Novella: Loop (Beginning)

I've found a couple of Betareaders for A Decaying World, but only one of them has given me feedback as of yet, and only up to chapter 1. But if he continues to provide the same amount of feedback, then it would almost be as good as having an editor. I've already deleted one of the prologues and shuffled a few things around to add anything that might be missing.
Apart from that, I've started working on Loop, my scifi novella. The game it's based on is about an hour long, so it shouldn't get too big, which is why I'm not going to post the complete story, except for the first beginning. Not much is happening yet, but it should give you an idea of what it is about.
Don't forget that this is only a first draft. A lot might change later on. And I have no idea why the last story kept its indents and this doesn't.

 

Loop

A deep and steady humming noise reverberated throughout the metal chamber, its source somewhere in the depths of the facility. A red light spread across the wall-sized monitor at the front, until it had enveloped the dome displayed on its surface. At the same time, an egg-shaped structure in the center of the room began to glow, almost blinding the chamber's occupants.

“Status report!” bellowed a middle-aged man with brown hair from in front of the monitor.

“The Chronoshield is running at full power and the Reversal Engine is at fifty percent. There are slight fluctuations in the energy flow”—the speaker, a young man with azure-colored hair, moved his fingers across a touchpad, adjusting dozens of values within seconds—“but they're gone now!”

“Professor Visan, start the countdown!”

An old man with pointy ears and graying-hair entered a command into the console in front of him. The humming grew even louder and the room began to shake.

“Temporal reversal in ten,” a robotic voice echoed through the room, its source the loudspeakers embedded in the walls, “nine, eight, seven, six, five ...”

The occupants of the room, some dressed in white gowns, others in full-body armor, turned towards the egg-shaped construct. Its light was pulsing in the rhythm of the countdown, slowly transforming from blinding white to bluish black.

And when the timer reached zero, a wave of energy rippled through the room, knocking everyone from their feet. The humming turned into a shrill squealing noise and was instantly joined by the screams of the room's occupants. The walls shimmered and undulated, flesh and clothing became translucent, people were moving back and forth, the light grew dim and bright ... and then everything came crashing down.

The room fell silent as every living being vanished from within. And then it was enveloped by darkness, making it impossible to see anything.

Spam up your Life

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Spam up your Life

> SmexyHexy (18) has sent you a message!

> Wanna last longer in bed?

> Too short? We've got the solution!

Spam, spam, and even more spam. It's the same shit every day.

“How do these fuckers get my address every time?”

I took a sip from my coke and deleted all but one mail from my inbox. It was getting worse again, even though I'd changed my address not long ago. I didn't participate in sweepstakes, had no personal contacts over mail, used an alternate address for all accounts, so how did they still find me? Do the providers themselves sell me out because I refuse to take them up on their bullshit offers?

“Wouldn't surprise me ….”

My stomach grumbled and I slammed my hands onto the wheels of my wheelchair, hurriedly whirling around. I hated being paralyzed, not only because of my inability to walk, but also because I couldn't control my bladder and bowel movements. All because of one son of a bitch who thought that he could take a call while driving his truck through a narrow street ….

Looking for betareaders!

I've finally finished the first revision of A Decaying World, and although there's certainly more that could be changed (as I've seen by doing a second revision of the first three chapters) I don't see any point in going through all of it again without some input.

So I need some betareaders!
The book is 134k words long (spread over 13 chapters and some interludes) and includes graphic descriptions of violence and even torture. If that's not your cup of tea, then you'd better refrain from writing me. The book does contain humor and other light-hearted moments, though.

The book does not tell the entire story of A Decaying World, however, as it has grown much longer than expected. It does have a grand finale, though. As well as a cliffhanger that I could omit, but that'd be kinda boring.

~I am the Harbinger of Destruction and it is my fault that all of creation has perished~

A Decaying World tells the story of Drake, a young man who gets pulled into a cosmic game against his will. And it seems that he has already failed.
But the forces that have set everything into motion give him one more chance, and so the Wheel of Fate begins to turn once more.

Follow Drake on the first part of his journey through the realm of humans, through a vast desert, through ruins of an ancient civilization, until he will ultimately be confronted with a harrowing truth.

If you're interested, comment below or send me a message through the contact form.
I can send you the story in a word, pdf, or mobi file.

Slowly getting there!

After I spent a few more days on revising my horror stories (and creating a new cover for Carcerus, which some might have already noticed) I've finally gotten back to A Decaying World. Only took me two more days to finish Chapter 11, although I'm still going to do another pass with the text-to-speech feature of yWriter, since it can be really helpful in determining if the text actually sounds good.

When I'm done with that, I'll have about 24k words left to go through. It might be fast, might be slow, depends on how much I get stuck on the combat. That's what I really hated about chapter 11. So wish me luck!

I really want to get the novel to betareaders, so that I can determine if there are any big flaws that still need to be taken care of, which is also why I might begin writting another novella while it's being looked at.

Testimonial: Madeleine Faye's proofreading

Since I'm still short on cash I decided to take a free proofreading offer a few days ago. Madeleine Faye offered her services to gather experience and took on my entire horror collection, even though she didn't need to do more than a single story.

