Chapter One: He is the Dark Elk
A boy, the age of fourteen, followed his father into the forest. They were hunting. It was one of the few things they did together, considering the short leave time of Corporal Orlando Grey. The Confederate soldier had requested long ago that he be given leave during hunting season, so that the two could do more together.
As for little Allen Grey, it was a time of learning and fun. He had always admired his father, and even sought to be just like him. Allen loved hunting, something he had done since he was six, and always looked forward to showing his mother the carcass of the elk he had shot.
So there they were, father and son, going quietly through the trees, spying for elk. Orlando knew where they would find the creatures. Their habitat was not far away. After a bit of walking, Orlando stopped his son.
"Allen," he said. "Let's set up here."
The boy produced a strange contraption from his back while his father looked for a sturdy tree. Once a proper one was found, the Greys began to hook the machinery to it. It looked rather like a large bench, the color of the forest to camouflage those who sat on it. Over it stretched a flap of the green plastic, and on the side were several levers. They sat on the bench, holding their rifles on their laps.
"Alright son, start pumping the handle."
As Allen did, the bench rose up into the higher branches of the tree. Soon the hunters could see a great distance, including a small clearing in the woods, where an elk was likely to come.
The Greys both sat silently as they waited. They were not disappointed, for quickly an elk appeared. It was not the ordinary color of its kind, but instead had a dark hide, so deep a shade that it was the color of deep space, and its underbelly was almost a deep enough brown to be black.
The creature munched the coarse grass, oblivious of the hunters above. Allen stared at its strange, red eyes. He thought of how the creature could be made into a good coat, and raised his rifle. Orlando suddenly put out his hand.
"Hold on a minute, Allen. Listen."
And so he did. At first, he heard nothing, but then a slithering sound, as if a giant snake were crawling about in the forest leaves. The elk noticed it too, more curious than afraid.
The creator of the sound soon appeared. It was a strange clawed creature, with terrible jaws and a drooling mouth. It slithered toward the elk, but then noticed the two in the tree. It gave a terrible roar, then started to spit acid spines at them.
"Quick!" Orlando yelled. "Drop us now!"
A lever was pulled, and their chair crashed onto the forest floor. Allen rolled away as his father began to shoot the creature. Before Allen could retrieve his fallen rifle, before his eyes Orlando was hit in the chest.
"Dad!"
"Waste him, boy, before he gets you too!"
The beast was already injured, but quickly coming toward him. Allen dodged its next spines, then managed to shoot at the creature's head. Again and again Allen shot at it, but it would not stop. Allen cursed, for he had no more ammo. Suddenly, as if it had noticed something, the creature left hurriedly.
Allen immediately turned to his father. Orlando could hardly breathe, as much of his chest had been burned through with the acid.
"Dad, can you hear me? It's going to be okay, everything's gonna be fine. I'll call mom. I'm calling her now..."
He picked up his moble phone and began to call, until he heard again the snarl of the beast. It sounded as if it was dying. And it was.
Allen saw in the distance an elite soldier, something he had only heard of in rumors. Yes, it was a Ghost. Fearfully, Allen fled back behind a tree, hoping he was not seen.
Apparently he was not. The Ghost, after killing the nasty creature, was investigating the area. He saw the seating contraption, and Allen's injured father. The soldier gave his father a curious look.
Orlando said, weakly, "Help me....please..."
The Ghost was silent. And so was his gun when he pulled it out and shot Orlando Grey. Allen, horrified, stared at the heartless Ghost. The Ghost suddenly lifted his head, and looked in Allen's direction. The boy was up and running.
--------
"Mom, Mom!" Allen cried out as he burst through the backdoor of his home. "Dad got shot by a Ghost!"
Renate Grey turned pale, but maintained her composture. "Alright son, what happened?"
So Allen told the story, constantly being told by his mother to calm down and enunciate as he did. When he finished, Renate grabbed her boots.
"Come on, let's get over there."
