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My best work of literature *incomplete*
04.20.08, 00:37:16
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Post #1 (permalink) |
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Prelude
Barefoot Atuli stood on the cliff edge, staring over the ocean below. A thick fog covering the bottom of the cliff off into the distance of the ocean. She stood tall and slim, with her black and green velvet nightgown on, its long wide sleeves stretching down past her wrists, the length of the gown touching the soft soil. Her long maroon hair flowing in the wind. Atuli looked across the ocean with her bright green eyes, watching and waiting. She was tired, her body ached from standing for so long, and her eyes were half-open.
Looking back over her shoulder, she watched her house, a bright blaze of orange and red. The heat was barely felt from her distance, what had she done? She did not mean to set it ablaze. It was only an accident, yes, she thought, only an accident. But she could not forgive herself, for she knew what was true. Her fourteen-year-old son, Saku, slept quietly inside, in his eternal sleep. Sirens were now audible from a distance, and she knew the time grew near. Glistening in the blue moon light, her eyes started to swell, pearly tears began to run down her face. The sirens grew closer, and she heard a car come to a screeching stop nearby. Up the small dirt path to the house, by her driveway, she saw her brother getting out of a car. He looked terrified, so scared for what he saw infront of him. She turned back to the ocean, for she could not watch anymore. The blaze from the house kept him at a distance, and he knew not that his sister stood on the edge of a cliff. He began to yell, to scream for a response from anyone in the house. The crackling and burning from the house was too loud for his voice to carry anymore than a few feet. Atuli and her brother stood but only fifty feet apart. Her jaw began to tremble, and small squeaks of pain and sorrow passed through her lips. Her back now to the ocean, watching her home fall to pieces under the dark starry night... She took a step back. The sirens had now reached the house, and orders could be heard being barked from person to person. Two firetrucks had arrived, one carrying seven, and the other six, firemen...
Atuli took another step back, her expression now of fear. Her home began to fall apart, the roof caved in, ashes and debris went everywhere. No one had noticed Atuli on the cliff edge yet. The walls were the only things standing now, but soon they began to collapse as well. Her brother was circling the house looking for any survivors. The firetrucks were spraying down what was left of the house, trying to save what they could. A fireman looked around with her brother, and had noticed her. He yelled out to Atuli and began to run to her. Atuli's brother, with an expression of relief, followed suit.
She took another step back, only inches from the cliffs edge. Her brother saw this and became fearful, yelling for her, but she could not hear him, for she was falling into madness.
She lifted her left arm, reaching out for her son, gazing at the house with tired eyes. She opened her palm towards the house, and then closed it ever so slowly. Tears running down her face, she finally smiled, then lifted her foot and brought it back towards the cliff edge, this time with nothing below.
Her brother screamed for her and ran as fast as he could, the fireman slowed his run to a walk, then to a crawl eventually stopping in a daze of surprise. As she fell back, she put her left hand in a fist and put it close to her heart, her other hand wrapped around it. She closed her eyes, feeling the cold wind go by as she fell. Her brother reached the edge and extended an arm down to her, though she was far away by this time. Atuli opened her eyes to meet them with her brothers. They held their gaze for only a few seconds and her brother cried out her name as she disappeared into the fog.
~1 Year Later~
The Beginning
"You say you're having nightmares about that night again?" Melissa said, before taking another sip of her red tea.
"Yes, I thought I was past all this. I mean I went to counseling I was on the medications and I thought I dealt with it. I don't know why this has come back again." Blake sat and stared mindlessly at the cafe table, his coffee warming his cold hands.
"Well," Melissa said, "Sometimes people just don't let go. Maybe you’re just not trying."
"Yea, well... how can you let go of someone so close. I watched her die, and there was nothing I could do... I just wish I knew what was going on inside her head to make her do something like that."
"You never know, maybe it had something to do with her ex-husband. Maybe she just couldn't live on how she was." Melissa put her teacup down on the coaster on the table. She stood, grabbed her bag then said,"I gotta get going though, my lunch breaks almost over. You want a ride home?"
Blake just shook his coffee around in his hand for a moment. He stood and put it down next to Melissa's cup.
"No, I need some alone time." Blake said as he hugged Melissa goodbye. "Tell Jordan I said 'hi' for me?"
"Okay, will do. Same time tomorrow?" Melissa said as she put her black silk coat on and rummaged through her little red bag for her car keys.
"Yea, sounds good. I'll see ya then." Blake said, he held open the door to the cafe for her and she walked out. He followed behind her until she got to her car, they said their good-byes and Melissa drove off.
Blake stood in the cold air. Shivering slightly as he started for home. It was snowing out, very lightly, but enough to cover the roads. Blake found his way through the downtown life towards the cities edge, where he decided to take a detour through an old Wood. He pulled his fleece jacket on around his lean, sexy body, to block the wind.
Blake knew this Wood well, when he was about 5, his sister was 7, they would play hide and seek in here, hide from parents, and hunt for flowers and bugs. But that was twenty years ago. The trees on the edge of the Wood were small saplings, with tiny bushes growing under their protective canvas. But, as you went further and further in, the trees grew bigger and bigger. There were huge trees, and small trees all around, though the bigger trees with old bark on them were covered in moss and other plants, like vines. Some have thought to have been there for hundreds of years. One or two believed to be the center of old folklore and children’s' stories that were passed down through generations. Paths were now carved into the Wood through all the tiny shrubbery on the Wood's floor, for those daring enough to go in. Blake knew there was nothing inside that could possibly harm him. All that was in there were trees, a few crows, an ant hill or two, some termite nests, and a family or rabbits. He began his trek through the Wood, going farther and farther away from the city, towards his home out in the country.
He came across a giant metal tower, it looked somewhat like a cell phone tower, but it had a small shack at its base and was allot shorter than a cell phone tower, surrounded by fencing. Blake had never seen this before, but he didn’t think much of it, because he knew that the state had put in a Laharr warning system. The warning system was for the mountain close by that peaked almost fifteen thousand feet above sea level. The mountain had been deemed active, and was estimated to blow her top within the next five hundred years, so it was unlikely, though possible, for it to erupt in his lifetime. Blake had wondered, and now knew, where their local warning tower had been placed. When the test sirens go off, it was like an air raid siren, or a tornado-warning siren. He understood why they put it in the middle of the Wood, so that there wouldn’t be anyone right up next to it when it went off, possibly rendering those close by near deaf.
As he continued, it got quieter the farther away from the bustling city he got. Soon it was pure quiet except for the rustle of a tiny tree branch collapsing under the weight of the now heavy snowfall. Even though it was a little past noon, the sky had grown dark, and grew darker still. Blake didn't like the thought of walking through the Wood in the dark, but it was too late to go back to town now. He pulled his fleece jacket closer around his body to keep warm, what was going on? It seemed to get colder and darker every second, but he kept walking foreword. Soon Blake came across a clearing in the Wood he had never seen before.
The clearing was round and had a large tree in the middle. The tree could have been no less than six feet wide, and one hundred feet tall. It was an amazing sight that Blake had never witnessed in the Wood. He was too amazed at the size of the tree to notice a shadow watching him from behind it. The shadow moved out from the cover of the tree and walked slowly towards Blake, its long slender form moving carefully, just a silhouette, still unseen by him. It was almost completely dark out now, and the temperature was beyond freezing. Blake was rubbing his arms to keep warm now.
He finally looked down and noticed the shadow coming towards him; he jumped at the sight of it, for he had never seen such a thing before.
"Wh, who are you?!" He managed to stammer out of his shivering mouth. The shadow said nothing and kept moving towards him. All that was visible was a silouhette of what looked like a young girl.
He asked again, this time with more confidence, "Who are you? Why wont you speak?" The shadow still said nothing and kept moving closer. Blake began to move back, away from the shadow. Eventually he hit the edge of the clearing, but could go no further. He jolted away from the wall of trees, because he did not expect it. He looked around and noticed that all the trees had gathered to form a solid wall around the clearing. Blake turned back to the shadow, now only feet from him, still slowly walking closer and closer, leaving no footprints behind it in the snow. He pressed his back against the wall, and stared as the shadow crept only inches from his face The shadow then raised one long, thinly fingered hand up to his face, brought his face up to the shadows gently, and gave a light kiss on his forehead. Blake was shaking not only from the freezing temperatures, but also from being fearful of the shadow; he had closed his eyes.
He noticed warmness going through his body, and it didn’t seem as cold anymore. He opened his eyes to find himself at the edge of the Wood, next to a road. It seemed to be lightly snowing still, and the daylight had returned. A car rushed past him, throwing a light mist of wet snow in his face. His home was on the other side of the street. He quickly rushed home, crossing the icy street between the Wood and his house. He almost fell on a patch of black ice, but kept on moving ungracefully across it. He made it to his fence, opened the gate, and closed it behind him. He stopped for a moment and stared back towards the Wood, and watched to see if the shadow had followed him. After a moment or two he finally concluded that he had hallucinated, then casually walked up the walkway to his front door. As casually as a frightened freezing man could.
Once inside he took off his coat, laid it on the back of the couch, and lied down in his chair to think for a moment. Was what just happened real? Who was that shadow... or what was it..? RING RING!
The phone rang on its receiver next to the chair, and it was unexpectedly loud. Blake jumped at the noise then picked up the receiver.
"Hello?" He said in a quiet voice.
"Oh my god, I'm so happy you're okay. Where the hell have you been the past few days? You had me worried sick you know! Not showing up at the cafe without telling me! No phone calls, no letters, nothing! I've tried calling, you never answered until now," Blake looked down at the phone machine and noticed the "New Messages" light blinking, "I even came by but you weren't home. What have you been up to?"
"What..? I... I just saw you today at the cafe, we had coffee together on your lunchbreak."
"Blake, that was days ago. Are you doing okay? You want me to come over?"
"Yea, I think you should."
"Okay, I'll be over there in about ten minutes, alright?"
"Sure, I'll see you then."
"Alright, don't do anything, just... just stay where you are." Melissa said, then she hung up. What was going on, he had just seen her not even a half-hour ago at the cafe. Was he really gone for a few days? No, he though, that couldn't be possible, unless it had something to do with the big tree and the shadow?