I'm mostly content with what she did, as she showed me a lot of mistakes, gave me suggestions on how to improve certain passages, and also mentioned when the tone didn't seem to fit the story, like in a scene where I talked about kids even though children might have been more appropriate.

There's just a single problem: she overlooked quite a bit of obvious mistakes.
One sentence talked about interruption even though it should have been interrupting, another used a instead of an, one passage repeated the same word in three consecutive sentences, one sentence talked about while week instead of whole week and I even misspelled the name of a character in a passage that was bold and much bigger than the rest of the text.

She's still human and allowed to make mistakes, of course, but I would have been a bit disappointed if I had to pay for a proofreader who didn't get rid of most mistakes. It should have been obvious, though, since she went through the entire collection (30k words) in a single day.

So there's only one thing left to say: Madeleine, your feedback is good, but please take your time to get rid of as much errors as possible.

You can contact Madeleine Faye on her website >>

A Decaying World Update

In case anyone was wondering: no, I'm not dead and I haven't dropped my writing projects. But I'm mostly posting my activites on twitter, sometimes on facebook. There's just not enough to write regular postings about.

So, what did I do since my last posting? Well, I've written four more short stories...or maybe it's three. I'm not entirely sure if one of those had already been written back then. I've also revised the entire horror collection—it contains 30k words now—and sent it to a couple of betareaders.

I've also finished a 10K romance novelette. Still need betareaders for that, though. Only have one person who might be interested in reading it and I have to wait until the weekend to get any feedback on that. So if anyone's interested: just send me a message.

These sideprojects did slow the editing of A Decaying World down, but half of the books is already done and I've now finished 5K of the 8th chapter.
And if you're interested in what my revision has entailed until now:

• Improved a lot of sentences and cut unnecessary ones.
• Added better descriptions.
• Fixed continuity errors.
• Added some additonal foreshadowing.
• Wrote an entirely new scene in chapter 2.
• Split chapter 4 into two - "Remnants of the Marble City" and "Towards A Different Future"
• Renamed the old 5th chapter into "Shadow Of A Bygone Era"
• Merged the old 6th and 7th chapter, renamed it into "Signs Of Decay" and rewrote parts of it.

There might have been more. I'm not entirely sure. But one thing that I can say is that the story has only gotten longer, by about 10k words to be exact. Editing normally seems to involve cutting a lot, but I just don't see the need to cut so much. I'd rather improve upon my often lackluster descriptions.

I still need the feedback of betareaders in the end, but it's too early to look for some, since I have no idea when I will be done. You can still send me a message, but I'd rather send you a completely revised version than an unpolished one.

So yeah, that's about it for now. Maybe I'll publish a new short story in the future. But it's better if I don't post all of my shorter work for free.

A Decaying World editing begins tomorrow

Hello guys, girls and whoever else has found their way onto my blog. I've finished another short story today (although it's more of a ritual than a story) but I will not post here. The same applies to all remaining short stories that will be included in my horror anthology. And yes, I know that the actual term would be collection, but I think anthology sounds better.

Anyway, with that done I will start editing A Decaying World tomorrow. I'm sure other writers would have advised me to let it rest for a month or so, but I simply can't wait that long. And I'm such a perfectionist that I will go over it multiple times anyway. Just have to find some beta-readers before the editing is done.
I did find someone for my short stories, though, and I'll have to read some other stories in exchange. But that won't take much of my time.

So yeah, I hope that I can release the book in the near future. I don't want to start the second part before the first is released. If anything I will write more short stories or begin working on the adaptation of my scifi-"movie" Loop.

A Decaying World - Chapter 13: The Calamity

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Chapter 13: The Calamity

While Emily looked after Feyadal and the twins Maximilian and Drake returned to the battlefield, crossed the chasm and gathered the remaining soldiers in the forest. Then they cut apart a couple of trees and used them to built a temporary bridge into the village.

What happened hours later should have been a joyous occurrence, but Drake was slowly descending into a catatonic state and barely noticed the return of Arlin's inhabitants. Thanks to the timely arrival of the twins they had been able to evacuate the village right under Modera's nose. Erik and Rika took two villagers at once, carried them over the walls, evaded sparsely scattered enemy forces—Modera never expected Drake's group to strike from the back—and hid them in a nearby cave. Upon one of their return trips they were almost caught in the blaze that destroyed the mayor's building. They tried their best to save everyone, always hoping that Modera wouldn't notice the increasing amount of people scattered on the walls, but it turned out to be in vain. Some villagers were crushed by falling beams or caught fire right in front of their eyes, which is when they chose to abort the mission and escaped with everyone they had already evacuated.

More than 50 percent of Arlin's inhabitants survived the battle, but the twins never forgot the people they had left behind and trained even harder to make up for their incompetence—as they themselves put it. Together with the other villagers they erected a marvelous black marble tablet—sponsored by the king of Pagan himself—in front of Arlin to honor the dead. It also served as a gravestone to those that left no corpse behind to bury.

It should have been a nice gesture, but all that Drake could think about—at least during the few moments that he was actually lucid—was that his hasty attempt to save everyone had only led to more deaths.

“It's not your fault! You did your best to save everyone and that is all that counts,” is how Emily tried to appease him, but it didn't help.