--------
They drove through the woods in Renate's SUV, slowing only when they came to the clearance. They jumped out of the car to find....nothing. Orlando was nowhere to be found. The strange beast was gone as well. The wreck of the seating contraption had disappeared, and no marks of its crash were left in the ground. It was as if the morning's events had never happened.
Except that Allen's father was gone, never to return.
Renate cursed inwardly. "I should have known..."
"Should have known what, Mom?"
"Oh--nothing. We have to get out of here."
"But Mom, what about Dad..."
"Allen," Renate said strictly. "get in the car NOW."
They both did, and Allen was wary. Through most of the drive home, his mother stared icily at the dirt road, but driving surprisingly well for her upset state. As they approached the house, Renate seemed to realize something, and stopped the car.
"Alright Allen, you didn't go hunting with your father today."
"But.."
"No Allen, you spent the night at Cooter's house, and you're not expected home until tonight. Late tonight. Now go to Cooter's house. I'll call later, come home then. Not any time sooner, okay? And don't call me. I'll talk to you later. Now go, GO!"
Allen got out of the car and started for Cooter's.
"Run, Allen!"
And he ran. But Cooter's house was at least a mile away, and Allen was in no mood to run all of the distance. He stopped, as he once again met with the forest path. Allen was on the verge of crying, as he went through the trees. But he didn't, because his father had always told him not to.
"Never cry, Allen; it's just a delay between you and reality." the boy remembered.
As he was coming closer to Cooter's, he heard a sound. It was a sound that his father had taught him to hear years ago. The sound of elk.
Allen turned to see the same dark elk that had been in the forest that morning. It had gone from the terrible scene without notice, and it had found him again. The boy had no desire to shoot it, and he couldn't anyway; he had brought his rifle home and left it there.
He stared at the elk, suddenly noticing something shiny hanging from its mouth. Allen slowly approached the woodland creature, trying to see what it was. It was a chained pair of dog tags, his father's. The elk took a step towards him, as if he wanted Allen to have them. The boy took them.
Allen observed the elk; it was larger than he first expected. For some reason, he slowly put out his hand to stroke its nose. The creature didn't seem to mind this.
"Hey Al, what are you doing?"
The elk fled as Allen turned around to see his friend Cooter, who was grinning.
"Well, isn't that cute. Little Allen made a friend."
"Man, shut up."
George "Cooter" Jones knew from his tone that something was wrong. "Hey, what happened?"
"I probably shouldn't tell you, but if you can keep your mouth shut, I will."
So Allen told Cooter of the morning's events. The friend shook his head.
"Man, that's rough. Your old man was pretty cool. Well, you can stay at my house awhile, if you need to. Let's go in and play some Warcraft on the net."
Allen looked at Cooter incredulously. "How can you think of Warcraft at a time like this?"
"Something's gotta take your mind off your dad. Come on, there's this new guy on the net, calling himself Dernhelm and saying he can really kick butt. Maybe he's on, and we can teach him a lesson."
Thus the boys went inside, not seeming to realize that an observer was watching their every move.
--------
The observer belonged to Judicator Dendra. As she was ordered, she was studying the recently discovered humans, a field she found very interesting. When she saw the boys go in, she shook her head, saying, "Humans are so futile."
But she was glad to hear that they would be playing Warcraft on the net. For not only humans liked to play the ancient game by Blizzard Software. She immediately turned to a different computer, and connected to the internet, making sure that her signal would not be traced. Dendra logged on as Dernhelm76.
"They shall not find it so easy to teach me a lesson." she observed with a smile.
--------
Back at the Grey household, Renate Grey, Confederate Ghost #981054, was stonily calm. She expected the Ghost director, Raymond Sapphire, to come at any moment.
"Sapphire. What kind of name is that for a guy?" Renate thought, disgustedly.
She hated Sapphire, because he was an annoying, arrogant sap. And what's more, he had once loved Renate. But since she had chosen Orlando over him, he became bitter. The marriage to Orlando had been a bit strange, because rarely were Ghosts allowed such privilges. But for one reason or another, the Confederate government had allowed it. Perhaps in the hope that their offspring would be psionic. Fortunately, this was not so, at least not yet. In the time of Allen's life, Renate kept her psionic powers hidden, so that he might never know, and never have to worry for his life.