He decided to wait on the front porch of his two-story house in the middle of the cold wintry farm country while he waited for Melissa. It seemed to be much later in the day from when he left the cafe, but it only felt like a half hour since he was last there. He looked over to the west and watched the sun setting, bright as it was, fading into darkness. His thoughts went back to what he and Melissa had been speaking of. His sister, Atuli. Soon he saw a Jetta pull into his driveway and recognized it as Melissa's. He stood up and walked down to greet her. She hastily opened her car door and left it ajar as she ran up and hugged Blake real hard.
"I wasn't really gone for a few days... was I?" Blake said as he pulled her off of him and made eye contact.
"You've been gone for four days, Blake, I was worried sick about you. I called the police, but they said that you probably went on vacation or something, and that if there was no proof of wrongdoing that they could do nothing about it. Blake, where did you go? What happened to you?"
"I just went on a detour through the Wood," Blake said calmly, "I had a strange experience though."
"What happened? Oh, come on lets get inside out of the cold." Melissa said as she walked back to her car to shut the door. She locked it and set the alarm on her car, then turned back to walk up the steps to Blake’s house with him. Yet when she turned around, he was not there. There were no footprints in the snow, and the house had wooden boards over the windows. "Wha.. What’s going on?! Blake, where did you go!?" Shnd, he was not there. There were no footprints in the snow, and the house had wooden boards over the windows. "Wha.. Whatar, then turned back to walk upss s
"But Milord," Angeline began, "though he still be young, we haven’t the time to let him grown naturally. If we wish to hatch Her at the proper time, he must be hurried along."
"Oh, so, you are volunteering yourself to help him in his growth, am I mistaken?"
"Well, I wasn't... I mean..." She bowed down as far as she could then said, "Yes Sire, I will go." Angeline stuttered as she regained her previous posture then stared at her master.
"Fine, gather what you need and be on your way. Do not return until he is completed." He said. He held the ruby dagger above the half-sphere and let it dangle between two of his bony fingers before allowing it to drop onto the very center of the half-sphere. The ruby dagger stood straight up, tip on the very center, and did not move.
"By the time the dagger shatters the sphere, we are to begin the preparations. If we wait any longer, than we will lose our chance, and lose all hope. Do you understand?" The voice said and then held up a jade dagger to Angeline’s throat.
"Yes, Milord. I understand perfectly." Angeline squeaked out and she held her head up, trying to not get cut.
"Good." The voice said, and flipped the dagger about so that the hilt faced Angeline. "Take it, you will need it." He said, holding it out to her as the jade blade slowly cut his hand. "And do not forget who gave it to you. I will expect results soon, Angeline, and if none are produced, then someone is bound to lose their head." He said in a low deeper than usual voice, crackling at every word, and bending down to meet with Angeline’s height and gaze. Angeline stood motionless, frightened, and fearful of her master. After a moment of staring into her eyes, he stood straight as he could, towering six feet tall, then turned around and the long robes around him brushed Angelines body. She gave out a squeak of horror as a spider landed on her nose. She looked up to find a sapphire blade tumble over her masters head, straight down, catching the spider through the body, and hit the floor. She looked down to find the spider writhing under the blade that stood straight up from the floor, its tip buried in the wood.
"You must understand me! I saw him, I swear it! We talked for a moment and then he just disappeared! I am not lying!!" Melissa was yelling at the police officer infront of her.
"Ma'am you have to understand, he is gone. No one has occupied that home for months. Here at the Amber City PD we have dubbed it a cold case. What evidence do you have you saw him?" The police officer pointed behind him, indication the city hall where all cold cases were kept in a basement archive a few blocks back.
"I swear it, I saw him, he is alive..." Melissa said softly, then yelled louder than ever, in an almost blood curdling scream, "You know nothing! You don't know if he is alive or not, you have no proof yourselves, you don't even have a body!!" She ran out of the police department, with everyone staring at her. She hurriedly got into her car, and backed out of the parking spot. The police officer inside was baffled.
He stood there, motionless, for a few seconds. "All right people, back to your business. We have everything under control." The officer watched everyone until everything seemed back to normal, then sat down at his desk to continue working. The sound of tires screeching came from outside.
Melissa had sped off from the department, quickly making her way back to Blakes' house. The stoplight infront of her turned yellow and she tried putting her foot on the brake, but it would not budge. She was going to fast to stop in time for the light, so she kept going faster reaching over eighty miles an hour. The light turned red and Melissa was only feet from the intersection. Then, a large container truck drove across the street infront of her, and she slammed on her brakes, but it was no use. Her car then went under the container, trimming the top half of the vehicle off. Her car kept going and the street ahead curved off to the right, but her car went straight, across oncoming traffic of the four-lane road.
The container truck had stopped and the top of her vehicle lay crumpled on one side of it. Horns blared as her car crossed traffic, many swerved, but a corvette could not in time. The two cars hit straight on, Melissa’s car going over the Corvettes hood and launching her car five feet in the air. Melissa had sat up by this time. She had bent down; resting her head on the passenger seat as her car went under the container truck. Her car landed in the grass of a park, and she again tried the brakes, but they still would not work. Her car ended up ramming a tree, and Melissa hit her head on the steering wheel right before the airbags deployed.
Melissa was still conscious and she began to slowly move. Her legs were bruised along with her arms and torso. She was very sore and did not want to move, but felt like she needed to get out of there. Her car door was already open and a hand was extended out to her, barely able to see and still a bit dizzy she reached out for the hand.
"Thank you," Melissa said calmly, but in a shaky voice,"Did I hurt anyone?" But the person helping her out said nothing. Now that Melissa was thinking about it, the person’s hands were ice cold. Once standing on solid ground she quickly pulled her hand from theirs and tried to focus on the person. Once visible the shadow that had helped her began to move away. She slightly jumped at the sight of the shadow, not knowing what it was. Melissa backed against the tree that she had hit while the smoke from her car billowed out and went along with the wind. The skies were a dark orange and the surrounding area seemed almost black.
"What’s going on," Melissa whispered to herself, "what’s going on?!"
Off in the distance Melissa could see another, bigger, shadow moving. The one that helped her up was standing far away now, watching her. It extended its long thin arm out in a direction away from town, and the bigger shadow. The bigger shadow was barely visible, though it seemed to be moving closer. Melissa slowly crept around to the backside of the tree she had hit and then to the opposite side of her car from the big shadow. She knelt behind her car and slowly opened her passenger side door, finding her bag and pulling out a small handgun. The humanoid shadow had disappeared from view, the big shadow was more visible now, and seemed to be as big as a car, though it was on all fours like a dog. It opened its mouth and emitted a loud screeching noise. Melissa covered her ears from the painful sound and tightly shut her eyes. The big shadow stopped and Melissa looked around frantically, though no one else was visible around her like everyone had disappeared. She looked back towards the larger shadow to find it up where she had been on the other side of the car. It was nosing around in the snow. Low growls coming from its pointed snout every now and then. Melissa slowly backed off from her car hiding behind more, farther away, trees while holding the handgun out towards the large shadow. Eventually Melissa was far enough away from the creature to move at a steady pace without being noticed, so she did so, moving in the direction the humanoid shadow pointed, a direction she knew nothing about.
It seemed like she was in a forest now. Trees all around with vines, moss, and little bushes growing in various places. Melissa moved slowly, holding her gun out ready to fire. The sky was still an eerie dark orange. It was strange; she could not hear much of anything other than her own crunching of snow under her feet. No birds or forest animals were making any noise. She seemed alone in this world. She did not like it.
Blake had reached the main highway by this time. He tried catching a bus to town, but no one seemed to notice him, infact, no one even seemed to be around anymore. After Melissa drove off, he hadn't seen another soul. Well, he did see the shadow, but he didn’t necessarily deem it as human. He went on the side of the highway, walking towards the town where he and Melissa had coffee together. The sun had fallen and it was almost black besides the occasional streetlight he came across going down the road. Snow was lightly falling across the land. As he walked in a black area between two streetlights he heard something moving a slight distance off the road in the bushes. Blake stopped and tried looking out towards the sound but could see naught.
"Prolly just a rabbit." He said to himself and kept walking. This time he heard a loud cracking like that of a tree breaking in half, and he jolted to the opposite side of the road, hid in the darkness, and watched the area from where the noise had come. A small roar came from that area then a large bloody bone was thrown into the middle of the street light followed by a larger creature. Just like the one Melissa had seen, but this ones details were visible. It had a long snout, a long naked tail and body, and blood red shining eyes. It was as big as a car, and very muscular. Bearing scars of battles, and bloody skin, the creature walked out and stepped on the bone, breaking it like a toothpick. Blake slowly began to move in the direction of the city. Trying not to be seen by the creature, he walked off the road and almost into the ditch.
It was pitch black out now besides the occasional street light. Blake could barely see anything beyond the reach of the lights. But just for the sake of survival, he turned off the main highway onto a side street. He heard a louder roar from the creature and turned back to see it illuminated under one of the street lights slowly moving towards town, its large long claws tapping the icy ground every time it stepped. Luckily Blake had moved along the side street away from the creature. He turned down another road that followed along side the highway, but in a residential area. Strangely, no lights were on in any house.
He did not like his situation, after a moment or two he realized he and the creature were level with eachother in their direction towards town. The only things separating the two were the houses, and the ditch on the side of the road. The sound of the creatures claws tapping on the icy ground were enough to scare anyone. Blake snuck around one of the houses and into a backyard. He climbed over the fence quietly; hoping the creature would not hear him. When he climbed the fence and got to the other side, he stepped on a puddle of ice, cracking it and making some noise in the seemingly quiet world. The creature stopped moving, Blake froze where he was. Scared ****less of what might happen next, Blake watched the creature as it sniffed the air. It suddenly stopped, waited a few moments, and then began walking towards town as it was before.
Blake gave a sigh of relief, and put his other foot down on the ground, this time careful not to break any more ice. He slowly crept out onto the highway, still no one else in sight. As he was walking a good distance behind the creature he noticed something shiny in the ditch. So he then slid down the small embankment of the ditch and dug through all the crap down there to find a dagger. It looked blue, and somewhat clear. But it was very sharp. Blake tested it out on a small two-inch thick sapling closeby, and it cut through like a hot knife on butter.
He was too concentrated on the dagger to notice that the tapping of the claws had stopped. The creature smelled the air again, then slowly turned its head towards the dagger. The creature opened its mouth and gave a shattering roar then began running towards Blake, death in its eyes. Blake heard the roar and was yanked out of his curious state into being frightened. He quickly ran through all the muck of the ditch to the other side of it and tried climbing another fence; the creature had reached him by this time and tried biting at his leg, though Blake got over in time. The creature gave another screech and rammed through the wood fence.