No. I got everyone killed. I should have accepted Modera's offer and defeated her together with Maximilian and my father. Why did I ever decide to play the hero?

Eventually Maximilian and his soldiers left the village. They promised to return with enough men to rebuilt Arlin as fast as possible. The twins remained behind to help clear the rubble while Feyadal had fallen into a coma that lasted two weeks. When he awoke at last he fled into the forest to hide his tears. He didn't care about the magic he had lost and even his longevity was barely worth a mention, but his connection to nature had also been severed, which made him no better than a mere human—a race that many elves despised.

About two months passed, a time span during which Drake barely felt alive. He awoke, ate breakfast with Emily, listened to her ramble on and gated at nothing at all until he went to sleep again. He had expected to be haunted by gruesome nightmares. Instead he was plunged into a dark abyss from which he resurfaced without dreaming even once. The only thing that disturbed his slumber was the sound of rolling thunder, which drew ever closer. But he forgot about it the moment he awoke. Only when a voice was trying to reach out to him did he slowly come to his senses. He could barely understand it at first and the most he got was: “Stop...wasting...ime. The....is approaching. You have to fulfill...destiny, or...will end!”

Drake tried to call out to the Alp in an attempt to understand his message, but the only reply he got was an image of a hand sticking out of a wriggling mass of flesh.

One day he stepped into the light and heard the chirping of birds, mixed in with the pounding of hammers and the grating concision of saws. He was greeted by a couple of villagers, albeit cautiously, and responded with a wide smile—a smile too wide to be entirely genuine. He tried to strike up a couple of conversations, but they trailed off very quickly. All he managed to learn was that the twins and Feyadal had returned to Pagan and that Maximilian had done the same after he failed to rouse Drake from his “slumber”.

Eventually Drake left the village to go for a walk. He felt a headache approaching and hoped that the fresh morning air would help clear his mind. Shortly afterwards he found himself atop the hill where he had confessed to Emily. He closed his eyes and envisioned the scene once more, but the memory wasn't strong enough to wipe away his regrets. He propped himself against a trunk, stared at Arlin and listened to the rustling of the treetops and the birds singing within. Warm salty tears trickled down his chin as his consciousness faded.

Don't drown your readers in exposition!

Since I finished Neal Stephenson's Reamde earlier today (after starting it about half a year ago) I wanted to write a small article about exposition. It might not be one of my strongest suits, but I'm just getting started and have a lot to learn, whereas Neal Stephenson should know better. I've never read any of his other novels, though, therefore I cannot say if all of them are like Reamde or not.

Anyway, it's nice to have a certain amount of exposition in a story, since it gives readers a glimpse into how your world works, how it looks, how your characters became who they are and so on. My stories might be a little bit lacking in that regard, but that amount of exposition is still better than what Reamde threw at me.

A Decaying World - Chapter 12: Defying The Prophecy

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Chapter 12: Defying The Prophecy

After giving the map he found upstairs to general Armakal for safekeeping Drake returned to the second floor, where Illutia was busy trying to banish the mist. Her staff had been rammed into the ground and elongated all the way into he ceiling. She was apparently using the tower itself as a conduit for her spell, since its walls were glowing in the same rhythm as the staff. Whenever the brightness increased one could hear anguished groans coming the outside. Eventually the mist-beasts tried to break through the gates and the windows, but Modera appeared to have forgotten to remove the barriers she herself set up.

Since Illutia couldn't offer a definite time frame of when she would be done Drake began to pace and forth between the second floor and the ground floor, all the while trying to refrain himself from going into the basement, since he didn't want to face Emily without being able to set her free. That didn't stop Maximilian and the twins from visiting her, though. They hit it off very well and even managed to make her laugh, mostly because of the strange behavior Erika and Rika displayed. The men returned all by themselves after half an hour and Maximilian responded to Drake's inquiring looks with: “Rika forced us to leave the room. It appears she wants to have a heart-to-heart talk with your girlfriend.”

“About what?” Drake scratched his head in confusion, as it seemed unlikely that anyone would confide in a person they barely knew. Must be something that only girls do...

“If they wanted us to know they wouldn't have shooed us away. I do know the topic of course, since Rika forgot to shut me out beforehand.”

“And?” asked Maximilian after a moment of silence had passed without any indication that Erik would elaborate.

“Well, they're talking about love. My sister has never had a boyfriend, you know?”

“How come? She's certainly cute enough to attract attention and some women would kill for legs like hers,” said Maximilian.

“It's not that easy, not for us.” He scratched his nose and averted his eyes before continuing. “I might have even scarred her mentally during my one and only relationship, since I didn't know the extent of our connection back then.” He received nothing but perplexed expressions in return. “Imagine having a mental connection to a family member. A connection that you can only suppress when you are in complete control of yourself, which you might lose during more...” his eyes moved back and forth, as if hoping to find the right world lying on the ground.

“Intimate moments?” asked Drake awkwardly. Erik nodded.

“Is there no way to get rid of your connection?”

The young man looked offended but swallowed his anger. “There's only one way: by using magic. The change would be permanent, though. We'd lose our unique fighting style, which wouldn't be too bad, but it could also lead to severe mental repercussions, since we just aren't used to the silence in our heads. That's why we will never consider that option.”

