Into the Darkness

by C T Scribe

  48

  Chapter 48

  Tye watched as the girl sped towards the field op. He noticed when more and more people filled the small classroom. He didn’t know what was going on exactly, but he knew the field op, The Tall Man, came across something truly dangerous. Earlier he thought the man dead. Earlier he underestimated his strength as the beast clamped his jaws at his head. Earlier he feared for him. Then he saw his true power emerge, and the savagery that goes with it. He saw the man kill the beast swiftly. He saw him spread that fog to find whoever else was out there. He found this girl. Despite her looks Tye assumed she must be old. A newly turned immortal like himself would stand no chance against The Tall Man. He was sure of it, but he knew what concerned looked like. He’d seen that look of concern while he recovered from his leg injury. He hated the pity. Everyone that crowded the classroom now had that look.

  The girl gave no pause at the power leaking out of him. She showed no interest in the green fog formed mask in the sky. No, she came directly for the man as if they had a score to settle. She carried only an umbrella. Her face and hair were concealed underneath the yellow raincoat hood. She moved too swiftly. Even for immortals her speed was impressive. He hadn’t seen any speedsters while he trained, or at the proving grounds. The workers at the infirmary had gone on and on about his speed during the mock battles, but this easily surpassed him. The way she moved was more than anything he was capable of. With one quick step the rain girl stood millimeters from the man. She sent him flying with an attack too fast for him to see. The field op rose to his feet quickly. Scanning for the girl as if expecting her to still be moving at top speed. She simply stood roughly 20 feet away with her back to him. Her hand was past the invisible barrier she created. On the other side of that line water poured from the sky. The rain had already begun flooding the streets. The green fog had dissipated from the wetness. Tye couldn’t help but think for someone so strong she was horribly dumb. To turn her back to an enemy, no matter the distance, was foolish. Her enemy had moments ago let off a flurry of bullets killing the largest beast he’d ever heard of. Tye saw the shot in his mind. He saw the bright yellow coat stained red. The girl dropping into her barrier world, and being washed away. His thoughts took him this far before realizing the tall man didn’t shoot. He stood. He waited. The greenish aura around him thickened. His guns grew larger at his side. His smile became full faced. The crazy showing more by the second. He cocked his head for a moment inspecting the girl opposite him. On the screen Tye was reminded of an old arcade style fighting game. Waiting for a buzzer to go off, and the mayhem to resume. On cue the man took his first shots, but he chose to aim at the water instead the woman. The barrier rippled, but the bullets didn’t penetrate. They slid down slowly until hitting the ground inaudibly. The man continued to fire shots now targeting the bright yellow raincoat. As the shots neared the girl slid into her barrier, and watched them fall short of hitting her. The field op continued firing and advancing. The screen lit up like fireworks from the rapid blast. The bullets still didn’t break the water line. Directly in front of the barrier the man slammed the guns together in front of him to fire in unison. The guns life-like extended their metal fusing into a large pistol. The blast that came from the enlarged barrel wasn’t a bullet. The green glow of the energy beam pierced the barrier. The girl barely dodging the attack looked flustered for the first time. The wall dropped, and the water gushed onto the dry streets in front of it. The man rushed into the water seizing the advantage. His guns, now separated, fired with that green energy encasing each bullet. The water sizzling as the shots flew through the air. The off balanced girl put her effort into dodging. She moved lightly. Tye didn’t want to admit it, but her grace left him in awe. His mind flashed to ballet classes he took in order to help his dodging defenders on the football field. This girl moved more nimbly than any running back he’d ever seen as she dodged the would be lethal blows. The man now crazed began to corner her. His shots set to direct her movements more than attack her. She took the bait. With uneven footing she had no choice but to evade. Before she knew it the man closed the distance negating her speed. He had her cornered. With a well placed shot she stumbled back into a wall. He closed the distance with impressive speed of his own. Grabbing her by the throat he slammed her hard into the surface. Angling his gun under her rib for a kill shot he squeezed.

  It was over before he knew it. Tye stared at the screen mouth opened. He stared as nothing he expected to happen transpired. Before firing the fatal shot water rose up in spikes from the puddles on the ground. The nearest and most lethal separated the two fighters with that barrier. The spikes slicing into The Tall Man’s hand stopping his attack. More spikes penetrating his body at every moving point. The field op, the crazed gunman, The Tall Man was immobilized. The girl placed one finger to his head and yelled, “break.” The spikes retracted as his body slumped to the ground. He lay there foaming at the mouth. The entire classroom fell silent. The Tall Man was down.

  The rain fell for seven days before stopping. HQ had been on lock down, but a new room appeared that let the rain fall freely through the now exposed roof. Tye took the time to train. The Tall Man was in shit shape, and he felt the need to do something. He needed to get stronger. Whatever was stirring in the darkness was going to shake things up. A few days ago Teach came down to The Dragons Head Gym. He apologized for not checking on Tye more often, but “he had a real hard time finding a gym entrance,” he said. Tye had wondered why no one else ever trained here. It seemed the gym had its own set of rules, and only allowed certain people to enter. The gym had always revealed itself to Tye, but from what Teach said most immortals don’t know the gym even exist. Others search for the entrance, but are never allowed in. Tye had always been a gym rat, and The Dragon’s Head sensed his need to train from the beginning.