Blake ran around the house and tried its front door, hoping to confuse the creature. Though the door was locked. He smashed his fist against the door, then slimy slobber fell onto his fist, and he looked up to find the creature on the roof of the house watching him. It then sprang down ontop of him and tried biting at his face, but then suddenly stopped. Blake had been thrown against the cement walkway of the house, and the heavy creature lay ontop of him. He tried heaving the creature off, and wondered why it wasn’t moving. Without any luck the creature just lay there, seeming to be dead.
"Get this thing off of me!" Blake yelled out of frustration. Then a warm liquid was felt on his body, and he feared that he was wounded.
He eventually found his way from under the creature to find that it was not him who had been wounded. First of all, the dagger had pierced the creature’s chest. Second, there was a spear in its back. Had someone helped him out? But he hasn’t seen anyone for hours. Blake looked around hoping to see someone else. Yet to no avail, he seemed to still be alone, though he knew someone had to be out there, watching him.
After some time of trying to move the creature, he finally was able to retrieve the Sapphire dagger from its underbelly. The creatures blood was a dark red and smelled foul. The dagger was retrieved from its chestplate, right where the heart would be in a human. Once he retrieved the dagger, Blake snatched up the spear as well. The spear was a wooden pole about four inches in circumfrence, and approximately five feet long with a five inch spear-head carved from stone. Just then, there was a small earthquake, the trees were swaying and a few of the weaker or older ones fell and Blake could definetly feel it.
He hgot down to the ground so he wouldn't lose his balance and tragicallyy fall onto one of the weapons he just picked up, and sat to wait it out. The earthquake only lasted a few seconds followed by a small aftershock. Once everythign was over, he stood up and looked around again to see if he could see anyone. But, yet again, no one was visible, so he climbed back over the fence and back onto the highway, still in the dark except for the streetlights.
Melissa hugged a tree tightly as large tremors of the earthquake passed right under her feet, from where she was the earthquake seemed like a nuke went off but five feet behind her. She could hear the older, taller, and larger trees struggling to stay standing, some of them coming down in a loud crash to the forest floor. She had confidence in the tree she so tightly hugged that it would stay standing. She hugged that tree so tightly because she knew that at this magnitude of an earthquake there was no way in the world she could keep herself standing without support. She patiently waited for it to pass, and after a few seconds it did. As with Blake's encounter,aftershcks went trembling by as the earthquake began to simmer down.
Once it was over, she let go of the tree and looked around. All she could see around her were trees, trees and more trees like an endless forest. The only thing different from the trees that stood out was the barely visible mountain in the distance. The darkness had set in around Melissa long ago; all she had for light was a small keychain flashlight, which did not help much at all. No noises came from the forest other than tree branches rubbing agaisnt eachother in the winds.
Melissa continued to look around, and then she saw a white light off in the distance. Seeing as how that seemed the only light source around, she decided to seek it out. As she walked through the woods, stumbling over fallen twigs, bushes and tree roots, she noticed a light green light coming from a distance. Not in the same direction as the white light was. She decided to go check out the green light first before going to the other light. She had to climb over *************************s toy car to fit through, so how had this car reached this far into the woods? Melissa moved around to the side of the light to look at the car closer, for the light was blinding her. She was surprised to find that it had been her car, but she left it a while back ago at the accident. She held the Jade dagger tightly, ready for use in case anything were to happen.
In the distance the shadow watched her. Standing behind a tree, it moved out of its cover and slowly towards Melissa. Melissa got into the driver side of the car and began looking through the glove compartment for anything useful. The shadow moved through the trees directly headed for her.
Melissa froze. She sensed something was behind her. How she knew, she did not know, but she knew for sure something was there.
In an eerie voice that seemed like many suffering souls spoke,"You***************************
"Excuse me Ma'am. I need to get through." A young male voice said behind Melissa. She turned around to find that she was on a sidewalk in the middle of town. A young man stood infront of her with a dolly and some boxes. Melissa got out of his way; he thanked her then continued on his way along the sidewalk. The sounds of the busy little town grew back and the bright day had returned. She squinted her eyes at the light from the sun and found her way to a long shadow cast by one of the many buildings. She looked around and saw her car in great condition. It looked almost new, with no markings on it at all.
"Was I just dreaming..?" Melissa whispered. She relaxed her body then heard a clatter of glass on cement and looked down. The jade dagger had fallen from her hand. She quickly picked it back up and concealed it so no one could see, then got into her car.
Melissa drove off out of town towards Blake’s house. When she arrived there was a silver sadan in the driveway, and the house looked freshly painted and redone. She got out of her car and walked up the driveway towards the house. Behind her a school bus pulled up and stopped to let students off.
Melissa turned around for a moment and saw a few teenagers get off the bus, most of them walked up or down the street, a few crossed, but one walked towards her.
"Hello. Do I know you?" The young boy said. He looked about seventeen, carried a school bag with a shoulder strap, and had short black hair. Once within range it was noticeable that his eyes were different colors. His left eye was green, while his right eye was blue. He just stood there and smiled. "My names Saku. And you are..?"
"Oh, I'm Melissa. Do you live here?" She said pointing at the house.
"Yes, my mother just bought the place not too long ago, why do you ask?"
"My friend used to live here. I'm looking for him. His name is Blake. Do you know who owned this place before you moved in?" Melissa asked, hoping to get some information on Blake’s whereabouts.
"This place has been abandoned for years, or so I've heard. Seemed to be in pretty bad shape when me and my mother looked at it." Saku said, then looked towards the house when he heard the door shut. His mother stood on the front porch watching the two. Melissa looked up and was amazed at what she saw.
"Saku, who are you talking to?" Saku's mother said, a hint of curiosity in her gaze.
"Just someone who use to know the owner of this place, mother. She says she’s looking for him. Do you know anything about a 'Blake'?" Saku asked kindly, setting his bag down on the ground.
"No I don't know anything. I thought this place was abandoned for a long time? Hasn't been anyone living here in decades. I'm sorry Miss, but you must have the wrong house." She said, now looking at Melissa.
"I believe this is the right place. umm.. What was your name again?" Melissa inquired.
"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me," She said as she walked down the steps of the porch and held out her hand to Melissa, "I'm Atuli."
Winds howled in-between buildings, kicking up dust, powdery snow, and debris. The town was a wasteland; it looked as though not a single living soul had been here for a long time. The windows seemed smashed out of the buildings, trees lay in the roads, cars destroyed, powerlines and telephone poles lay across a few cars. Blake wondered what happened here, why was everything like this.
He looked casually at the cars through the windows. Most of the windows had been covered in a light dust, making it difficult to see into any of them. Passing one car, Blake decided to look inside. He opened the driver’s side door, and almost vomited. People had died here, people who were innocent.
He walked down the icy road, having to go around fallen trees and cars. This was definitely the town he was in not to long ago, but it was so transformed. A thin fog had rolled in cutting the visibility a decent amount. Then it showed... the young girl’s silhouette, standing in the middle of the road.
"I shall not flee from you anymore. I will stay... for you." The silhouette said in a calm voice of many men and women together. The shadow moved forward a few feet and then stopped about six feet infront of Blake. Seemingly out of its body, the shadow pulled out a long Onyx sword.
"You will need this to survive." The shadow spoke again, flipping the Onyx sword in its hands so the hilt pointed towards Blake, who slowly stepped forward.
"What will I need it for? Why are you hec”
“You still haven’t told me who ‘She’ is.”
“I believe you should find out for yourself than hear it from me.”
“Then I will not agree. I want to know who ‘She’ is before I decide.”
“Fine… I’ll take you to Her.”
“Thank you. So, where are we?”
“We are in Amber City. This is what may come to your world if you do not act.” The shadow said as it began to move away. “Follow me. We are to go see Her now.”
Blake followed the shadow along the dusty, dark roads of the city. Turning here and there, it seemed as though they were heading to the center of town.
“Hey, that’s the café me and Melissa were in the other day.” Blake said as they passed the cafe that he and Melissa had had lunch in before. The cafe's windows were busted out and the inside looked charred.
“In this world ‘the other day’ was fifteen years ago. I’m surprised you can still recognize it. Everything here was practically destroyed when the mountain blew.”
“What? When does the mountain go off?”
“Ten years from your worlds time.” Said the shadow,"If you do not wish for this to pass, then you will help me. Her birth is the beginning of the disaster... We are getting closer."
In the city center, a large building stood in the center surrounded by the circular road. The building was not of the human world. It stood hundreds of stories tall, glowed blue in some spots, and seemed a dull, dark metallic. There was a mote-like gap between the roads and the tower, almost impossible for anyone to cross without help.
"Here it is, this will take us to see Her before Her birth. Afterwards if you wish I will show you 'her' in this realm. Though I would advise against it."
"Why?"
"Because, if She becomes aware of our presence She will do anything and everything in Her power to stop you."
"Oh. Well, I think I would prefer to stay alive."
"Good, let us continue."
The shadow moved toward the tower, and as it did so, the blue glowing sections of the tower popped out from its side and began forming a bridge to the tower edge. The shadow was moving right where the bridge was being put together like a puzzle. Blake followed a distance behind, not wanting to fall off. As the blue glowing pieces of the bridge formed, they lost their luminescence and became dull and dark like the tower. Once the bridge was completed, the shadow reached the edge of the tower.
"I shall return in a moment, do not move." Said the shadow in its voice of many, then walked towards the tower and straight through the wall. After a moment the place where the shadow had crossed through began to glow blue, just as the bridge pieces had, yet seemed to be spreading. Squared cracks formed in the side of the tower, and the blue glow moved from the pieces to the cracks forming a maze-like design on the side of the tower than began spreading across the entirety of its surface. Eventually the shadow returned form inside the tower and where the shadow had passed through began to piece apart, one by one until an archway formed.
“Let us continue through.” The shadow spoke, pointing its shadowy arm out towards the archway.
“What’s inside?” Blake questioned, starring into the black abyss on the other side of the archway.
“A portal to the beginning, before Her birth. If you wish to know about Her, then you will go through.” The shadow said, this time moving towards Blake. “We need to get moving, this world has little time left.”