“I hope you find a solution eventually. Everyone should feel what love is like, at least once.”

“Maybe...” Erik responded with a tinge of loneliness before he left the room.

A Decaying World - Chapter 11: Where It All Began

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Chapter 11: Where It All Began

Drake barely slept a wink. The message he saw inside the void continued to haunt him all throughout the night. Whenever he fell he asleep a harrowing dream was already waiting for him. He never remained for long, but it was more than enough to drain his bedsheets in sweat. That was the least of his worries, though, as the repeated descend into nightmares meant that his heart never came to rest. He suffered multiple infarcts without noticing them, but it was impossible to disregard the stinging sensation in his chest.

Shortly before dawn he made use of the bathroom and drowned himself in icy water to lessen the pain. Blood trickled from his lips as he gulped down an entire vial, but the substance proved to be entirely useless. All it got rid of was the inflammation that had spread across his chest. He probed the region for a while, but couldn't come up with a logical explanation of why the pain persisted. Eventually he gave up and leaned back in a desperate attempt to relax. He noticed a spiderweb in a corner of the ceiling and followed the impressive spinning skills of its resident with his eyes. It seemed to have a hypnotic effect on him as he actually dozed off without realizing it.

Sharp ripping noises echoed through the room as word after word was etched into the ceiling. Drake wanted to look away, but the water had frozen solid, trapping him in place. Even his eyes refused to move, since they were held in place by the legs of two humongous spiders that were resting on his shoulders.

The world fell apart as three loud knocking noises reached Drake's ears. He shot forward, breathing heavily, and gritted his teeth when he realized that his aching chest had taken on a reddish hue again.

“Drake, it's time!” yelled Maximilian through the door. “I'm going to gather my men. We'll met on the bridge.”

“Okay,” is what Drake tried to say, but his words were fainter than a whisper.

He slipped out of the bathtub, rubbed his body dry and got dressed. The clothes were nearly identical to his old ones, just a bit more expensive and sturdy. He moved towards the door but stopped when his hand came to rest on the doorknob. His vision blurred for a moment and he had to inhale heavily as a wave of pain rippled through his body.

He turned around, gazed at the balcony for a couple of seconds and ran. His hands grabbed onto the handrail, his legs flew over them and then he fell. To an onlooker it must have appeared as if he wanted to brag with his abilities, but all he wanted was a rush of excitement to oust the fatigue that plagued him. It also got his heart pumping, which seemed to drown the pain in his chest.

He landed only a feet away from a patrol and the guards screamed in surprise and fell over themselves since they couldn't decide if they should attack or escape. Drake ignored them and walked towards the meeting point, where he leaned onto the wooden handrail and stared at the water below. He took deep breaths, relishing in the freshness of the air. A storm had hit the city during the night, which could have been seen as a bad omen if it hadn't moved on already.

Maximilian arrived a few minutes later. Two men in their forties were walking besides him while a contingent made up of about a dozen soldiers followed them.

“You shouldn't scare our guards like that. They aren't used to people falling from the sky. Why didn't you take the stairs?”

“I just felt like it.”

“I...see. Anyway, since I didn't get to introduce them properly yesterday: this is General Armakal.”

He pointed to the man on his left, who seemed quite scraggy since he barely reached the recommended weight for height, which made him appear much older than he actually was. The general wore a set of horn-rimmed glasses, had a crooked nose and a half-bald head. New recruits rarely wanted to be assigned to his unit—even going so far as to call him a scarecrow—but he was actually a very nice person and one of the most lenient generals in all of Pagan.

“I'm glad to make your acquaintance”—he shook Drake's hand and showed him a radiant and genuine smile—“It's good to know that not all of your kind has fallen victim to the madness. Seems like the stories were true after all.”

“What stories?”

“Some records talk about a vampire kingdom that existed back in the Golden Age. It was a place that your kind could call home—a place where vampires and mortals lived together in peace and harmony. Most people don't believe those stories, of course, and who could condemn them?”

“That's nice and all”—Maximilian interjected—“but we don't have time for chit-chat. Anyway, Armakal is our strategist. He will coordinate our man in the battle against Modera, but we will have to draw her out first. Fighting inside the tower would be suicide.”

“Shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'll just blow a hole into the wall if I have to.”

“We'll see about that when we get there.”

Maximilian was about to introduce the other general when he took the initiative and stepped forward. He grabbed Drake's hands with his paw-like ones and shook them wildly. That man was the total opposite of Armakal: big, burly and more muscle than flesh. His fist could have easily crushed the head of a normal person.

“I'm jeneral Borado and I will squash Modera with my hammer if I jet the chance!” he bellowed with a strange accent and patted the small hammer on his belt.

“I doubt she would even feel the impact,” replied Drake doubtfully.

Borado smiled and removed his weapon with a swift movement. It tripled in size, but the weight seemed to remain constant since he had no trouble lifting it.

“Huh, nice enchantment. But isn't it a bit too slow for actual combat?”

