The reek of rotting cadavers went unnoticed as the boy begged for his life. Darkness poured through the supernaturally isolated bedroom of the 13-year-old, wrapping him in numbness. Blood, dripping ever so slowly, made a pool in the carpet in front of his face. These weren't hallucinations; he'd learned that with difficulty. His hips were twisted the wrong way, and he could no longer move them.
The pain was gone, but he wished the fear would end. He silently prayed for the tall, dark, cackling figure to bring his unearthly hand down on his neck. The scythes of his fingers would make his anxiety vanish without a trace. He envied his older brother, whose silently grimacing head was a mere two feet away from the mangled remains of his body.
Suddenly, a burst of darkness entered the room. The boy didn't know how it could possibly get darker, but his heart was filled with hope. The end was surely near. He heard the gasp of the monstrous entity and the whistling of the makeshift blades, and suddenly -
Nothing.
He whimpered, begging for his death. I'm being toyed with. Why, God, why? A resounding thud landed next to him, and against his better judgment, he looked into the decaying, worm-infested eyes of the beast.
"You can get up now. I have work to do."
Barely as loud as a whisper, yet without any trepidation, the sultry voice shocked his fragile little mind.
"Do you want your brother back, or not?"
Reason was long lost already. There was no logic in how the Shadowman did what he did. He numbly got up and all emotion drained from his face - except for the ever-present terror, of course. He stifled a scream when he saw her.
There, not two steps away, was another Shadow. Her lithe hands held the decapitated head of his beloved older sibling, and her eyes had the same decayed look. The slim body seemed to make the darkness heavier. Skulls adorned her thin waist like a belt. Only a pale bone-colored sword, dripping with a hissing viscous ichor, broke the empty blackness of her form. The words escaped his lips without even registering in his shattered psyche.
"Please, just kill me. Don't toy with me, like he did."
With nonchalance, she asked, "What did he do?"
Her question was what finally returned his emotion back to him. He relived the sordid details in his mind of the mumbled shout that awoke him. He saw the grinning shark-like teeth of the dark figure as it stared at his soon-to-be feast. He remembered the shocked, tortured agony of his brother as the thing flayed his skin, coaxed his muscles to dance unnaturally, and finally dropped him on the ground. He felt the rush as he ran into the corner, watching the suddenly summoned corpses feasting on the body of his sibling. He heard his screams and pleas for mercy. He saw the joy on the monster's face as he hewed the head clean off of his neck.
The corpses had fallen where they were, inanimate again, and then he had felt his back twist painfully. He had screamed and then he had felt it break.
But I'm standing now. Confusion knocked him out of his memories as he stared down at his restored body.
"I fixed that for you. You couldn't get out of my way until you could walk, could you?" The question was meant to be rhetorical, but it did nothing to lighten the mood.
"What.. How.. " The questions tumbled nonsensically out of his mouth until he picked the one that seemed most appropriate. "Why are you doing this?"
"We're not all bad, you know. I can see why you'd think that, why you humans always assume, but... Look, I killed the Shadowman, for you, didn't I?"
He nodded stupidly.
"I fixed your back, right?"
He nodded stupidly.
"I put your brother's head back on..." Her intonation rose, and she blathered on a bit, be didn't hear her anymore. He looked down and saw his brother back in his bed. There was no blood, no remnants of rotting flesh, and he heard a soft snoring fill the room.
"Listen, kid. I know: you don't get it. But you will. Just give me a second to finish up. You may want to whisper a goodbye to your parents while I'm busy."
Anger filled his blood. If she brought his brother back, then what the hell did she mean "whisper goodbye?"
"Stop toying with me."
She sighed, dropping the carcass of the nightmare back onto the floor, its viscous internals spilling. "Okay. I need to get rid of this thing soon, before others come looking for him and find you. Your brother's back, he's sleeping, and he won't remember a thing. You.." She held her chin for a moment, thinking. Her finger tapped her lips. Seconds turned into hours.
"You're not going to kill me."
"No, I'm not going to kill you. The problem is this: you weren't dead. I timed it wrong. I was supposed to kill him just as he killed you. Then, I could bring you back like I did your brother, and turn his body in for the reward before he even knew I was after him.
"But I messed up, see? You weren't dead, and I kind of, sort of, had to fix you. You're not dead but you're not alive anymore, either. And you can't stay here, because others will come after you. If you were begging for death before..."
