: Femininity

Status: Friendly

I grimaced at the word 'femininity'. It just sounded so wrong for some reason.

'On this, we agree on.'

Plus, she is kind of hot- NO! I will not think that! That is disgusting. That-She, I meant she, is technically a part of me. That's like...... incest with yourself. Eeew!

The Dancer jumped closer to me. ”Hello there!”, she greeted cheerily and made a mock salute. ”You must be the original. Dagon told me about you. The name's Elie, at your service!”

I had trouble getting words out of my metaphorical mouth. ”Wha....How.....” It all came together. ”The orb.”

”Yup! That was me.” Elie said and tried to give me a thumbs up, but failed to notice that her hands didn't include thumbs. ”It was really dark and spacious in there. It's a miracle I found my way out. You are a meanie for putting me in there.”

'Can't argue with that.'

Shut. Up.

Xolhowl got up and brushed dust off of itself. ”Another fragment joins the party. This will be fun. Now I'll get to devour you both!”, It screeched and charged at us. This time I didn't give it time to do anything as I rushed against. Our blades collided and I stopped it dead on it's tracks.

Elie also put her efforts into action and when I held the dark Samurai in place, she slid behind it and kicked it's head. This made it flinch and I saw a gap in it's defence. I threw it's blade away and slashed it across the chest. A gash appeared but it didn't make a sound.

I froze as I felt a sudden sting of pain in my back. I fell on one knee as the pain started to reach my nerve systems. I looked back quickly and saw one of Xolhowl's blades hovering behind me, black substance covering it's tip. I looked at my chest. There was the same black stuff that was on the blade.

'Black blood. Huh. That's funny.'

Not.... the time. The pain started to spread but I was able to partially contain it.

Elie yelped as another floating blades cut her shoulder, followed by a stab in the the stomach. She fell on the ground, clutching her stomach. Xolhowl stood there like nothing had happened. ”Well, that was disappointing. I was actually expecting more of a fight.”, It said sounding a bit depressed by how the fight turned out. A wicked smile formed on it's mouth. ”Oh, well. If you are to be ended here, might have some fun in the process.”

It turned towards Eve, who was paralyzed by fear. I tried to get up but the two flaoting swords dug themselves through my shoulders, pinning me to the ground. Xolhowl waved his finder at me. ”Tsk, tsk. Don't be getting up. That is a big no-no.” It said. It took slow steps towards Eve, bathin in her fear.

I couldn't let that happen! ”Don't you dare!”, I yelled and tried to get up, only to be brought down by a massive jolt of pain. I was completely helpless.

Xolhowl laughed. ”Oh, I dare. I dare so very much!” It stopped a few feet away from Eve. I tried to get up again, this time concentrating and shutting the pain away. I began to crank myself up, ignoring the blades piercing my shoulders. Slowly. Too slowly. Xolhowl lunged and prepared to slice her into small cubes.

”No!”, I yelled.

Then, at that second.

”-FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-”

For a spilt second I saw a dark figure falling from the sky, hitting Xolhowl in midair and crash into the ground with massive force that resulted in an impact that sent dirt and dust flying in the air. The whole area was filled with dust, preventing me from seeing what had happened. I saw a figure run towards me. It was Eve who apparently had shaken away her paralyzing fear for the moment. She ran behind me and grabbed my arm. I pulled the blades out of my shoulders and threw them aside. She looked at me, eyes filled with worry.

”I'm fine.”, I said. None of the wounds were fatal and I could handle the pain. Elie joined us too, still clutching her stomach.

”I'll live.” She answered my incoming question.

I took my swords and went into a stance, prepared to face what ever came out of that smoke cloud. As the dust started to clear, I saw a huge crater. On the bottom there was Xolhowl and on top of it was....

”Woo-ouch! That was the best. Ride. EVER-Ow!. Freefall all the way! HOLY BANANA JEEZUS THIS HURTS!”

I could not believe my ears.

Edit: whoops,accidetally took down the whole chapter 6. My bad.

So, Hollow's first pieces make an appearance. One is there to aid, and one to kill him. And who is this mysterious savior? Find out in the next chapter!

Sincerely,

Doctor D, The One Next Chapter: Before the end, meddling madness! Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 43 Minutes