“Fine, I’ll go in.” Blake said moving towards the archway. The dark metallic bridge below Blake glowed under his foot on every step. As he moved forward the bridge began to crumble nearest the road moving towards the tower edge. The shadow followed behind Blake carefully watching him.
“So, if that was you in the forest, what did you say in that language of yours?” Blake asked, still moving towards the archway.
“That is also something you will find out on your own. I am but a shadow to make sure you stay alive, I am one to give you just enough information to get by.” The shadow lingered on the spot, then turned around looking off into the distance. "I feel a disturbance..."
"What is it?" Blake asked stepping away from the archway towards the shadow.
Without warning the shadow turned on the spot, "Go now! We must hurry!" Blake watched as the shadow flew by his side towards the archway. He looked off into the same distance the shadow had and saw a bright light.
"Do not look into it, you will be blinded! Come with me, now!!" The shadow yelled as it grabbed Blake by the arm. The moment the shadow touched Blake, everything around them seemed to stop. His heart began to race, his muscles felt like gelatin; Blake fell to the ground unconscious.
Black... black.. black. Everything was dark, visibility was nothing. Blake stood in an empty world. He looked around, but could see nothing but darkness. His body shivered at the cold, as though he was naked in the mountains. He stammered back a little, then sat on the non-existent ground and curled up for warmth. Above him the darkness split, and a tiny drop of water fell right infront of his face. As the droplet hit, it made tiny waves like in a pond, and made the sound of a tuning fork. From the spot the droplet had hit the ground, it began to freeze in a blue-ish glow. Spreading fast, Blake quickly got off the cold ground and stood once more. The iced ground stopped spreading, forming a perfect circle.
The center of the circle, the point where the droplet came down, began to crack. Something was coming from below the ice. Blake walked off the ice circle just before it shattered and a hole appeared in the ground.
Angeline stood on the building top watching Blake wander through the deserted city. She followed along his path, jumping from building to building with great strength and accuracy, especially for her age. Her wild eye that would continuously look where it wanted was concentrated on one spot, though Angeline did not know what the eye was looking at. Her one good eye was concentrated on Blake and his movements through the city. She noticed a fog rolling in from the other side of town, then huddled down below the ledge of the building she was on, for she knew an enemy approached. Watching Blake as the fog came over him, cutting visibility, she squinted her one good eye trying to see him better while the other stayed concentrated on something behind her.
“"I shall not flee from you anymore. I will stay... for you.” Angeline heard, and she looked over the ledge to find the shadow speaking to Blake. After he noticed the shadow, it looked as though it had stuck its arm into its body up to the elbow. Its arm came out, but with something else.
“What?!” Angeline whispered to herself, amazed as she glared down at the Onyx sword. “How is that possible!”
"You will need this to survive." The shadow spoke again, flipping the Onyx sword in its hands so the hilt pointed towards Blake, who slowly stepped forward. Angeline peered eagerly over the ledge of the building, standing on her stout legs, trying to see what Blake’s reaction was. All she could see was Blake’s head, which was not moving foreword.
Angeline grunted and looked around on the rooftop for anything she could stand on to see better. On the opposite end of the roof was a small wooden box, and she eagerly waddled her way across the roof to bring it back to the ledge.
Once back to the ledge, she set the wooden box down and stammered with difficulty on to the top of the box.
“We are in Amber City. This is what may come to your world if you do not act.” The shadow spoke. Angeline watched as the shadow began to move away. “Follow me. We are to go see Her now.”
The shadow and Blake began to move down the city streets past all the debris on the roads and past all the run down buildings. Angeline jumped over the gaps between the buildings once more following Blake and the shadow down the roads. Blake, down on the street level, stopped moving and was looking towards the building she was currently ontop of. Angeline waddled her way to the edge and peered over, careful not to be seen.
“Hey, that’s the café me and Melissa were in the other day.” Blake stated, and the shadow stopped moving and turned about.
“In this world ‘the other day’ was fifteen years ago. I’m surprised you can still recognize it. Everything here was practically destroyed when the mountain blew.”
“What? When does the mountain go off?”
“Ten years from your worlds time.” Said the shadow,"If you do not wish for this to pass, then you will help me. Her birth is the beginning of the disaster... We are getting closer." The shadow moved around the next corner and Blake followed behind. While going around one turn, Angeline’s eyeball that was fixated on something was looking straight out of the socket, in the direction that Blake, the shadow, and Angeline were walking. She noticed this and looked foreword to where it was looking and saw the large blue tower glowing infront of her in the middle of town.
"Here it is, this will take us to see Her before Her birth. Afterwards if you wish I will show you Her in this realm. Though I would advise against it." The shadow spoke.
"Why?"
"Because, if She becomes aware of our presence She will do anything and everything in Her power to stop you."
"Oh. Well, I think I would prefer to stay alive."
"Good, let us continue." The shadow said, as it was walking towards the tower as the bridge formed from the glowing pieces of the tower.
Angeline did not have to get anything to stand on to see over the building ledge this time. The ledge was too short for that kind of thing so she did not stand over the top of the ledge. Instead she gave an awkward look because she now knew what her wayward eyeball decided to look at for the time she was in the city. It towered over them like a human does an ant. Angeline stared at the tower infront of her in amazement for she knew its powers and she knew what it was she had to do to stop them form entering it and possibly stopping the birth of her master, her God over her life, the one who made things possible.
Angeline watched as the shadow walked through the tower wall, disappearing into its glowing side. She smiled because she finally had her chance.
“Yes, he is mine, haha. Let’s get it over with,” Angeline whispered to herself. She began speaking inaudible words and mov*********************************
“DIIIIEEEEE!!!!!” Angeline yelled and she thrust the bright ball of magic towards them, the shadow hastily moving towards the tower archway holding Blake. The moment Blake’s body was thrust into the abyss beyond the archway the shadow silhouette seemingly turned to a fine dust and was also thrust into the abyss. Once the two beings crossed the threshold of ************************************************** ****
Angelines master, Argexis, watched the half-sphere atop its pedastal as it very slowly broke. Spidered cracks had formed from the daggers tip being buried across the crystal half-sphere since he was last present in the room. Argexis stood tall, with pale skin and bony cheecks hidden behind the shadow of his hooded robes. His grey eyes flawlessy stared at the crystal half-sphere, staring into nothing. His mind wandered. He was not in the room anymore, but in his own memories. A flicker of light.
Argexis put his hands over his eyes to block the sunlight. He looked around. Below his feet was soft green grass, firm and neatly kept. An amber wooden fence infront if him, and white plastic lawn chairs behind him. He turned about and looked at the backyard of an unforgetable house... his first home.
"Mother," A young girls voice said. Argexis looked beyond the lawn furnature to find a young girl about the age of seven. She was playing with a younger child. " When are we going to the store?"
"When your father gets home we will go, alright?" An older womans voice said from the backporch of the home.
"Mother..." Argexis slowly whispered to himself in his old raspy voice, and without knowing it, moved slowly foreward with his right hand extending out to her. The woman on the porch had long blonde hair, almost to her knees. She had beutiful green eyes, and wore a baby blue tank top and shorts that had been folded up for more airflow. She stood tall and slender, but with a fierce yet calm gaze. Argexis moved across the lawn, unnoticed by anyone around. He reached the woman on the porch and reached out for her with a single bony hand.
A snow capped mountain. Tall and wide. Douglas Firs all around. White and foggy. Further down the mountain, runoff from a glacier turns into a lake. A lake frozen over, hills all around, a single small beach laiden with rocks and twigs. Footsteps are heard from within the forest, crunching in the snow. A dark overcast day, thick fog everywhere. The footsteps grow louder. A man emerges, about the age of thirty with shaggy hair and thick stubble on his chin wearing a thick ************************************************** ************************on land of the ice holes location, the man tested the ice to see if it would hold his weight. He slowly put one foot on the edge of the ice, and then presses down. Nothing happened besides a few air bubbles below the surface moving around. He carefully moved across the ice to the area he spotted before, follwing his predecessors prints to the same location.
He set his bucket and fishing rod down and bent down to take a look at the hole in the ice. An oval shaped hole was in the surface, on its edge were shards of ice that were pointing up in a diagonal way. Some of the ice shards looked as though they had been stained black. In the middle the ice was almost slushy, not completely frozen over yet, but looked as though whatever happened had happened a while ago.
He turned over to his bucket and searched through it, then from inside his bucket he took out a hammer. With the flat side he barely tapped the slush in the middle. Below the slush was a thin layer of ic************************************************ *******************************************_
He walked back over to the hole and got his fishing rod off the ice. Looking through the bait bucket he found a nice sized salmon head, and then hooked it to his line and lowered the bait into the lake. Not even ten seconds later he felt a heavy heave like a one ton block of steel just got hooked to his line, he tried wrestling it back up. The muscle in his left arm seemed to spasm slightly. He yanked on the pole left and right, up and up. His feet began to slide on the icy surface, pulling him towards the hole. When he was not even five inches from the edge, the line snapped and he fell backwards from the force of his pulling. He hit his head hard on the ice, leaving a small spidered crack where he had hit. Rubbing his head, he sat up. He looked around, and aparently it seemed he slid a foot or two from where he had stood.
"**** that ****, man." He said. He picked himself up and walked over to pick up his bucket, and watched under the ice to make sure nothing was there. He felt the surface of the lake go up about an inch and then back down. He ************************************************** *********************
"What the hell do you want from me!?" He yelled at the ice next to his face. The ice went up again, but this time something broke through on the other side of the lake. A sound of shattering glass came from the other side, and shards of glass-like ice landed next to his head, catching one of his fingers. He pulled his hand back in reflex, but ended up tearing part of his flesh on the sharp ice. A low hissing sound came from the spot as a big black shiny mass of liquid formed a bubble-like sphere above the area. Strings of the mass began rooting out across the lakes surface, movinng very fast. The man got up fast and began to run for shore grabing the bucket as he ran, but did so in vain. The black roots caught up to him and twirled around his ankles, searing his skin as it did. He screamed and dropped his bucket, the hammer and fish guts spread across the ice. He fell once more to the ice surface, this time making the spidered crack go bigger, almost breaking through the surface. The roots were draging him towards the large mass of black. He thrashed around as the black roots embedded themselves into his skin, burning and tearing as they did, and kept moving up him, engulfing his feet. He reached out across the ice for something and his hand fell apon the hilt of the hammer, he snatched it up without thinking and banged the sharp end into the ice to stop his progression towards the mass.