Though Sapphire himself was not psionic, he would doubtless have another Ghost with him. Renate began to concentrate on hiding the memories of Allen's tale, and replacing them with her concocted story. The Confederacy wanted no one to know about the Zerg experiments, and she must not let Sapphire know Allen was there, or he could face possible death. Renate continued to work in her new "memories" until she detected the psionic field of another Ghost.
A knock sounded on the door, and Renate opened to Raymond Sapphire and Ghost #673401, only known as Chaos.
Renate immediately said, "Where is my husband, Sapphire?"
He smiled and sat on the couch. "Not one to mince words, eh? Well, I'm afraid he has stumbled upon something quite beyond himself. Chaos will explain."
A deep, hissing voice began, "Orlando found our escaped hydralisk. His hunting rifle was no match for the beast. When I found him, the acid spores had already burned through his chest; he was dead. I cleaned up the area."
"You're lying!" Renate accused. "Don't play games with me, Chaos. You know I can detect your falsehoods."
Chaos did not respond. Sapphire, after a pause, spoke once more.
"Yet, there is still one problem. Doesn't your husband typically hunt with your son?"
"Not this time."
"But didn't Orlando request that specific time for leave, so that they could hunt?"
"Yes, but Allen went to a friend's house to work on a school project. He spent the night, and won't be coming back until tonight."
"I see." Sapphire went over to Renate and tried to be sympathetic. "I am sorry, but this had to be done. You know that this project must be hidden from the public. I hope you can work for us still."
"The mission is more important than the people." Renate said, in a stern, Ghost-like manner.
"Good. I shall see you tomorrow then. Tell your son that his father died before he could come for leave."
"Yes sir."
Sapphire exited. Chaos followed, looking back suspiciously at Renate. If Renate had lost control, Chaos would never have lived to step across the threshold. But no, this mother had a boy to protect, and she could let nothing happen that could hurt him later in life. Chaos left.
Renate, after a minute, collapsed on the couch, crying.
--------
Judicator Dendra had been playing online for two hours, finally beating the boys. They began to talk in a chatroom.
-Dernhelm76-so you still think you can beat me?
-phatman64-dang
-UbeRTAnkEr-got us good
-Dernhelm76-don't use dark elves
-UbeRTAnkEr-yeah, why you do that?
-phatman64-i'm usually better
-phatman64-distracted i guess
-Dernhelm76-why?
-phatman64-family stug
-phatman64-stug=stuff
Suddenly Dendra was interrupted by the entrance of another Judicator, Aldaris.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Warcraft? You still persist in playing that ridiculous game?"
"It can be quite...entertaining."
"Entertaining or not, it is time for us to go before the Conclave. Have you completed your reports?"
Dendra handed them to him as she typed goodbye to Cooter and Allen.
-Dernhelm76-gtg
-Dernhelm76-dad says i have to get off
-UbeRTAnkEr-bummer
-Dernhelm76-homework time
-phatman64-bye helm
-UbeRTAnkEr-see you tomorrow
-Dernhelm76-maybe, bye
_Dernhelm76 has left the chatroom_
Aldaris noticed the web names. "Who are they? And why do you call yourself Dernhelm?"
"They are two of my subjects, Allen Grey and George Jones. Dernhelm is the alias of a character in a popular Terran fantasy book. I thought it would make myself more friendly to other Warcraft players."
Aldaris shook his head. "What reason could you possibly have for interacting with the Terrans like this?"
"It is an educational experience, helping me realise the finer points of Terran battle strategies. Would you restrict me from playing?"
"No, as long as you complete your assignments, I do not mind. If you deem it necessary to play."
--------
Four years passed, and Allen Grey had gone through high school. Throughout those years, he had become more sullen and introverted, his only true friend being Cooter, and to some extent, Dernhelm76. And his newfound care for nature resulted in his nickname "Dark Elk". This didn't bother Allen. He actually began to like it; he even changed his web name to Dark Elk. Soon he was called Allen only by his mother and Dark Elk by everyone else, including his teachers.