His stomach turned as she trailed off. It was too much to understand, too much and all at once. "So what's gonna happen to me?"
"I'm taking you with me. You don't really have much of a choice. I can't stand to let them turn you into something worse, and even if they weren't looking for you, I couldn't let you stay here, aimless for all eternity. Go, say goodbye to your family and meet me downstairs in the living room."
"Sure you don't need more time? Right. Well, I think I know of a place that could use some help. It's some place safe for you where you can be useful. You like to be useful, right? Good.
"You can't tell now, but the creatures of the darkness... Well, like I said, we're not all bad. As time goes on and you become one of us, you'll be able to tell the good ones from the bad ones. The only problem for you is that you're going to have to learn quickly. If you don't accept the facts fast enough, you'll go crazy and turn into one of...
"Just learn fast, okay? There's a library out there, in the darkness and shadow. Nestled in a back corner, there's a neglected little section that someday will become very important. There are books there that immortalize the words of those who have turned, those who were lost. You'll be writing adding to them. Virtuous or evil, sullen or enraged, they'll come to you to tell you their tales. You can talk to them, ask questions, whatever. That library is different. No one knows how or why, but it just is. You don't have to worry though. I turned you, for better or for worse, and as long as you stay in it, you'll be safe.
Her arm languorously rose and a shadow split the air in from of them. He took one last covetous look at his former home.
"Will they even remember me?"
"Not until after they die." His eyes started to tear. "Everyone dies at some point, or else they become like us. For better or worse, when that happens, they'll remember." For the first time in ages, she felt sympathy for another being. She'd never had to deal with one turned to the good side at such a young age.
"I'll be by to check on you from time to time, okay? You're my responsibility now. I might bring some creatures to you so you can write their stories, too. It's really not all bad. Just learn as much as you can, stay useful, and you'll be fine."
Her cold, slimy arm slid across his shoulders. What perhaps ten minutes ago would have purged the contents of his stomach was now, strangely, bringing him comfort. Tears rolled down his eyes, and he embraced her, a new big sister to him and the only family he now belonged with.
"It'll be okay." The cold, barren remains of her heart somehow oozed. After fighting for so long, it was nice to feel a little something other than anger, fear, and contempt. She patted his back slowly, speaking in that almost-whispering voice of hers, and guided him into the black empty portal.
Original Post
The pain was gone, but he wished the fear would end. He silently prayed for the tall, dark, cackling figure to bring his unearthly hand down on his neck. The scythes of his fingers would make his anxiety vanish without a trace. He envied his older brother, whose silently grimacing head was a mere two feet away from the mangled remains of his body.
Suddenly, a burst of darkness entered the room. The boy didn't know how it could possibly get darker, but his heart was filled with hope. The end was surely near. He heard the gasp of the monstrous entity and the whistling of the makeshift blades, and suddenly -
Nothing.
He whimpered, begging for his death. I'm being toyed with. Why, God, why? A resounding thud landed next to him, and against his better judgment, he looked into the decaying, worm-infested eyes of the beast.
"You can get up now. I have work to do."
Barely as loud as a whisper, yet without any trepidation, the sultry voice shocked his fragile little mind.
"Do you want your brother back, or not?"
Reason was long lost already. There was no logic in how the Shadowman did what he did. He numbly got up and all emotion drained from his face - except for the ever-present terror, of course. He stifled a scream when he saw her.
There, not two steps away, was another Shadow. Her lithe hands held the decapitated head of his beloved older sibling, and her eyes had the same decayed look. The slim body seemed to make the darkness heavier. Skulls adorned her thin waist like a belt. Only a pale bone-colored sword, dripping with a hissing viscous ichor, broke the empty blackness of her form. The words escaped his lips without even registering in his shattered psyche.
"Please, just kill me. Don't toy with me, like he did."
With nonchalance, she asked, "What did he do?"
Her question was what finally returned his emotion back to him. He relived the sordid details in his mind of the mumbled shout that awoke him. He saw the grinning shark-like teeth of the dark figure as it stared at his soon-to-be feast. He remembered the shocked, tortured agony of his brother as the thing flayed his skin, coaxed his muscles to dance unnaturally, and finally dropped him on the ground. He felt the rush as he ran into the corner, watching the suddenly summoned corpses feasting on the body of his sibling. He heard his screams and pleas for mercy. He saw the joy on the monster's face as he hewed the head clean off of his neck.