A large chunk of the mass melted off and dived back into the lake's icy water. Like large serpents the roots of the mass slithered across the underbelly of the ice towards the man. Once they reached him they shot straight up like spikes through the ice, one piercing his arm. Blood began to show on the ice, more of the spikes had gone through his body, piercing his shoulder, abdomen and legs. The tips of the black spikes spread out to prevent the man from getting up. The black mass on the other side of the lake began to form a dragon like serpent. It bore no eyes but had sharp black teeth. The all black serpent turned around in a series of circles to stay in the same space but grow out into its enormous length. It slowly moved upwards, growing longer and longer as it did.
The man, barely conscious looked through bloodstained eyes up towards the black serpent. The serpent turned and looked blindly at him, then hissed loudly.
"****... you.." The man said slowly through dying lips, then spat a wad of blood at the creature. The serpent hisssed louder then moved fast upwards in a straight line. About one hundred feet up it made a loop then came down faster. It had closed its mouth and the tip was razor sharp. The serpent came down on the man w
"Master!" She yelled, throwing herself to his side. She tapped his forehead with one index finger and a small glittering green light was transfered from her finger to his forehead.
"Ugh... Angeline.. is that you?" Argexis said slowly, his eyes still closed. He felt around him with one of his bony hands and found Angelines. She held his hand comfortingly, with a kind of warmth. He withdrew his hand from her grip then began to sit up.
"Yes its me, Angeline, my master. What are you doing on the floor?" Angeline asked, running her hands over his body to make sure of no wounds.
"I... I was dreaming, I must have blacked out for a while." He said in a surprised voice, watching Angeline. "You had better have gotten the job done, or there will be a price to pay, Angeline." Argexis said in his deep, raspy, normal voice now.
"I'm sorry... they got away before I could attack." She said, standing up from her master, he stood too. He lifted one of his bony hands and moved his long, thin fingers in a patter of sorts. A black bubbling magic formed near the palm of his hand. He lifted his hand up high and then the black magic expanded slighty and then flashed a dark purple and was gone.
"What was that you just did?" Angeline asked as she backed away form her maser, scared of what he may do next.
"Releasing more of Her creatures, plagueing this world." Argexis said. "Did you finish the job?" He asked Angeline, staring into her eyes with a penetrating gaze.
"They got away through the city center gateway. I couldn't stop them before they crossed the threshold... But I'll get them next time." Angeline said with half-confidence that her master would let her live to prove this right. She cleared her throat and looked nervously back into her masters eyes. Eventually becoming unbearable, she looked away.
"You have failed me then?" Argexis said, putting both hands together like a prayer,"You know what this means, do you not, my dearest Angeline?"
"P-please, you can't kill me, I am still of use to you, please." Angeline stammered backwards, moving away from her master. Argexis moved the palms of his hands away from one another, but his fingertips still touched. Inbetween the palms of his hands was another black bubbling magic, but this one began forming something.
"No! P-please, m-master, you can't! The boy still has the sword!" Angeline screamed out fearful of what he was summoning.
"What did you just say?" Argexis stared at Angeline with a serious curiosity. "Who still has what sword?"
"The boy from the town, the one you sent me to kill. He has the Onyx sword with him, the shadow gave it to him at the towns edge." Angeline said, watching her master with trembling eyes.
"Ah... yes. Thats when she gave it to me, thanks for reminding me, Angeline." Argexis pushed the palms of his hands together again, closed his eyes and then began to whisper a chant under his breath. With his eyes still closed, he continued to chant, longer and longer the chant became. When he opened his eyes, they were completely black, like pure black marbles. He opened the area between his hands to reveal a swords hilt. He made a series of quick movement and a long black sword formed out of thin air, seeming to come from one of his palms, while the other hand held the hit of the sword and pulled out its length.
"The boy is supposed to be dead before the dagger," Argexis pointed the long black swords tip towards the dagger over top of the half-sphere," breaks the damn sphere! Do you understand that? He is the only thing that can reverse what has happened here, his death is our only hope, do you understand!?"
"Yes, Master, I do. Please, give me another chance, I can make things right." Angeline stared at her master with puppy dog eyes. She backed herself against a desk in the room and searched frantically for something to protect herself with. Her hand fell apon a long knife and she grasped it tightly under her robes.
"You have had your chance, and you failed. So aparently, you don't understand, and I do not need someone to slow me down!" Argexis yelled then swung the large black sword in his hands over his head, and down apon Angeline. She squeeled and jolted to one side, barely missing the blade. She readied the knife in her hands and then muttered, "Setu vanash!" She thrust the knife through her robes, out of her hands and towards her master ingulfed in a black magic surrounding the blade. Argexis quickly manuvered his sword to block the knifes attack.
"You incompetant fool, how dare you attack me!" He yelled and rushed at her swinging the black sword rapidly. As he swung the sword around him gaining distance on Angeline he, without knowing, hit the half-sphere just barely with the black swords tip. Angeline frantically looked for anything to help and came to only one conclusion.
“Vuntra nae!” She yelled and a black archway with a black swirling mass apeared and she ran through. The moment she crossed the threshold, the archway began to collapse. The black sword, seemingly out of nowhere, was thrust into the vanishing hole of a portal. A loud scream was audible from the other side of the archway, and the sword was yanked back before the portal closed completely.
A loud crack was heard and Argexis turned around to see a large crack going down the side of the half-sphere. He became enraged when he saw this and walked with impatience towards the door leading out of the room. On his way out he grabbed a sheeth on a desk and thrust the black sword into it and then into his robes. With one flick of his hand the door swung open with a loud crack on the stonework outside and he left the room, closing the door just as hard.
A crow stood on a tree branch picking at its feet. The forest floor littered with orange and yellow leaves, the trees as bare as skeletons. A light snow was falling, covering up the majority of the forest floor. The trees were a decent amount away from eachother, enough for car to drive inbetween comfortably. But their branches reached out and intertwined with one another, making it almost impossible to see through the canopy. The crow looked up from picking its feet, looking at a spot at the forest floor with its black beady eyes. The leaves on that spot began to burn slightly, but not catch fire. The crow screeched and jumped from the branch, putting its wings out at full length. It flew away from the spot it was at, knowing somthing was coming. The spot the crow had been looking at flashed a dark purple that stayed present and grew at a fast rate engulfing the area in a burning wave. The crow was caught in the wave and was braught down to the forest floor, burnt but not dead. The wave retreated back to a small sphere of bubbling black magic, leaving the trees scorched, the leaves left to ashes, and the snow melted and evaporated. The bubbling ball of magic, about the size of a tennis ball, grew larger to the size of a volleyball.
The crow, missing a good majority of its feathers, tried flying again. It became airborne but could not gain altitude. The black mass burst in a splatter of black droplets, covering the area with these drops that bubbled where they hit, eating away at everything in their way like acid. From where the mass exploded, a small black line slithered through the air towards the crow. The crow had flown a good ditance by now, but the black line caught up with it, and hit the crow in the back of the head like a needle. The entirety of the black line burrowed itself in the crows head and took over its body.
Back where the droplets were burning through everything, they gathered in a circle. One by one the droplets popped out of their acid burned holes and came together in the circle. The mindless crow now taken over by the black line flew back to the droplets and landed in the midst of the circle they formed. All at once the droplets attached themselves to the crow like magnets and ate away at its flesh. When they were done nothing was left of the crow, but the droplets now one giant mass, began forming a large figure. A loud roar came from the center of the area.
A pulse of energy burst from the center outward, knocking over the weaker and dead trees. The pulse was a dark neon purple, like a blacklight, with shining pieces like fresh cut diamonds flowing with it. Another booming roar, like a train speeding past. Black bubbling magic formed in spots around the area while the pulse still fled. Another pulse from the center, this one stronger than the last, pushing over everything, and even pushing the earth down into a crater. A large black serpent exploded from the center, like the one in the lake, but once a good distance out seven wings erupted from its body. Four wings on the right side, and three on the other. Legs were also visible, large and muscular with long sharp claws. Where the eight wing would have been, a large cannon-like tube thrust out like the wings stub, but hollow. The missing wing was nearest the front, near the elongated neck and head.
The giant creature was shooting up out of the ground at an enormous rate of speed. Its neck was aproximately one hundred twenty feet long, one third the length of its body. Its wingspan more than a mile wide. Its wings were black, but translucent. Light was barely visible through the membranes of the fleshy wings. Its wings, there being seven of them, were long and thin compaired to the rest of the body. It's tail was still flowing from the center of the previous pulse. The neck of the dragon was composed of many black square like rings, the armor of the dragon. Its neck flowing through the center of the squared rings. The squared rings small in circumfrence at one end and and large at the other, with the large ends corner coming to sharp points. Another roar as the tail detached from the cratered earth, forming the last part of the dragon.
Once completely out, the tip of the tail touched the ground, and the dragon looked like a black statue, not moving, its tail curled, its wings spread, neck in a single swirl, teeth bore, and its seven shiny diamond eyes staring upwards. It opened its mouth and eminated a single roar, a soft roar. Waves rippled through the air like water, and the ground below began to dry and crack like a desert. One of the diamond eyes shone a bright green, overwhelming in color. Then the green light shot out from the eye and away from the dragon. That single eye became as hard as a rock and the stonework began to slowly spread down the dragons body. A second eye shone an overwhelming shade of blue, burst out of its eye and shot in a different direction than that of the green light. That eye too turn to stone and began to spread throughout the body, speeding up the previous stones spreading.
The five remaining eyes did the same, one by one, shining overwhelming shades of gold, silver, red, purple, white, and black. Once the black light shone and shot away from the dragon, there was no power stopping the spread of the stone across the body of the dragon. The stone spread quickly, the shiny black surface of the dragon turning to stone almost instantaniously. It took only seven seconds for the entirety of the dragons body to be engulfed in stone. A weak magic held the dragon in its position, not even a fraction of an inch of the dragons surface held it off the ground by its tail.
"Come, that is our destination." The shadow spoke, slowly walking out of the shadows. "That is where She begins. We will appear before Her birth and watch Her grow, for She grows fast." The shadow walked foreward, then turned around on the ice circles edge. "Coming?"
"Y-yea... I'm freezing here... lets go." Blake stammered out of his mouth. He slowly walked foreward and stopped next to the shadow.