A boy, the age of fourteen, followed his father into the forest. They were hunting. It was one of the few things they did together, considering the short leave time of Corporal Orlando Grey. The Confederate soldier had requested long ago that he be given leave during hunting season, so that the two could do more together.
As for little Allen Grey, it was a time of learning and fun. He had always admired his father, and even sought to be just like him. Allen loved hunting, something he had done since he was six, and always looked forward to showing his mother the carcass of the elk he had shot.
So there they were, father and son, going quietly through the trees, spying for elk. Orlando knew where they would find the creatures. Their habitat was not far away. After a bit of walking, Orlando stopped his son.
"Allen," he said. "Let's set up here."
The boy produced a strange contraption from his back while his father looked for a sturdy tree. Once a proper one was found, the Greys began to hook the machinery to it. It looked rather like a large bench, the color of the forest to camouflage those who sat on it. Over it stretched a flap of the green plastic, and on the side were several levers. They sat on the bench, holding their rifles on their laps.
"Alright son, start pumping the handle."
As Allen did, the bench rose up into the higher branches of the tree. Soon the hunters could see a great distance, including a small clearing in the woods, where an elk was likely to come.
The Greys both sat silently as they waited. They were not disappointed, for quickly an elk appeared. It was not the ordinary color of its kind, but instead had a dark hide, so deep a shade that it was the color of deep space, and its underbelly was almost a deep enough brown to be black.
The creature munched the coarse grass, oblivious of the hunters above. Allen stared at its strange, red eyes. He thought of how the creature could be made into a good coat, and raised his rifle. Orlando suddenly put out his hand.
"Hold on a minute, Allen. Listen."
And so he did. At first, he heard nothing, but then a slithering sound, as if a giant snake were crawling about in the forest leaves. The elk noticed it too, more curious than afraid.
The creator of the sound soon appeared. It was a strange clawed creature, with terrible jaws and a drooling mouth. It slithered toward the elk, but then noticed the two in the tree. It gave a terrible roar, then started to spit acid spines at them.
"Quick!" Orlando yelled. "Drop us now!"
A lever was pulled, and their chair crashed onto the forest floor. Allen rolled away as his father began to shoot the creature. Before Allen could retrieve his fallen rifle, before his eyes Orlando was hit in the chest.
"Dad!"
"Waste him, boy, before he gets you too!"
The beast was already injured, but quickly coming toward him. Allen dodged its next spines, then managed to shoot at the creature's head. Again and again Allen shot at it, but it would not stop. Allen cursed, for he had no more ammo. Suddenly, as if it had noticed something, the creature left hurriedly.
Allen immediately turned to his father. Orlando could hardly breathe, as much of his chest had been burned through with the acid.
"Dad, can you hear me? It's going to be okay, everything's gonna be fine. I'll call mom. I'm calling her now..."
He picked up his moble phone and began to call, until he heard again the snarl of the beast. It sounded as if it was dying. And it was.
Allen saw in the distance an elite soldier, something he had only heard of in rumors. Yes, it was a Ghost. Fearfully, Allen fled back behind a tree, hoping he was not seen.
Apparently he was not. The Ghost, after killing the nasty creature, was investigating the area. He saw the seating contraption, and Allen's injured father. The soldier gave his father a curious look.
Orlando said, weakly, "Help me....please..."
The Ghost was silent. And so was his gun when he pulled it out and shot Orlando Grey. Allen, horrified, stared at the heartless Ghost. The Ghost suddenly lifted his head, and looked in Allen's direction. The boy was up and running.
--------
"Mom, Mom!" Allen cried out as he burst through the backdoor of his home. "Dad got shot by a Ghost!"
Renate Grey turned pale, but maintained her composture. "Alright son, what happened?"
So Allen told the story, constantly being told by his mother to calm down and enunciate as he did. When he finished, Renate grabbed her boots.
"Come on, let's get over there."
--------
They drove through the woods in Renate's SUV, slowing only when they came to the clearance. They jumped out of the car to find....nothing. Orlando was nowhere to be found. The strange beast was gone as well. The wreck of the seating contraption had disappeared, and no marks of its crash were left in the ground. It was as if the morning's events had never happened.