The corpses had fallen where they were, inanimate again, and then he had felt his back twist painfully. He had screamed and then he had felt it break.
But I'm standing now. Confusion knocked him out of his memories as he stared down at his restored body.
"I fixed that for you. You couldn't get out of my way until you could walk, could you?" The question was meant to be rhetorical, but it did nothing to lighten the mood.
"What.. How.. " The questions tumbled nonsensically out of his mouth until he picked the one that seemed most appropriate. "Why are you doing this?"
"We're not all bad, you know. I can see why you'd think that, why you humans always assume, but... Look, I killed the Shadowman, for you, didn't I?"
He nodded stupidly.
"I fixed your back, right?"
He nodded stupidly.
"I put your brother's head back on..." Her intonation rose, and she blathered on a bit, be didn't hear her anymore. He looked down and saw his brother back in his bed. There was no blood, no remnants of rotting flesh, and he heard a soft snoring fill the room.
"Listen, kid. I know: you don't get it. But you will. Just give me a second to finish up. You may want to whisper a goodbye to your parents while I'm busy."
Anger filled his blood. If she brought his brother back, then what the hell did she mean "whisper goodbye?"
"Stop toying with me."
She sighed, dropping the carcass of the nightmare back onto the floor, its viscous internals spilling. "Okay. I need to get rid of this thing soon, before others come looking for him and find you. Your brother's back, he's sleeping, and he won't remember a thing. You.." She held her chin for a moment, thinking. Her finger tapped her lips. Seconds turned into hours.
"You're not going to kill me."
"No, I'm not going to kill you. The problem is this: you weren't dead. I timed it wrong. I was supposed to kill him just as he killed you. Then, I could bring you back like I did your brother, and turn his body in for the reward before he even knew I was after him.
"But I messed up, see? You weren't dead, and I kind of, sort of, had to fix you. You're not dead but you're not alive anymore, either. And you can't stay here, because others will come after you. If you were begging for death before..."
His stomach turned as she trailed off. It was too much to understand, too much and all at once. "So what's gonna happen to me?"
"I'm taking you with me. You don't really have much of a choice. I can't stand to let them turn you into something worse, and even if they weren't looking for you, I couldn't let you stay here, aimless for all eternity. Go, say goodbye to your family and meet me downstairs in the living room."
"Sure you don't need more time? Right. Well, I think I know of a place that could use some help. It's some place safe for you where you can be useful. You like to be useful, right? Good.
"You can't tell now, but the creatures of the darkness... Well, like I said, we're not all bad. As time goes on and you become one of us, you'll be able to tell the good ones from the bad ones. The only problem for you is that you're going to have to learn quickly. If you don't accept the facts fast enough, you'll go crazy and turn into one of...
"Just learn fast, okay? There's a library out there, in the darkness and shadow. Nestled in a back corner, there's a neglected little section that someday will become very important. There are books there that immortalize the words of those who have turned, those who were lost. You'll be writing adding to them. Virtuous or evil, sullen or enraged, they'll come to you to tell you their tales. You can talk to them, ask questions, whatever. That library is different. No one knows how or why, but it just is. You don't have to worry though. I turned you, for better or for worse, and as long as you stay in it, you'll be safe.
Her arm languorously rose and a shadow split the air in from of them. He took one last covetous look at his former home.
"Will they even remember me?"
"Not until after they die." His eyes started to tear. "Everyone dies at some point, or else they become like us. For better or worse, when that happens, they'll remember." For the first time in ages, she felt sympathy for another being. She'd never had to deal with one turned to the good side at such a young age.
"I'll be by to check on you from time to time, okay? You're my responsibility now. I might bring some creatures to you so you can write their stories, too. It's really not all bad. Just learn as much as you can, stay useful, and you'll be fine."
Her cold, slimy arm slid across his shoulders. What perhaps ten minutes ago would have purged the contents of his stomach was now, strangely, bringing him comfort. Tears rolled down his eyes, and he embraced her, a new big sister to him and the only family he now belonged with.
"It'll be okay." The cold, barren remains of her heart somehow oozed. After fighting for so long, it was nice to feel a little something other than anger, fear, and contempt. She patted his back slowly, speaking in that almost-whispering voice of hers, and guided him into the black empty portal.
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