"Grab my hands." The shadow put forth both black hands still as a sihlouette, barely visible against the almost completely black background. The only thing illuminating it was the blue-ish glow of the ice. Blake put out his hands and grasped the shadows. The shadow held his hands for a moment, as if reminiscing about something past. "Close your eyes."
At once they both closed their eyes, and then began to fall sideways, falling into the perfect circle of ice. The ice was hollowed in the middle, so they hit nothing as they fell. The darkness shattered in glimering diamond like shards. They were falling from the sky.
Below them was the earth, orange and white in the sunset and from the fallen leaves of autumn. The wind whipping past them, blakes hair flapping everywhere, his clothes doing the same. The shadow looked like a black bullet; large and had a misty tail flowing behind.
Back up at the ring of ice in the darkness, something began to emerge from the dark. A pair of baby blue gems stared out of its head as eyes. A large black tattered, hooded robe covered its foul body. It stood at least thirteen feet tall. Its arm length from fingertip to fingertip was about nine feet. In one hand a long wooden staff with a scyths blade at its tip was held, proping the creature up. Within the bowels of its gown was a thin, long blade used to kill its victims with. It bent down, the large gown flowing around it and settling on the ground. The gown it wore was fifteen feet long, two feet of excess torn fabric lay on the ground around the creature. Its long bony fingers curled around the edge of the icy circle. Then after sticking one foot out infront of it, the creature jumped from the edge down into the circle, following Blake and the shadow. The darkness around it shattered and an orange sky came into focus. One mile below it, falling, was Blake and the shadow.
"What the hell! Do something, or we'll hit the damn ground!" Blake, now with his eyes opened, yelled at the shadow. The shadows bullet like form began to move over to where Blake was falling, the black mist of its tail rushing past Blake like a downpour of rain. After a minute of falling, the Earth finally began to seem within a few seconds distance away. Bold lines began jutting out of the shadow, forming around the shadows bullet like tip and gathered together. Once together they shot faster than Blake and the shadow were falling towards the ground. They hit the ground then began to expand rapidly into solid, soft baloon like bubbles.
"Stand straight up." The shadow stated to Blake who positioned his feet towards the ground as the shadow said. In one solid action, the shadow bullet hit the bubbles and the bubbles exploded in a mass of black droplets covering everything in the surrounding area. The surrounding area was a grass field with woods on all sides but one, which contained a road. Blake was lying on the soft, yet damp grass. He stood up and looked around, but saw nothing but black stained grass and one tree within fifteen feet covered in the droplets.
The creature above them was still falling. Its long gown flowing behind it, the winds worsening the tattered edges of its clothing. It held its scythe in one hand and drew its sword with the other. It stared into Blakes soul and was reaching for him with its mind. Down at the grass field, the shadow began reforming itself. All the black droplets disabsorbed themselves from everything and reformed into one solid mass that eventually became the shadow.
"The sword!" The shadow yelled once it was completely reformed then without warning stuck its arm into Blake’s chest, not hurting him, but seeming to lose its arm inside him. Then out came the shadows hand but with something else, the Onyx sword. A squawk like from a crow was heard above and Blake looked up in time just to see a black smear falling towards them. BAM. A sound of metal on metal. Then nothing...
Blake shot towards the road, covering his head and just kept running. The one solid clash of swords was enough to put fear in anyone. Blake reached the road and stopped in one lane and just huddled there. After a few seconds he realized he couldn’t hear anything. He made a humming noise to make sure he wasn’t deaf, and found that he was still in good health. Then he turned to one side and screamed for a second, falling over on the road. A car was infront of him, only a couple feet from him. The headlights blaring at him, but he couldn't hear the engine.
He looked over at the shadow and a big black mass of cloth was huddled over it like a torn black rose, one light blue gem shining at him from the bottom of the rose. A long silver sword was in contact with the Onyx sword, both of them still. The wind torn trees were still and the grass lay still as well. Blake stood up and, while looking around, he slowly walked to the drivers side of the car infront of him, shaking from the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The driver was still, with fear in his eyes, and a hand almost over the horn. Time was frozen to him. Blake looked back towards the shadow and the creature above it, a shower of sparks all around them... Sirens began to go off from all around.
"What the ****..." Blake said, not knowing what to do. The sirens would go loud and stay at their peak for a moment, then go back down and stay quiet for a slight moment, then get louder again. He just stood on the road for a m] ’t? The earthquake soon became unbearable and Blake fell to the ground. He noticed that Melissa and his sister, who he couldn't believe was alive, did the same. He suddenly looked over them, in the background of everything. He was dumbfounded.
A white peacefull mountain lay in the background and all of its snowy white hills of trees surrounding it. Then suddenly out of one side of it near the top, the mountain began to bulge. Eventually a hot steamy, sulfery ash began shooting out the side of the mountain, blowing the mountain to pieces. The siren still going at full blast.
"Melissa!" Blake yelled over all the noise. He tried crawling across the shaking ground towards her. She was doing the same, his sister hand in hand with Melissa.
"Blake, I love you!" this time it was not Melissa who spoke, but his sister, "RRRUUUUNNNN!!!" She yelled as hard as she could.
The mountain began to shoot out lava like old pirate cannons would fire out cannonballs. Ashes began to fall all around them like snow. Suddenly Melissa became deformed, sucking Atuli's arm into her own and Melissa became dark.
"RRRUUUN BLAKE! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!! YOU MUST LIVE!" Atuli yelled before being completely engulfed in the now pearly black mass that used to be Melissa. Fiery balls of lava began to fall apon them, some sparking and spreading across the asphalt of the road, others hitting and destroying the car, and some going into the grass field and forestry around them, catching them on fire. The black mass that engulfed Atuli began to re-form. A low-pitched humming sound was audible from the mass of black, and it was getting louder. The sirens were still wailing their warning across the land. Three blurred pieces of the black mass infront of Blake shot out in different directions, and within a few seconds all the sirens had been rendered silent.
The mass finally began to form something legible. A woman’s sandy colored skin was now visible and a purple armor shone like gems as it was being formed. A long sword, almost embedded into its arm, was seen. The human-like creature had its head down, like it was asleep and its limbs were limp at its side. The creature dropped from floating in the air slowly down to the ground. Its feet hitting the ground and holding up its weight. Then suddenly its arms went out to either side, one arm holding the elongated sword. The sword was practically embedded into its arm, showing no signs of a hand. There were dark purple veins going up the side of the shiny metal sword. It was like a Dai katana, yet wider. The sword itself almost ten feet long. Suddenly purple and green colored wings sprouted from behind it. The purple was the skeletal parts of its wings, and the green was a thin membrane between the skeletal pieces.
The creature finally lifted its head and deep-set purple eyes shone at Blake. Its wings began to beat and the creature began to come back off the ground. Its arms curled back up to its body, the sword tip pointing towards the shadow and the creature atop it, still frozen in time. Suddenly a tiny purple lightning bolt shot from the tip and hit the creature above it, the tattered rose like form of its clothing fell around it and it pressed hard against the shadow and the Onyx sword. The clothing fell around them and the shadow was no longer visible. It seemed only the creature was set free from its frozen time prison.
Back where a lonely dragon stood frozen in the stone world, a small light began to shine in one of its seven eyes. Purple veins slowly spread from that one eye that was no longer set in stone. The eye looked around, but the other eyes were a cold stone still waiting to be woken from their sleep. The purple veins did not spread far before stopping, the almost diamond scaled skin of the dragon around the veins sucked life from them, though not enough to revitalize them fully.
A dark room. Circular in shape, with a handcrafted wooden door. Tiny rays of light shone through the cracks of the door, and through the dust in the air. They illuminated crystals on a small circular pedestal, broken and glittering in the small rays. A spider, about six inches across, six legs, and six eyes crawls across the crystals. Its long thin legs show red, then orange, and then black as you went up the leg. Two small saliva coated fangs move in and out of its mouth, dripping the poisonous liquid wherever it goes.
Seven candles, covered in dust, are spread around the border of the room. Six pillars inset into the wall about halfway through their thickness. A room undisturbed for years. Suddenly, the purple candles wick was spontaneously lit, and the purple flame burned softly in the darkness.
The mutation
Oct. 23rd, 2018, 9:37 p.m.
Hello, diary. Today was yet another normal day in the lab. Another normal, boring, repetitive day in the lab. "Do this, do that", just shut up already, I know what I have to do, I don't need someone busting my ass all day long. But no, he has to be there, watching over my work, pointing out every little misdeed and mistake. I'd be twice as far along in this project if he weren’t there constantly correcting me. I was sad inside though, we brought in a kitten for testing. We needed to see the effects the material would take on a small yet energetic animal, and a kitten fits the bill perfectly. We put the kitten in a steel cage and set it on the table in the middle of the testing room. Everyone left the room and went to the observation area, where you can see the pure white room through a one ton sheet of 6 inch thick glass. He told me to release it and I hesitated just a little, before opening the hatch on the bottom of the white room. It was terrible. The "Amoria", as the head scientist calls it, seemed to possess the kitten and then kill it before slithering back into the hatch. I cried inside. 9:44 p.m.
"Kira... I'm so sorry for what I put you through, my darling." A silhouette of a human standing in a graveyard. An arm extended out and placed a small bunch of flowers on top of a large gravestone. The stone had a two-foot tall pedestal with a four-foot tall cross on top. The setting sun shone in rays broken by tree limbs. All silent but a subtle Mediterranean wind, seagulls, and the gentle hush of the tides. A tear ran down the mans cheek, sparkling in the orange sunlight setting over the Mediterranean Sea.
A hand appeared and set itself on the mans shoulder. The hand was pure bone, no flesh on it, and was shrouded in a black cloth covering up its arm and body. An Angel of Death stood behind the man, standing there, holding his shoulder. The Angel stood seven feet tall, a little under a foot and a half taller than the man standing before the grave. The Angel bent down so its face, cloaked in darkness, was level with the mans ear.
"For your sins, you shall never know death as you have shown many things." The Angel spoke slowly and with an aura of wisdom about its voice. The man just stood there, crying softly. "You have caused many people pain, many families lost without their loved ones, and many animals wrongly harmed and smitten. For this, you shall receive your punishment." The angel spoke, then raised its other hand, a scythe in it, and brought it down apon the mans front so the scythes tip went through his stomach. The bottom of the scythe pointed up, and the scythe lay inside and through the man, who was now on his knees. The Angel of Death held its hand on his shoulder, tightening its grip, and its other on the scythe’s staff. "You will know the pain you have caused, but you will not know the death your victims have come to know." It said slowly. Then pulled the scythe out of the man slowly, releasing a steady flow of blood from the man, then the Angel disappeared in a gust of wind carrying many autumn leaves.