The general lifted it above his head and twirled it around rapidly, nearly destroying the bridge in the process. The soldiers stared at him in astonishment. Most of them had never seen him use that weapon since one slap with his flat hand was enough to knock them out. Only a handful of trainees had ever managed to land a hit on him.

“Enough with that!” said Maximilian, ”We shouldn't keep the others waiting any longer.”

And so the party moved on to the city gates. They would have aroused a lot of suspicion if it hadn't been so early. Not that it mattered after the spectacle of their arrival.

Somewhere along the way Drake asked Maximilian: “Do you really think that the soldiers will be any help? Borado seems like a nice addition and I suppose that Armakal could come in handy, but I'm not so sure about the others...”

“It doesn't matter if they can help or not. They were the only ones brave enough to heed my call and that is all I need. Who knows, one of them might turn out to be the hero who will slay Modera.”

Drake raised an eyebrow but refrained from saying anything else.

Short Story - Haunted

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Haunted

My first encounter with the supernatural were visions of the future hidden within my dreams. I didn't foresee any world-shattering events, just places that I had never seen and conversation that I never could have had, but that's beside the point. The fact that I was able to see anything at all should be evidence enough that there's more to this world than meets the eye.
If that doesn't convince you then please read on, because something far more sinister awaited me in the future―something that I couldn't foresee as my gift has mostly faded away. It only rears its head once a year, if at all.

Status of Mortaevum Chapter 11

Hello guys, girls and whoever might read this!
I just wanted to give you a little status update on the newest chapter of Mortaevum, since I barely post anything else on here. But I'm also busy writing reviews on my german blog, so that does get in the way of any meaningful updates. I do post these on Twitter quite often, though. I switch from German to English all the time, but it's mostly English now.
So if you're interested in these updates it would be good to follow me on Twitter.

Anyway, since chapter 11, which is titled "Defying the Prophecy", is the finale of the current story arc I want to make it the best I can, although there will certainly be changes when I get around to rewriting the draft. The chapter is a bit over 10K words now and since the final battle is still not in progress it might turn out to be the longest chapter yet. Nothing wrong with that, of course, especially for the finale.

The one after that will be shorter, though, although I'm not sure if it will be very short or just normal. Depends on how much I want to set up the next story arc. But I'm already looking forward to the reactions for these final chapters, although there won't be many of those yet.

That's it, for now. The next posting will most likely be the chapter itself.

A Decaying World - Chapter 10: Calm Before The Storm

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Chapter 10: Calm Before The Storm

They scoured the smoldering crater for about an hour to retrieve Drake's sword. It would have taken much longer if the shadows inside the blade hadn't served as a beacon that engulfed the surrounding area in darkness. The moment Drake laid his hands upon the hilt something deep within him welled to the surface. The shadows wailed in agony as they were forced back into the obsidian blade, which lost its unique form in exchange. Now it was just a normal looking weapon, albeit one filled with immense power.

“I hope you didn't accidentally trap Dorr'n Selkesch within. I can do without a rematch.”

“Don't worry. All I seem to have captured is raw power. That might be just what we need to take down Modera.”

He raised the sword, which vibrated visibly. Small shadowy tendrils emerged from within and tried to wrap themselves around his hand. He swung the sword just once and carved a scar several meters thick into the crater.

“Although I'm not sure if I can contain this much power for long. We should go to Modera's tower as soon as possible!”

Maximilian put a hand onto his companion's shoulder. “I know that you're worried about your girlfriend, but we can't be hasty! We need new supplies and clothes. And confronting Modera all by ourselves would be stupid.”

“And who's supposed to help us? I doubt a couple of soldiers will make much of a difference.”

“Well, I have to admit that Pagan's military is somewhat lacking, at least when it comes to fighting real monsters. I would never have been able to confront Dorr'n Selkesch without this sword”—he raised the “Heavenly Blade”—“and a vampire of Modera's caliber would certainly defeat our soldiers in the blink of an eye. But there are others in Pagan who might be able to help. It just depends on their availability.”

And with those words they finally moved on. It took longer than expected as the crater got quite steep at the edges and after that came an even steeper descend. Drake offered to jump all the way to the bottom, but Maximilian declined as he had had enough excitement for the day. Therefore they descended at a leisurely pace and arrived at the bottom shortly before noon.

Short Story - Despicable Friend Zone

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Despicable Friend Zone

*J0hnNimal signed in

<J0hnN1mal> Still no one online? Have you all gone dark or what?

*Fr4nzi5ka signed in

<J0hnN1mal> Franzi ^_^ Finally back from the convention?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Hi John :) I've been back since Friday, but I didn't find the time to go online.

<J0hnN1mal> Why?

<Fr4nzi5ka> I spent the weekend with Michael. Playing games, watching movies and stuff.

<J0hnN1mal> Wasn't he also at the con?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Yeah. It was great to finally meet him in person. Talking online is nice and all, but you never know if the person on the other end isn't putting on an act to get closer to you.

<J0hnN1mal> I suppose Michael wasn't a creep?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Do you think I'd spend the weekend with a creepy guy?

<J0hnN1mal> No.

<Fr4nzi5ka> There you have it :)

<J0hnN1mal> So...I guess you like him?