Except that Allen's father was gone, never to return.
Renate cursed inwardly. "I should have known..."
"Should have known what, Mom?"
"Oh--nothing. We have to get out of here."
"But Mom, what about Dad..."
"Allen," Renate said strictly. "get in the car NOW."
They both did, and Allen was wary. Through most of the drive home, his mother stared icily at the dirt road, but driving surprisingly well for her upset state. As they approached the house, Renate seemed to realize something, and stopped the car.
"Alright Allen, you didn't go hunting with your father today."
"But.."
"No Allen, you spent the night at Cooter's house, and you're not expected home until tonight. Late tonight. Now go to Cooter's house. I'll call later, come home then. Not any time sooner, okay? And don't call me. I'll talk to you later. Now go, GO!"
Allen got out of the car and started for Cooter's.
"Run, Allen!"
And he ran. But Cooter's house was at least a mile away, and Allen was in no mood to run all of the distance. He stopped, as he once again met with the forest path. Allen was on the verge of crying, as he went through the trees. But he didn't, because his father had always told him not to.
"Never cry, Allen; it's just a delay between you and reality." the boy remembered.
As he was coming closer to Cooter's, he heard a sound. It was a sound that his father had taught him to hear years ago. The sound of elk.
Allen turned to see the same dark elk that had been in the forest that morning. It had gone from the terrible scene without notice, and it had found him again. The boy had no desire to shoot it, and he couldn't anyway; he had brought his rifle home and left it there.
He stared at the elk, suddenly noticing something shiny hanging from its mouth. Allen slowly approached the woodland creature, trying to see what it was. It was a chained pair of dog tags, his father's. The elk took a step towards him, as if he wanted Allen to have them. The boy took them.
Allen observed the elk; it was larger than he first expected. For some reason, he slowly put out his hand to stroke its nose. The creature didn't seem to mind this.
"Hey Al, what are you doing?"
The elk fled as Allen turned around to see his friend Cooter, who was grinning.
"Well, isn't that cute. Little Allen made a friend."
"Man, shut up."
George "Cooter" Jones knew from his tone that something was wrong. "Hey, what happened?"
"I probably shouldn't tell you, but if you can keep your mouth shut, I will."
So Allen told Cooter of the morning's events. The friend shook his head.
"Man, that's rough. Your old man was pretty cool. Well, you can stay at my house awhile, if you need to. Let's go in and play some Warcraft on the net."
Allen looked at Cooter incredulously. "How can you think of Warcraft at a time like this?"
"Something's gotta take your mind off your dad. Come on, there's this new guy on the net, calling himself Dernhelm and saying he can really kick butt. Maybe he's on, and we can teach him a lesson."
Thus the boys went inside, not seeming to realize that an observer was watching their every move.
--------
The observer belonged to Judicator Dendra. As she was ordered, she was studying the recently discovered humans, a field she found very interesting. When she saw the boys go in, she shook her head, saying, "Humans are so futile."
But she was glad to hear that they would be playing Warcraft on the net. For not only humans liked to play the ancient game by Blizzard Software. She immediately turned to a different computer, and connected to the internet, making sure that her signal would not be traced. Dendra logged on as Dernhelm76.
"They shall not find it so easy to teach me a lesson." she observed with a smile.
--------
Back at the Grey household, Renate Grey, Confederate Ghost #981054, was stonily calm. She expected the Ghost director, Raymond Sapphire, to come at any moment.
"Sapphire. What kind of name is that for a guy?" Renate thought, disgustedly.
She hated Sapphire, because he was an annoying, arrogant sap. And what's more, he had once loved Renate. But since she had chosen Orlando over him, he became bitter. The marriage to Orlando had been a bit strange, because rarely were Ghosts allowed such privilges. But for one reason or another, the Confederate government had allowed it. Perhaps in the hope that their offspring would be psionic. Fortunately, this was not so, at least not yet. In the time of Allen's life, Renate kept her psionic powers hidden, so that he might never know, and never have to worry for his life.