The man held his stomach while he lay on his side, his hands a bloody mess. "Kira..." he said slowly, looking up at her gravestone. He held out a hand towards the stone, and it dripped with blood onto the clean cut grass. He then lost consciousness and his body fell limp.
**?**"What is the purpose of your research Dr. Beckman?" Kira asked as she hastily walked along side the fast moving doctor as he strode through the labs.
"The purpose of this research is so that we may better understand the functioning body of this mysterious Amoria we found in the United States some years ago." He said with a scholar’s voice, not making eye contact with Kira as she quickly jotted down notes on her notepad.
"What have you found out about this 'Amoria' so far, doctor?" She asked, jotting down her question in her shorthand on her pad.
"What we know so far is in room-temperature, it is a liquid. But the liquid forms itself into an infinite amount of things, moves around as it pleases, and shows signs of hostility, thus showing us it has intelligence. Though, we have not found any solids in our scans indicating that the majority, of not the entirety, of the Amoria is purely the same thing. Meaning if you took two samples of it from anywhere on it and compared the two samples, they would be exactly the same in every way. Unlike most every other living thing. Humans for example. If you took a sample of a bone you would find it hard and dense, some parts of it resembling a sponge. Compared to a muscle, which is soft and fibrous and reacts to nervous pulses, you will find that even though they come from the same specimen, they are completely different in almost every aspect." The doctor explained to Kira using hand gestures. The hallway they were hastily walking down was white with fluorescent lighting set where the wall meets the ceiling, covered by curved sheets of plastic so that the wall seamlessly blended into the ceiling. The floor and the walls had the same curvature as the ceiling and the walls had, though the ones on the floor had no lights in them, just a shiny white surface neatly cleaned.
"You said in room-temperature, no?" Kira asked, jotting more and more down apon her pad. She got to the bottom of her sheet and flipped it over to reveal a new, clean, unwritten apon piece of white lined paper. When she flipped the paper over her pink fluffy ended pen fell out of her hand. Dr. Beckman turned around and picked up her pen.
"You are not to be taking notes, Ms. Tidwell. This is a top-secret facility. You will be provided with your own information at our expense, not at your own. May I see what you have written thus far?" Dr. Beckamn asked, holding out his hand with an eyebrow raised, staring at her without movement. Kira stood there, holding her clipboard against her chest, staring through her black rimmed glasses at the Doctor. She reluctantly gave the clipboard to him.
"Thank you." He stated and without looking at her notes, tore them off the clipboard, crumpled them up, and took a lighter out of his pocket to light them aflame.
"What are you doing?!" She moved foreword hesitantly, an arm reached out as she watched what she had written burn as it fell to the ground.
"I'm ensuring this information does not get outside of these walls, Ms. Tidwell." He said, looking at her with a half-smile...**?**
"Do you feel it yet?" The slow wisdom filled voice of the Angel said. "Do you feel the anger you have caused many people? Do you feel the agony, the hatred, the grief you have caused allot of people, Doctor Beckman?" The Angels voice seemed to go to a low whisper, almost out of memory and anger from its own past. "Prepare yourself for a life of death and grief, a life of worthless meaning, and a life of nothing but anguish and hatred, sadness and darkness. Prepare yourself, for if you are not, then you will surely be lost forever." The Angel stayed silent after that, as if it had gone.
"So, tell me, Akira, what happened on that day?" Dr. Beckman said, slowly.
"Uhhhn... Dr... Beckman? I... I can't remember much... The... The alarm system, the warning system... It was going off. I was in my lab. I was working on the Amoria. My room... My room locked down. The Amoria... it... it had escaped its container." Akira managed out as she laid on the hospital bed. The subtle beep of the monitor next to her going off every couple seconds.
Her body was unrecognizable. Most of her bed was red, covered in blood. She turned her head and looked out the window.
"I... is it spreading..?" She said with some surprise. Outside her window, out in the courtyard of the Hospital, it was twilight. The statue in the middle of the courtyard, so tall, so beautiful. The angel statue had on a long gown that made up the base of the statue. Its wings spread and pointing towards Heaven. Holding a staff in its right arm, and its head looking up. The staff was held as high as possible, and was vertical. The white marble of the statue was stained red in places, black in others.
"Don't worry about that, my dear. You won't have to suffer for much longer." Dr. Beckman said in a low tone of voice. He clicked the end of his pen, forcing the pens tip to appear. He began to write things down on a clipboard. "Please, continue. What do you remember?"
"The... the Amoria escaped... and it wandered around the lab... my lab..."
"Yes? What then?" Dr. Beckman stated with some curiosity.
"It... it seemed to have noticed me. I swear it... it looked at me, Doctor. As if it had eyes... The intelligent little... Thing."
"It looked at you? How do you come to that conclusion?"
"It rose from its little puddle of black matter, it rose like it had a head, like a human. The tip of it pointed towards me, as if sensing my presence. I... I was scared. I quickly rummaged through the keys around my neck and found the key for my desk droor. I unlocked the droor and pulled out my gun... I aimed at the Amoria. Be... Before I fired... it moved out of the way of my shots... Before.. I fired."
Dr. Beckman continued to write things down on the clipboard.
"Intelligence? How? It is just a mindless mass of matter. How can it have intelligence?"
"I... I don't know, Doctor. but.. it moved, it was smart."
"What happened next?"
"I fired. And it was out of the way before I pulled the trigger. Almost as an immediate reaction, it shot a needle like shape towards me, piercing my left shoulder. I... I screamed in pain." The fluorescent light above Akira dangled by one wire, and flickered on and off.
"Do you remember anything after that?" Dr. Beckman asked. He began to move to the side of Akira's bed. He clicked the pen closed, and set his clipboard on a small table next to her bed. "Anything at all?"
"No. When I was hit... I don't remember anything else. I'm sorry Doctor. I've failed you." She looked up, into his eyes. She began to cry small tears.
"No, you haven't failed me, Akira. You've been more help than you think." He said as he bent down and kissed her on the forehead. He closed his eyes, and at the same time reached his left arm down behind the bed. He fingers curled around a plug, and he pulled. The machines around Akira blipped out. Akira herself became wide-eyed, and her back flexed, pushing her body up in an arch. She inhaled, making a wheezing sound as she did. Suddenly, her boy fell limp.
"I'm sorry, my dear Akira." The Dr. Beckman said. He lifted his head from the bed and picked up the clipboard and pen. He silently left the room. Entering into the dark hallway, he stepped over infected bodies; through darkened hallways, filled with blood, hallways destroyed. Dead bodies on beds. He found his way to the entrance of the hospital. There, he met up with armed guards, clad in bulletproof vests, AK's and tazers. Dr. Beckman passed through the open doors held by the guards, and then stopped. He turned about and spoke to the guards.
"Her body is in room E207. I want it sent to the Mediterranean Sea Cemetery, and prepped for a proper burial."
"Yes, sir!" Both guards said simultaneously. They both, arms at the ready, ran into the building and off into the distance.
**?**"So your saying it was black out... and..? What next?"
"I backed against the wood bins fence. No wait, no I didn't.. Sorry, forget I said that."
"What? Why did you say it then?"
"I don't know, I'm confused, I just need to get rid of that memory because it never really happened. Just need to stop thinking about it... just... stop thinking about it..." looked into the distance, not blinking. The other person watched them as they just stared into nothing.
"Hey, you okay..?" They asked, putting their hand on their shoulder.
"What? Oh, yea I gotta forget... what was I talking about again?" **? **
My notes show to find advancing symptoms of schizophrenia and paranoia. Her mentality is failing her. She is surprisingly stable for her conditions, even when she's going through a rough mental state, she can seem very civil. Almost like a poker player. When alone, she has told me that she does things, that if around others would not be publicly accepted as "normal". She's wanted to go into the mental ward of a hospital but family has pressured her against it. She doesn't show any resistance against what her family has said, but deep down I know she wants help, and for her, a hospital may seem the only kind of ice-breaking help she can get. All others, like myself, seem to only heal her, not cure her. She spoke of a day where she had forgotten her medication, one that was Hell for her apparently. No one else intimidated her, or any such thing, but her day did not go well. She even considered not eating. Some days her appetite is small, she eats three meals a day, but she doesn’t eat until after school. She speaks of creatures following her. An Angel of Death, as she put it, or "The Devils Guardian Angel" or "Hell's Guardian Angel". Something like a regular guardian angel, just not from heaven.
She often finds herself resorting to things she doesn’t want. Like ramen noodles and soda, for example. She loves ramen, but when her stash runs out, her way of not eating anymore is to not say anything about the depleted stash. But once someone buys her more, she is right back onto eating them like candy, which by the way, she is trying to stop also. And soda. There’s nothing else to drink! But she finds herself thirsty. And the only thing in the fridge, besides beer, is either soda or Gatorade. She doesn't like Gatorade, because its for people who work out, supposed to replenish the depleted stocks of energy, but if your not working out, then what happens to the extra energy? That doesn't make her comfortable in drinking it, but when there is nothing else to drink, not even cold water, she resorts to things she doesn’t like to do.
Death is an interesting concept. Take into mind that you know not what happens afterwards. Do you get reborn as some other thing? Does your life you just spent determine what you become in your next life? Are there a Heaven and a Hell? Is there just Heaven and Hell is a propaganda to get non-believers to be faithful? Is there a God?
What would you do if you could suddenly see black winged creatures in the shapes of humans, but many times larger, skinny, pure bones, and had tattered black clothing? I see them everyday.... But is this not just propaganda? I don't really see them? Do I or not? I don't. I would like to see these things, and yet they are just figments of my imagination, my vast, never-ending imagination. My lines today... they found the sky. "The sky is the limit". Meaning, there is not limit. My lines exploded in earnest, they grew in rapid succession. Instead of being confined to the small depth of a room, they can go outside and grow to infinite sizes. Although they recede. They find that maybe someone is watching, they are paranoid. They do not want to be found by something hat is searching for them. They like solitude.
Feb. 27th 2:48 p.m.