  Teach came to tell Tye about the night he arrived at HQ. He told him all about the tall man tracking beast the previous year. How he was nearly killed by walking into a nest he couldn’t sense. He told him about the emergence of the chameleon. How they were very rare, and hadn’t been seen in over a century. Most importantly he told him how the tall man rescued him from the bar that night. How Mari was already dead, but he stopped the ritual they were performing on her with well placed shots. How he fled and was pursued by a top tier fren, but managed to escape to safety. Tye couldn’t help the tears as he listened to the story. He couldn’t help the feeling of debt within his soul. He stopped the ritual. He saved her in a way Tye couldn’t. He saved him. It was also The Tall Man that stopped him from going berserk during the proving grounds. All this time he didn’t realize he had someone looking after him. All this time he wasn’t alone. That someone, was currently in a magically induced coma. Coma is putting it nicely. From what Teach explained the rain girl put him in a fear prison. Trapped inside his darkest moments. With no way to break the curse, all they could do is wait. Simply put he’d be trapped there until released. Tye could tell that wasn’t all of the story, but Teach excused himself, and left before any questions could be asked. Whatever was stirring in the darkness waited for him. He could feel it. The magic at his school during his injury. He remembered the rain. In this never ending drought that day had rain, and the girl who attacked The Tall Man was rain. He would have to face her one day. He needed to be stronger, and faster. A&B at his side as they climbed the mountain. Tye moved up one more weighted vest today. The weight nearly collapsing his body as he climbed the cliffs edge. A&B each wore the lightest vest now. Together they would get strong. If he could get through the mountain pass he saw a temple. This was much further than he’d ever traveled into the gym. His body heavy from exhaustion hours ago rebelled at each step, but he kept pushing himself. Nothing in the first town he’d been training at the last month would teach him about the strength he felt during the proving grounds. He hoped this temple held answers for him. He felt himself drawn to it.

  The general seldom had regrets. He was the command center
of one of the largest armies ever assembled. His choices were difficult to say the least. He stared at the paper. The room was in his favorite configuration. The ocean view giving him the calm he desperately needed today. He sat in the warm water soaking his body. He stared at the paper again. The truth was the day his dearest friend triggered the prophecy he knew it would end badly for him. He searched through text and cross referenced events to find a better ending. The other team that night had recovered the rest of the prophecy. He wrote that prophecy on this piece of paper and told no one else. The paper read,

  “One beast shall die, One beast shall rise

  A power free to change the skies,

  And on that day again we’ll see

  The daughter rain, just one of three

  When the fight is lost and then

  The demon dogs will claim the land.”

  The worst thing about being alive so long is knowing when you can’t avoid a conflict. Some wars will always be fought. Some lives will always be sacrificed. Some events simply must come to pass. He knew this was one such event. He knew the worst was yet to come. He prayed to the Seven his friend would awake to help him through one more storm.