*Fr4nzi5ka signed out

<J0hnN1mal> Hey, why are you leaving?

<J0hnN1mal> Come back!

<J0hnN1mal> …

<J0hnN1mal> Hello?

*4rg0s4x signed in

<4rg0s4x> Hey, what's up?

*J0hnN1mal kicked 4rg0s4x

*J0hnN1mal banned 4rg0s4x

*Fr4nzi5ka signed in

<J0hnN1mal> You didn't have to leave so suddenly :/

<Fr4nzi5ka> Sorry, my connection collapsed. Must have been the storm. Has it reached you too?

<J0hnN1mal> Yeah, it's been raining all day long.

<J0hnN1mal> But don't change the topic, please...

<Fr4nzi5ka> What was the topic again?

<J0hnN1mal> Do you like him?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Michael? Oh...

<Fr4nzi5ka> I'm not sure. He's a sweet guy and he's always trying to help me.

<Fr4nzi5ka> But you know that I broke up only recently. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a new relationship.

<J0hnN1mal> And yet you spent an entire weekend with him while you never visit me ;_;

<Fr4nzi5ka> What are you saying?

<J0hnN1mal> …

<Fr4nzi5ka> Wait...don't tell me...you love me?

<J0hnN1mal> …

*Fr4nzi5ka signed out

<J0hnN1mal> Yes, I do love you! I have since before you broke up with your boyfriend. You're the only person I can talk to about my problems. The only one who knows how much I've suffered...

*Fr4nzi5ka signed in

<Fr4nzi5ka> Stupid connection!

<Fr4nzi5ka> You still there?

<J0hnN1mal> …

<Fr4nzi5ka> Talk to me!

<J0hnN1mal> There's no point in hiding it, is there? Yes, I do love you, but what does it matter? You'll never like me anyway!

<Fr4nzi5ka> Stop pitying yourself! You'll never get a girlfriend if you behave like this!

<J0hnN1mal> See?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Come on! What do you expect me to do? I like you...as a friend. A really good friend. But that's all there is to it.

<J0hnN1mal> Why do I even try to be nice when it always ends like this? -___-

<Fr4nzi5ka> Stop it! Or do you want me to leave?

<J0hnN1mal> No...

<Fr4nzi5ka> Hey, I think I heard glass shatter below...

<J0hnN1mal> You've got to be kidding me! Already changing the subject?

<Fr4nzi5ka> I'm not joking! Wait a moment...

<J0hnN1mal> Fine, don't love me! But don't play games with me either!

<J0hnN1mal> …

<J0hnN1mal> …

<J0hnN1mal> …

<J0hnN1mal> Helloooo?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Great, the storm uprooted the tree in front of our house and one of its branches crashed through the window. Perfect time to be alone o_o

<Fr4nzi5ka> And why would I make that up?

<J0hnN1mal> To get rid of me?

<Fr4nzi5ka> I can log out if I wanted to do that...

<Fr4nzi5ka> Can't we just be friends? I don't want to hurt you, but I simply can reciprocate your feelings...

<Fr4nzi5ka> …

<Fr4nzi5ka> John?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Answer me...please...

<Fr4nzi5ka> God, what is this? I think I heard another window shatter...

<Fr4nzi5ka> Wait a moment...if you're still there...

*Fr4nzi5ka signed out

*Fr4nzi5ka signed in

<Fr4nzi5ka> John? Please tell me that you're still online!

<Fr4nzi5ka> JOHN?!

<J0hnN1mal> What is it?

<Fr4nzi5ka> I think someone's in the house with me!

<J0hnN1mal> You sure?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Yes! Another window is broken and there are muddy footprints next to it!

<J0hnN1mal> Did you call the police?

<Fr4nzi5ka> I can't get through. Must be due to the storm. I'm surprised that I still have an internet connection.

<J0hnN1mal> Don't tell me you went back into your room!

<Fr4nzi5ka> Oh god, I tink the guy just kicked on of the doors in

<Fr4nzi5ka> And no Im not that stupd! Im inside a small sidechamber in attic.

<J0hnN1mal> Did you turn off your computer?

<Fr4nzi5ka> I didnt have time for that!

<J0hnN1mal> That means the chat-window is still open?

<Fr4nzi5ka> I supp

<Fr4nzi5ka> Oh god I just told tat guy were I am

<Fr4nzi5ka> I need to get outt here!

*Fr4nzi5ka signed out

*Fr4nzi5ka signed in

<Fr4nzi5ka> That was close...

<J0hnN1mal> Are you safe?

<Fr4nzi5ka> Relatively. I couldn't get out of the house, though. I saw a shadow moving round the corner and had to go somewhere else.

<Fr4nzi5ka> I managed to reach the cops btw. They'll be here any minute now!

<J0hnN1mal> That's great. I wish I could help you..

<Fr4nzi5ka> I do too...

<J0hnN1mal> But you still wouldn't love me?

<Fr4nzi5ka> John, please...

<Fr4nzi5ka> Hav to stp writing brb

*Fr4nzi5ka signed out

*Fr4nzi5ka signed in

<J0hnN1mal> What happened?

<Fr4nzi5ka> The guy sems to b lookn fo me had to rn

<J0hnN1mal> Calm down! I can barely understand your sentences.