Though Sapphire himself was not psionic, he would doubtless have another Ghost with him. Renate began to concentrate on hiding the memories of Allen's tale, and replacing them with her concocted story. The Confederacy wanted no one to know about the Zerg experiments, and she must not let Sapphire know Allen was there, or he could face possible death. Renate continued to work in her new "memories" until she detected the psionic field of another Ghost.
A knock sounded on the door, and Renate opened to Raymond Sapphire and Ghost #673401, only known as Chaos.
Renate immediately said, "Where is my husband, Sapphire?"
He smiled and sat on the couch. "Not one to mince words, eh? Well, I'm afraid he has stumbled upon something quite beyond himself. Chaos will explain."
A deep, hissing voice began, "Orlando found our escaped hydralisk. His hunting rifle was no match for the beast. When I found him, the acid spores had already burned through his chest; he was dead. I cleaned up the area."
"You're lying!" Renate accused. "Don't play games with me, Chaos. You know I can detect your falsehoods."
Chaos did not respond. Sapphire, after a pause, spoke once more.
"Yet, there is still one problem. Doesn't your husband typically hunt with your son?"
"Not this time."
"But didn't Orlando request that specific time for leave, so that they could hunt?"
"Yes, but Allen went to a friend's house to work on a school project. He spent the night, and won't be coming back until tonight."
"I see." Sapphire went over to Renate and tried to be sympathetic. "I am sorry, but this had to be done. You know that this project must be hidden from the public. I hope you can work for us still."
"The mission is more important than the people." Renate said, in a stern, Ghost-like manner.
"Good. I shall see you tomorrow then. Tell your son that his father died before he could come for leave."
"Yes sir."
Sapphire exited. Chaos followed, looking back suspiciously at Renate. If Renate had lost control, Chaos would never have lived to step across the threshold. But no, this mother had a boy to protect, and she could let nothing happen that could hurt him later in life. Chaos left.
Renate, after a minute, collapsed on the couch, crying.
--------
Judicator Dendra had been playing online for two hours, finally beating the boys. They began to talk in a chatroom.
-Dernhelm76-so you still think you can beat me?
-phatman64-dang
-UbeRTAnkEr-got us good
-Dernhelm76-don't use dark elves
-UbeRTAnkEr-yeah, why you do that?
-phatman64-i'm usually better
-phatman64-distracted i guess
-Dernhelm76-why?
-phatman64-family stug
-phatman64-stug=stuff
Suddenly Dendra was interrupted by the entrance of another Judicator, Aldaris.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Warcraft? You still persist in playing that ridiculous game?"
"It can be quite...entertaining."
"Entertaining or not, it is time for us to go before the Conclave. Have you completed your reports?"
Dendra handed them to him as she typed goodbye to Cooter and Allen.
-Dernhelm76-gtg
-Dernhelm76-dad says i have to get off
-UbeRTAnkEr-bummer
-Dernhelm76-homework time
-phatman64-bye helm
-UbeRTAnkEr-see you tomorrow
-Dernhelm76-maybe, bye
_Dernhelm76 has left the chatroom_
Aldaris noticed the web names. "Who are they? And why do you call yourself Dernhelm?"
"They are two of my subjects, Allen Grey and George Jones. Dernhelm is the alias of a character in a popular Terran fantasy book. I thought it would make myself more friendly to other Warcraft players."
Aldaris shook his head. "What reason could you possibly have for interacting with the Terrans like this?"
"It is an educational experience, helping me realise the finer points of Terran battle strategies. Would you restrict me from playing?"
"No, as long as you complete your assignments, I do not mind. If you deem it necessary to play."
--------
Four years passed, and Allen Grey had gone through high school. Throughout those years, he had become more sullen and introverted, his only true friend being Cooter, and to some extent, Dernhelm76. And his newfound care for nature resulted in his nickname "Dark Elk". This didn't bother Allen. He actually began to like it; he even changed his web name to Dark Elk. Soon he was called Allen only by his mother and Dark Elk by everyone else, including his teachers.