|
Kevin Lannan
In His Image
(Part Three of Three)
Looking at the most beautiful scene left on the face of the earth, I shed a cold, brilliantly blue tear to squeeze its way from my shadowy eyes. A crystal tablet lay in my hands, illuminated with colorful lights set in corners, creating a sort of illusion of a painted image. The scene is engraved into smooth crystal, with lights playing off the different surfaces. It depicts a woman, holding the smallest, cutest bird I’ve ever known. In her eyes, a sort of sadness, but a smile graces her filthy face. She crouches underneath some rubble, safe for awhile. Hope is in her eyes, her tears, and her smile. She is happy.
And so it is then that my resolve is hardened, and my new job is made clear to me. It is up to me to write our story, the story of mankind, and send it with this image into Outer Space. Where it will go, I do not know. And I’m not sure as to whether or not it will be found. Still, I must try. I must hope. It is my duty, as the remnant of a man, to complete this task, no matter the difficulty. And it will be difficult.
Looking up, I see the Black Wall. It is comprised of nothing but Shadow Gods. Darkness from the Night. All of them insane. All of them searching to destroy humanity. I am merely half of what they are, in the process of corruption. They, however, are Corrupted. They are, in essence, gods compared to me and any human. To challenge them is to face death. But, can I die? After all, I am becoming one of them. Still, they might be able to stop me…That is unacceptable…
In that wall is hundreds, probably thousands, of Godlings. They will not let me through, much like they denied the many jets of Militaries around the world. Escape was impossible for them. Now they maintain the wall for a different reason. Watching, observing, picking, choosing, diving, swooping, and hunting. This is the process. This is how victims are chosen, pursued, and killed. Once a Shadow Form deems you worthy of its attention, your fate is sealed. It will relentlessly pursue you, torture you, trick you, possibly possess you, toy with you, and then kill you. Once you are dead, your remains are absorbed. Your soul is denied the rightful destiny that was assigned to you at birth. And so they gain the power which they so crave…Contemptible beings…
And so it is the wall I must pierce. Through the wall I must persevere, being pursued if I succeed, probably. And up into the farthest reaches of our atmosphere I must go, risking it all to deliver this tablet into the cold, ruthless, and unpredictable domain of Space. Risking being absorbed, just to throw our history into a star, or an asteroid belt, or to crash land on a planet. Will it survive the journey? I think so. If I have this power now, then I assume this conjured crystal tablet will be strong enough to endure the elements of Space.
Floating down this empty and gray street, I see a scene of desperation unfolding at the far end. Many humans are running away from three Shadow Forms. But they’re firing weapons, too.
“Fools!” I think to myself. “Just run!”
But they won’t. Instead, they keep firing as they run, angering the Black Spirits that are hunting them. As I float closer towards the scene, a very large black figure swoops down from the Black Blanket up above. It is a figure I am very familiar with. It was the Night being that had earlier possessed the crazed man with the large gun. I float onwards, hoping it will ignore me, even though it has conjured red eyes solely for the purpose of staring me down. A challenge? It obviously doesn’t realize that I won’t interfere with hunting humans anymore. It has no way of knowing I have a more important job.
Changing shape, now long and snake like, with no head, I weave back and forth as I move forward through the air. It’s almost amusing. When, in my life, did I ever expect to come to this point? To obtain such power?!
“Fool. Your mind is turning on you…Suppress it.” The thought comes almost as a surprise. As if my subconscious said it instead.
Winding my way up to where it is suspended in the air, I stop just in front of it. It is much, much bigger than I am. It must have absorbed a lot of power. The death count from this Corrupted God alone must be extremely high. It looks down upon me.
“Bloody hell, this is going to hurt…”
Winding it’s left mass into a large hammer, once again, it swings backwards, readying a swing. Faster than lightning, the hammer comes back around. Only now, I find out that I can move just as fast. I don’t know where it came from, but I’ll accept it for now.
Sliding around the largest mass, perceived as a hammerhead, I twist around the arm, until I can move around to the back of the head. Once there, I change shape again. Now I am a creature with many long, tendril like arms, waving them through the air. The Corrupt Shadow turns towards me, but I pull myself through the air, latching onto its face. Hopefully, this makes it blind. I drill into the two red eyeballs with two of my many arms. This seems to be effective.
The giant Blackness shudders with what could be defined as pain, then begins to fall backwards. As it hits the ground, everything beneath it is crushed, and the ground shakes with the impact. Strangely, I feel a surge of power working its way through my arms, into my---brain? Something like that.
I then realize that I am sapping power from the Once-Human. Interesting. I’ll have to study this more.
But I don’t get the chance. Within ten seconds, a spike spawns forth from the face of my victim(the irony is killing me!), and shoots me upwards. I immediately form black scale over my stomach where the spike is pushing me, so that it cannot pierce me like I pierced his eyes. I refuse to lose the power I just gained.
As I am being jet into the sky, I realize that the angry Shadow God who is pushing me might very well propel me through the Dark Cloud that I so desperately need passage through! Foolish creature, anger and confidence are its only capacities for thinking. It will serve me to complete my objective.
Pushing through the cloud, I change shape to accommodate for all of the strikes and grievous blows that are battering me from all directions. I understand very clearly that my presence as a Half-Corrupted is considered an intrusion. Well, who cares what they think? I know what must be done.