<Fr4nzi5ka> How amI supposd to calm don?

<Fr4nzi5ka> What if he wanst to rape me?

<J0hnN1mal> No one wants to rape you! You're too beautiful to do such a cruel thing to you.

<Fr4nzi5ka> I dubt the intrudr tinks lik yu

<Fr4nzi5ka> And pls dont call me beatiful

<J0hnN1mal> Am I not allowed to speak the truth just because I like you?

<Fr4nzi5ka> It makes me feel uncomfortable...

<J0hnN1mal> What if I wanted to hug you?

<Fr4nzi5ka> That too...sorry...but can we talk about this later?

<J0hnN1mal> What's the point?

<Fr4nzi5ka> John I cant del witthis rigt now

<Fr4nzi5ka> o no

<Fr4nzi5ka> can hear im breathn

<J0hnN1mal> Stay where you are!

<Fr4nzi5ka> think hes right ouside

<Fr4nzi5ka> im ded if he finds me

<Fr4nzi5ka> maybe I can knok him out

<J0hnN1mal> Don't do it!

<Fr4nzi5ka> have to cu

<J0hnN1mal> …

<J0hnN1mal> Why'd you have to do that?

*Chatlog deleted

*J0hnNimal signed out

A Decaying World - Chapter 9: Maze Of Shadows

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Revision 2 is in progress.

 

 

Chapter 9: Maze Of Shadows

After the swamp had vanished on the horizon Drake and Maximilian came to their senses and began to struggle in a vain attempt to break free, although that in itself might have been a sign of madness as they were located hundreds of meters above the ground. Drake might have survived such a fall but regenerating from a flattened heap of flesh was far from pleasant. And the worst case scenario would leave him trapped in a state between life and death for an eternity.

They didn't seem to consider such scenarios, however, and continued their struggle till fatigue caught up to them, which forced them to accept their inability to escape the claws of the winged beast.

“It doesn't look like we'll get out of here anytime soon. We should preserve our energy and try to rest for a while. It has to drop us down eventually,” yelled Maximilian towards his companion, only to receive a quizzical expression in response. “Do you understand me?” he screamed louder this time.

“What?”

No matter how much Drake concentrated, he couldn't pick up words that were carried away in an instant. Maximilian gave up after a couple more attempts and made himself as comfortable as possible before he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber. Drake's expression turned into one of incredulity at this absurd sight. Don't tell me he actually fell asleep in that position...

“You might want to follow his example,” came a sinister sounding voice from above.

Drake's eyes followed their captors black and red-streaked skin all the way to its snout. Human-sized fangs protruded from its sides and some kind of slimy substance was running down its flesh.

You understand my thoughts?

“How else could I have answered your question? But you can also talk to me. I can understand your words and language just fine.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Voluere, destroyer of dreams, although some records denote me as the fulfiller of dreams. Everyone with that misconception has been eradicated, though, unless I managed to twist their dream into a nightmare instead. ”

The demon roared with laughter and his gooey spit covered the entire upper half of Drake's body, which is all that protruded from its claws. Without access to his hands the vampire could only shake his head and try to spit and blow the substance in front of his mouth away.

“And what do you want from us? We didn't summon you!”

“I came to a repay a favor to a mutual 'friend' of ours. She gave you the gift of eternal life and you chose to repay her by fleeing from her grasp!”

“Modera!” Drake remarked in disgust. “Why didn't she talk to me? I would have returned eventually. We just ran into a little problem.”

His eyes wandered to the pillar of darkness. Something seemed to be slithering along its edges but it blurred together with the background, making it impossible to confirm if the movement was real or not.

“No one would return to that crazy hag unless they had a good reason to,” the creature laughed jovially before it continued, “And she couldn't talk to you. Don't you remember severing the connection?”

“I did no such thing! How would that even work?”

“Don't ask me. I'm not a vampire. It's irrelevant anyway. You'll be reunited soon enough. If only you could have seen what a mess you left behind. The last time I've seen her like this was when her husband died. She even blabbered some idiocy about a savior. I hope she wasn't talking about you.”

“In the flesh...”

Splitting laughter cut through the air and the creature moved as if it was drunk, almost letting go of his captives in the process. Drake utilized that opportunity in an attempt to free his limbs, but the demon reacted too rapidly, only allowing him to raise one arm above its claw. “I knew that she was insane but this is just too hilarious! Does she actually expect you to succeed where she failed?”

“Don't ask me. All I know is that she wants to turn Maximilian into a vampire too.”

“He certainly seems like a much more reasonable choice!”

Drake didn't bother to respond. The pillar of darkness was rapidly approaching and he didn't know if he should warn Voluere or not. The prospect of facing Modera in their current state didn't seem very appealing. But there was no telling what would happen when the demon came within reach of Dorr'n Selkesch's power.

“What about the pillar? Do you think such an outburst of magic could stop me? I can simply fly around it, you know?”

To emphasize his words he did exactly that. Drake's gaze was still focused on the darkness ahead, which seemed to pulse in a steadily increasing rhythm the further they got away from it.

“Give it back!” demanded a familiar voice that cut through the air like a knife.