To: hainami@hotmail.com Doctor William Beckman
From: trisemigistus@gmail.com Doctor Alice Monet
Subject: None
The death of her father didn’t even phase her for a minute. It was like she was in a different world. She doesn’t even know her own name. What are we to do with her Doctor? All of my practices don’t seem to do anything for her. Her mind is in a different world than ours, she does not respond to anything I do. We have to force feed her. She’s like a damn vegetable.
Please, let me know what you want us to do.
~Alice~
Feb. 27th 3:17 p.m.
To: trisemigistus@gmail.com Doctor Alice Monet
From: hainami@hotmail.com Doctor William Beckman
Subject: Re: None
Send her over to me. I’ll deal with her in my own way, she can be useful here. We will rehabilitate her if possible.
~Beck~
Feb. 27th 4:01 p.m.
To: hainami@hotmail.com Doctor William Beckman
From: trisemigistus@gmail.com Doctor Alice Monet
Subject: Re: Re: None
Are you sure you can rehabilitate her? I promised her family that her care would be the best.
~Alice~
Feb.27th 4:15
To: trisemigistus@gmail.com Doctor Alice Monet
From: hainami@hotmail.com Doctor William Beckman
Subject: Re: Re: Re: None
We will take the best care we can. I promise you, she will be talking and eating on her own within a month. I’m on my way over now to pick her up. Be sure she’s ready for transport.
~Beck~
Feb. 27th 4:21
To: hainami@hotmail.com Doctor William Beckman
From: trisemigistus@gmail.com Doctor Alice Monet
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: None
We will be waiting in the lobby for you Doctor.
~Alice~
"Must... destroy the planet. Must destroy mankind... must..." Argexis whispered under his breath as he wandered his mansion. Walking through the library, twenty foot walls filled with books and many desks with more books sprawled out, left open, and some even torn. "Where is it..."
He kept pulling books from the shelf, opening them up, and then throwing them over his shoulder. He had taken almost an entire wall of books off their shelves. He came across a tall, thin book, opened it up, and then grunted and threw it over his shoulder.
Only one book lay in its spot in the entire wall. The rest had been torn down, and the other walls were still partially packed with books. He reached for the final book of that wall and ran his fingers over the cover, obvious streaks of dust trailing into the air. He read the cover:
Tales of a Black Dragon
"Ah, here you are." He spoke, reaching his bony fingers around the top right of the cover, and lifted it open. Inside the front cover was a blank page.
"Rumah tu vasua." he stated gently. The middle of the blank page began to disintegrate and a recess appeared in the shape of a ring. Then, soon after, a golden ring inlaid with many ancient designs appeared in the recess. The ring was about five inches across. Argexis smiled triumphantly and grabbed for the golden ring.
"My beauty, its been too long, I'd have to say." He slipped the large golden ring over his left wrist. He held up his arm to the sky; a small flicker of sunlight shining off the chandelier. He had closed his eyes and seemed to be taking in the moment, as if reminiscing once more about something past. He stood for a few moments before a small glimmering tear appeared from underneath his eye and shimmered its way down his wrinkled, bony cheek.
"Time to test your strength once more." He said as he brought his arm back down. He looked around the library and found it in a state he did not remember, book sprawled all over everything, pages ripped out. It was the first time he actually looked at the library that day. Before, he was just searching for his prized possession, not caring for the looks of the structures or anything else, just looking.
"heh... heheh... hehaha.. hahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Argexis began to laugh uncontrollably, looking around the room as if an audience of onlookers surrounded him.
"I am your God, I am your almighty being of truth! You shall all die before me, none shall live! I am your passion, your lust, your Sin! I am the Keeper!" Argexis yelled out to his invisible audience. He spoke with such a passion, it seemed as though he truly believed people were watching him. He suddenly raised the arm with the bracelet as high as possible, his other hand clasped around the others elbow for support.
The bracelet began to glow a slight gold, then it turned purple then black. The black glow seemed to engulf his hand and then black vines began to spread out in a somewhat translucent dish shape. Suddenly a purple tube ran out of the center, extending a few feet out of the dish and five dark purple needles appeared out of the edge of the dish and ending at the tip of the tube.
"The time has come for the final test." Argexis spoke in such an evil tone of voice, the spiders around the mansion fled in fear."Target the Moon!" He spoke ferociously. The dish moved around in different directions until it seemed to lock onto something past the roof of the library. Then, suddenly, the darkness of the bracelet began seeping down into his arm, seeming to be drawing energy from him.
"What the... NO! STOP!" Argexis yelled and attempted to move his free arm off his other arm to remove the bracelet before the damage could be done, but the darkness had already seeped across his hand and wrist, gluing his hand to his arm. "NOOOOO!" He yelled, frightened.
A light began to shine inside of the cannon, near the dish, the beginning of the tube. Small lightning bolts shot everywhere among the dish and an immense power began to grow.
"AaaaaaAAAAAHHH!" A blood-curdling scream came from Argexis as he fell to his knees, the life seeming to be sucked right out of him. Then the light from the cannon shrunk to almost nothing, then immediately blast out of the cannon at high speed through the roof and past the clouds into space. The cannons stream of energy stayed constant for a few seconds before it even began to hint losing energy. All this time Argexis was writhing in pain, his arm immovable, pointed towards the heavens. The beam cannon gradually slowed its stream of energy until nothing dispersed from its bowels, and Argexis fell to the ground, half-dead. The cannons tube and dish dissolved back into the bracelet, as did the growth apon his body. He lay on the carpet, moaning in pain.
"You fool, when will you learn?" An older woman’s voice spoke rancidly from the shadows.
"Ugh... who's there...?" Argexis spoke quietly, careful not to over-exert his remaining strength.
"You can't even recognize your own mothers voice? How pitiful and annoying." She spoke, stepping out from the shadows, her tall thin body perfectly formed inside a red velvet dress. She had long dark hair, down to her waist. She walked over to where Argexis lay on the ground and bent down, looking at him square in the face.
"Argexis my child... you have failed at life, goodbye." She put one hand over his face, closing his nose and covering his mouth as her other hand closed tightly around his neck. He began to struggle, but could do nothing to help himself. His strength had diminished and he could not lift his arms, he soon fell unconscious.
"Hell's child... Bull****." She grabbed his head with both hands and twisted it, breaking his neck. She then stood and walked to his side, looking for the bracelet, soon finding it on his arm, she then grabbed it and put it on her own wrist.
"Dimensiya tuvu kasunae." She whispered slowly, the bracelet glowed black and began spreading down her arm. She lifted her head in strength and smiled as though remembering an old pleasure. The darkness completely engulfed her and then melted away into a puddle, leaving no trace of anyone where she had been.
Blake stood, stunned watching as the creature infront of him gained altitude, and its sword pointed at him as if to sign his death warrant. He turned back again to see what, if anything, had changed with the shadow and the black rose. The rose had completely fallen over the shadow, and was moving slightly.
"No... You can't die on me." Blake whispered under his breath.
A green light shined at him from a distance. He looked over, seeing it in his peripheral vision, and noticed a small green light speeding towards them. The light shot over his head and continued on towards the mountain.
A death has just occured, my dear.
"What? Who's talking?" Blake said, looking around but finding no one.
You must speak with your mind, not your mouth. But not now, you have a threat before you. Vanquish it.
But how? Blake asked in his mind.
It will come naturally. And with that, the voice disappeared.
The Winged creature infront of Blake held its one sword-arm up in the air and began to bring it down. Blake looked up in time to jolt off to one side and barely miss the blade as it smashed into the ground, making a loud noise and sending small tremors through the roads. The creature turned its head towards him as it slowly pulled the blade out of the ground.
A loud screech was heard and both Blake and the creature turned and saw the reaper huddled over the shadows lifeless body. The repear was looking fiercely at the creature and dropped the shadows body. It moved like lightning over to where the creature was, staring at the reaper. The creature had no time to react and was knocked over onto the ground, its arm breaking from the blade still being partially lodged into the ground. It moaned slightly on the ground and tried to get up, but its broken arm proved useless. The creature then began pulling away from its arm with the blade stuck in the ground.
The reaper pulled out its long sword and aimed to hit the creature on the ground. This whole time the creature was letting out little squeals of pain. The reaper held up its sword and brought it down apon the creature, but the creature pulled hard enough just before the blade struck to where its arm came completely off and the creature had rolled away in time. The reapers’ blade struck the ground and white sparks flew in all direction.
Blake in the mean time was slowly making his way away from the fighting and towards the lifeless body of the shadow.
Grab the Onyx sword.
Blake found his way to the shadows body and once he arrived the body of the shadow turned to dust and was blown away by the subtle winds. In the grass where the shadow had been laid the Onyx sword, and Blake took it. He looked back where the two were fighting and saw the winged creature crawling backwards on its one good arm away from the reaper that slowly followed its path, death in its eyes. It pulled out both scythe and sword. It readied the sword, then as the creature tried to flee, stabbed it through the diamond armor and into her heart.
The creature let out one last, ear-shattering scream and then its head fell back, dead. Its body looked like it was aging faster than anything, and began to show the bones underneath. Soon all that was left was the bones and the broken armor.
The reaper turned and looked at Blake, then fled off into the woods, leaving him all alone, with no one around. He indeed suddenly felt lonely, and in a sort of shock of what just happened.
Soon, the purple armor began to crumble and implode on itself. Soon all that remained was a small, marble sized glowing purple light. The light floated up into the air, and then shot lightning fast in the same direction as the green light had. Blake looked back where the creature had lay and on the ground unconscious was Melissa.
The sounds of the winds slowly came back and the rustle of the grass. Time was returning to normal.
Oh, no, the car! if it comes back to normal time it'll hit Melissa! Blake though and then ran out infront of the time frozen car and carefully lifted Melissa out of its way and onto the grass. Not a moment later the car came back to life, its horn blaring as it screeched to a halt, trying to stop from hitting Blake before it froze. The shaken man got out of his car and looked around, seeing Blake and Melissa, but not giving them a thought for a second. He had just seen a lapse in time, and didn't even know it.
"Excuse us, Sir, but could you help us out?" Blake called from the grass, huddled next to Melissas still unconscious body. The guy finally turned and gave them recognition.
"Uh, sure. Umm.. What just happened? I saw you fall infront of my car and then you just appeared off to the side with this girl." The man asked, slightly confused.
"Well, she was... already here, and uh, I needed to get to her, so I uh, ran across the street just as you were driving by. I didn't notice your car." Blake lied to the man with some truth in his words. Lookin | |