I finally come through the Thick Black Wall, and am propelled even further into the atmosphere. Then, as it slows, I flicker up a little farther into the sky, then dive back down. Latching onto the spike, I try to rip upwards. I succeed in piercing its hard shell like surface, but I struggle to separate the top most portion of the spike. If I could do that, I might be able to absorb a little more power to use in my efforts. The spike shudders violently, and it is obvious that pain is still something that even Gods feel. Summoning more power, more will, I give it all I’ve got, and the top portion of the spike is ripped violently from the arm of the Corrupted. I quickly absorb the power held within.
I begin to wonder if absorbing more power might make the corruption go faster, but I really can’t worry about that now. I’m so close to my goal! Streaking upwards into the sky in a panicked attempt to release the tablet close enough to Space so that it will float onwards and onwards. Looking down to assure myself that I am not being pursued, I realize that my worst nightmare has come true. A large concentration of angry, disrupted Godlings wends its way through the air faster than me.
Will this be my doom? My downfall? Will I let it be?
The concentration catches up to me, grabs onto me, tries to pierce me. But it can’t. I am now more powerful than most of them. Corruption must be near complete. That only makes time more crucial. As I am pulled down through the mass, a large tentacle wraps itself around me, squeezing as tight as Boa Constrictor the size of a Giant Sequoia. I assume this to be the power-sapped, vengeful Spirit.
Being rushed back down to earth, I am not going to end up pulled towards the Shadow itself, but instead directly into the ground. I crash through broken pavement and plow down through the ground. It’s too much for me, and I nearly pass out.
“What have I gotten myself into?” I tell myself that it’s all worth it, over and over. “Will I be able to make it?” Of course I will. I’ve no choice but to succeed. “But, can I really do it?” Stop doubting yourself! Be the man you’re parents never thought you’d be! Prove your worth to all of those ever doubted you! Prove it to humanity!
At this moment I dissolve into a puddle of black liquid. Waiting. Lurking. If this monster of the Night wants me so badly, he will have to come and get me. And I will lure him into my trap.
Sure enough, an arm tentatively searched its way into the hole. Once it touched the puddle, it was electrocuted. The electricity was conjured by powers undefined, made by a mind that had the capacity of random inspiration. The Black Demon was undone. Once it was stunned, it was an easy matter to drill through its barrier, sapping more power. I did not stop until all that was left was a shriveled, wrinkled shadow figure.
Let the Forbidding Blanket of the Apocalypse try to deny me now!
Surely the traits of the Confidence dwelling creature is corrupting me even further? Surely I won’t let it consume me…I am not ready to find a spectrum to dwell in.
Rising up, still the same size I was by choice, I ready myself for the push. Then, like a bullet, I streak through the air at blinding speeds. At first, the wall absorbs my intrusion, pushing backwards, but not breaking. It’s elastic, in a sense. When it tries to snap back, it meets an unexpected resistance. The Cloud is broken once again, and the surrounding Shadows engulf me in their mass. Strikes, claws, blows. Burns, cuts, pain. All of it at once, all around me.
I don’t think that I will succeed. There are simply too many. I have condemned myself to a fate worse than death. I have failed.
In my final moments, I try for hope. And so it is found. From within me, from within shadow, light is born. Pulsing out from my chest, color changing light expands outwards. I can feel the power in it! It is like ecstasy to be feel this! But my…peers…do not seem to think so. Instead, for the first time, I hear sound come from their bodies. And it is most unpleasant.
The most ungodly shrieks and screams pummel my sense of hearing. But the light in my chest protects me, and so I rise above the cloud unchallenged. Floating upwards slowly, I reach the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. Looking down upon my own body, I see that the tablet inside me is the source of the light. How can this be? I asked nothing of it. I did not will it to produce this barrier of colored light.
But as soon as this thought crosses my mind, weariness sets in, and the toll of taking all of those attacks needs to be paid. The light grows faint, and I pull the tablet from my body. Feebly, I hold it up. Then, carefully, I slowly release my fingers, and the table floats slowly into space. I am done.
Burned up, devoid of any energy or will power, I resign myself to exhaustion. I resign myself to fate. I will be fully Corrupted soon, and I will turn mad like all the rest. I will find a spectrum of the mind in which I must dwell, chosen by some random factor that I have not been able to determine. Empowered, but powerless to use any abilities, any strength, I float freely on the edge of space.
I will fall. I am unable to keep my body floating, and so it will begin to slowly fall back to Earth. And once it gets going, it will speed up. As I accelerate through the different spheres of our atmosphere, I will be unable to control my fall, and the speed will cause a great ball of fire to form around me. I might be eaten up by it, I might not. I will fall through the cloud one last time, and will inevitably force my way through the ground.
And so the story goes.
_____________________________________________________________
-OMGZ! Another one from AWOL! *Drools*
-Again, no shots at religion actually meant or intended
-Somewhat horror piece, if not just action/narrative
-Detailed, honest feedback please!
_________________ .:Splak|AWOL Soldier
Red tank! Rubber Sled! What the box am I doing? I am a Walrus, thru && thru, gimme my bukket oar I'll eat u.
Awesome X wrote: It's kinda like fight club. First rule about recruitment, don't talk about recruitment. 2nd rule is do NOT talk about recruitment. Reaper wrote: PAIL 2 DA MAX!
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