The pillar fell apart, revealing that it was made out of hundreds of thousands of tentacles. Every single one of them lunged forward, covering all possible escape routes the demon could take.

“Not so fast!” Voluere roared.

He came to a halt in midair and opened his jaws as wide as possible. A crimson energy beam shot forward, severing the tentacles from right to left. The remnants evaporated in mid-air while the intact parts regenerated within seconds.

“What did you say about it not being able to stop you?” remarked Maximilian who had finally woken up, if he had even slept in the first place.

“Shut it, human!”

The demon covered its body by closing its wing and whirled upwards, engulfing himself in a barrier of wind. It shredded the approaching tentacles like a sawing machine. Voluere shot through the wriggling mass of darkness above him and continued to ascend long after leaving the tentacles behind.

Maximilian felt like his body was being flattened and it got increasingly harder to breath. Neither breathing in deeply nor breathing fast made much of a difference. The demon made it even worse by unknowingly pressing onto his captives. The royal knight's heart raced and he had to pull all of his willpower together to utter a single sentence as his body began to convulse: “Stop...i...t!”

Voluere ceased spinning and opened his wings, exposing his prisoners to the chilly air far above the earth. “Why do you humans have to be so fragile? But now it's time to rejoice! Only a few more hours till your transformation into a supreme being!”

The creature's attempt to laugh turned into a scream of surprise when a giant tentacle appeared from below, entangled his legs and pulled him downwards with breath-taking speed. The demon opened its jaws but it would have had to cut off its own legs to hit the shadowy tendril.

The moment they broke through the clouds they saw a giant maw of darkness above the mountain range—a maw that was once known as the abyss of Gana Borodem. It permeated the ground the land of shadows was built on and swallowed thousands of soldiers partaking in the final assault on Dorr'n Selkesch's castle. Even after Gana Borodem fell the land remained uninhabitable. It's as if the maw knew that its master would return from beyond the veil. Only after his second defeat did it finally fade away.

“Let them go and I'll end your existence in a heartbeat!”

“A compelling offer but I'll have to decline!”

Rather than continue his futile efforts to escape the demon shot downwards instead, his jaw aimed directly at the center of the maw. The red lines edged into its body began to glow, encasing the creature in a billowing layer of air that flowed towards its head.

Maximilian's body had a hard time coping with all of these rapid changes in pressure and he snapped his eyes shut in a desperate attempt to ignore the blood that was now flowing into his head. Drake, on the other hand, was just a bit nauseous. He was more worried about what would happen next. Escaping would prove somewhat difficult if they died on impact.

The point of impact was rapidly approaching and the darkness was stretching as far as the eye could see, but Voluere didn't seem close to unleashing any kind of attack.

Don't you worry! The demon's voice echoed through Drake's head. I'm just waiting for an opportune moment.

That moment came when Drake spotted a swirling orb of darkness in the center of the maw. A sphere of crimson light appeared in front of Voluere's jaws and the darkness reacted by pulling its tentacles inwards, defending the orb with multiple layers of tendrils.

The beam of light shot downwards, filling the sky with a loud sizzling sound and creating just enough pressure to keep Voluere in place while the orb's barriers were shredded one after another. The air vibrated with power and what remained of the mountain range was slowly obliterated.

In ages past Dorr'n Selkesch had been powerful enough to rival the armies of an entire world but his imprisonment had reduced him to a mere shadow of his former self. A demon might be nothing to laugh at but getting defeated by one would have shattered the legend of the lord of shadows. Voluere got cocky, though, and ignored everything around him.

A fist made of darkness smashed into his back, pulverizing his spine. A roaring scream of agony thundered over the land while the beam of energy fizzled out of existence. The shadowy mass split apart, revealing two smaller hands that grabbed onto the demon's wings and plucked them right off, as if he was nothing but a victim to a child's curiosity. Voluere's screams became blood-curdling but were muffled as soon as he plunged into the darkness. The vampire tried to clamber out of his claws but the demon's grasp didn't weaken in the slightest.

From where he lay Drake had a relatively clear view of the orb but Maximilian was nowhere in sight. If I could at least pull my sword out! And then what? Your puny powers cannot compare to the might of Dorr'n Selkesch! But you wounded him in the caves! Yes, but not by using darkness! I still need my sword to use a different power! Are you really that stupid? The sword might be a perfect conduit for dark magic but it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. You didn't need it to blow up the swamp and you didn't need it to jump several feet into the air. Just concentrate and imagine what kind of power you want to manifest. Or stop resisting and accept me already!

Ignoring the last remark Drake closed his eyes, remembering the feeling from when he had redirected his energy into his feet. Since that would have been pointless under the current circumstances he focused on his hand instead. Imagine what kind of power I want... Something compact but powerful would be perfect. Something that contains the same kind of power I unleashed in the swamp. And lo and behold, when he opened his eyes he was holding onto a bright ball of fire. But he was also within inches of getting swallowed by the darkness, hence why he just hoped for the best and threw it into the general direction of the orb. It turned towards him, exposing different layers of gray resembling an eyeball. It grew as if in shock and extended small tentacles towards the magic missile, but it was already too late.

The world was bathed in an explosion of light.