  49

  Chapter 49

  The chief scientist of HQ stared at the class of new recruits. She wasn’t accustomed to giving this speech to children. It took an average immortal years to master phase two weapon usage. Without activating phase two the curses were irrelevant. This class however was proving too advanced for their own good or safety. She especially worried about the two boys in the back. Not only had they both unknowingly shifted into phase two during the proving grounds, but they both had troubled past that she assumed would lead them to have magical curses. She wondered if either boy was already dealing with the affects. As she stood there staring at the class she noticed the eyes on her body. She was old, and modesty wasn’t a thing when she first knew the world. Her tribe had the ancient blood of the plant kingdom running through it. She was never turned like these children. She simply was immortal. She was born with more of the plant kingdom blood than anyone else in her not surprisingly long lived family and village. Her sisters lived nearly three hundred years before returning to the earth. She was much older than that now. Growing up her family had no need of clothes. So she preferred not to wear them. She was thoughtful enough to put on a lab coat. The white stark against her green skin. She was beautiful. She knew this far too well. For a time her village worshiped her as a goddess. They idolized her. She assumed her role, but eventually the women began coloring their skin. The men began making sacrifices in her name. The goddess left her tribe, and those who coveted her so deeply. She did not want to responsible for death, but she did miss being worshiped. Seeing the eyes of these children over her body was amusing. She had been born unusually busty. One of the reasons she was ill suited for combat. Her bust bounced up and down painfully with every attack or defensive stance. No, no. She very much preferred her research. In the science center she walked freely and starkly. Realizing it was time to begin she addressed the class. “My name’s pretty hard to pronounce in your language so I won’t even waste our time. Just know I’m very old, and wise.” There was humor in her voice as she spoke. “Seven days ago your class witnessed something that children rarely get to see. An all out battle. One of ours pushing his limits. Did any of you notice when he lost control?” The boy in the back with the hoodie nearly zipped over his face raised a hand. She had heard about his mana control, but it seems he could sense mana of others as well. “Only one. Well during the fight with the uberbeast fenririan form,” she saw the confused children’s faces. Slowly she said, “the big werewolf guy.” The class understanding was instant. “During the fight while he was cornered the tall man’s curse was triggered. The greenish tint is an indication, but he can use that fog of his own will. While the beast had him pinned the insanity curse triggered. It’s one of the nastier curses. It makes the immortal unpredictably dangerous when cornered, but these immortals have less control. Like split personality disorder the insanity curse has been likened to having a demon inside your mind. At times the demon is dormant. At times it is draining and bickering. It’s a parasite of sorts feeding from its host mana-chakra-energy at all times. Its pure survival, but it’s mania. It can take over the host body. There have been many immortal suicides from this during the dark days. Before we learned of the curses true affects. The tall man has lived with this curse longer than most of you will live. He’s had his under control for at least 300 years. We know how to better train the mind to handle the curse, but as we witnessed it is still there. It’s always there, and during battle you have to work harder than others to mentally stay in control. The demon will attack friend or foe. If any of you have this curse I’m truly sorry for your souls. It’s one of the worst. There are many other curses. Most are mild and have little to no effect. The other especially dangerous curse is the depression curse. It sends its user on highs and lows. There is no demon or voice in the mind of the user. Fighting in phase two will trigger the curses. The more you fight in phase two the more you feed the curses. Until trained this will trigger their effects.” Looking at the class the chief scientist believed they adequately followed along. One of the boys in the back looked sick. She assumed that was Tye. She read his chart. It seemed as if the insanity curse took hold of him as a human. She couldn’t help the hint of delight as she examined her new test subject. Was she blushing at this child. Oh Seven she loved her research. “Today we’ll be doing some blood work. In about a week I will reveal if any or all of you have curses. From there we will go about training and medicating you to live with them.” Finally done talking she exited the room. Her assistants replaced her with needles at the ready. Each child was pricked, drained, and filed. As the assistants exited the room she took the vials for Tye and Marco personally. Sniffing them she could feel the curses leaking from inside. She had work to do for her children. She dropped the lab coat to the floor walking freely towards the science wing.

  Deb was dreading this day. Not the day when her love, Thomas, would die. That day she had always been prepared for. Every time he left for a mission she steeled her nerves assuming he would not return. He was so old. He deserved that passing when death finally came for him. This day was so unnerving because Jr. was called back to HQ. The tall man’s son was nearly his twin. If it weren’t for the scars telling them apart would be nearly impossible. Even their fighting styles were similar. Deb always had a hard time dealing with Jr. They were nearly the same age, but the maternal instinct to care for him always emerged. He, being the asshole he is, always rejected her for it. She never tried to replace his mother, but the son of her lover couldn’t see it that way. Jr., A highly skilled tracker, worked from a distant HQ. The official reason was to spread out the best trackers to help the cause in the largest area, but the real reason was to stop father and son from killing each other. He would come to her room when he got here. If for nothing else to laugh about her losing her lover. She had cried. For nearly a week she had cried. Martin tried to visit her once, and she nearly killed him in her sobbing rage as she kicked him away from her doorstep with more power than he probably knew she had. She would need control with Jr. That fight would not go smoothly if she lost it in front of him.

  Tasha was having a rough time. The lab coats of the science wing got that green shit out of her body. It took nearly three days to get her feeling normal. In those days she filled in the blanks of the night. That woman that attacked was a daughter of rain. Morris had once told her the story of when rain fell normally in all parts of the world. Occasionally in big battles on the front lines three women clad in raincoats with umbrellas would appear. They weren’t overly tall or fierce looking, but he had never seen an immortal defy them. They signaled a cease fire. They brought rain to wash away the stench of death. Tasha found the story to be naive, but she didn’t mind letting Morris talk. He had trained her after all. He had also saved her in her mortal life. If Morr
is was here now maybe he would have recognized the signs. Maybe he could have stopped the fight. Tasha remembered doing some of the best evasive driving of her afterlife, before the water wrecked her favorite car. She wished she launched a missile at that bitch. Although it was the tall man’s power that hurt her. She had no anger for him. He fought with everything he had, and casualties are part of the job. If she could have reached him before the fight. Shame filled her as she knew what she had to do next. Visiting the near lifeless field op sucked. The guilt consumed her. With headphones in she listened to sad songs for days after the visit. Her idea of visiting his bed was far from the encounter she had. His body lay numb, but his face contorted in pain. He was being tortured in his mind they told her. She should have reached him. She should have got him in her car and high tailed it away from that rain bitch. She let her sad songs blast her eardrums. She let the tears fall occasionally. She let the feeling sink in so next time she could refuse to go under. Next time she wouldn’t leave an op in the field. Next time she would be the driver they most need.