"Deep into that darkness peering,

Long I stood there,

Wondering, Fearing, Doubting."

Flesh. Bone. Bound together with the oddest magickal incantation, this wretched book is where it all began so long ago. Before time, before humanity. I am Dr. Edward Roivas, I am a clinical psychologist. I am also dead. This is not my story, nor is it even the story of the Roivas family. It is the story of humanity. Like it or not, believe it or not as you will, your perceptions will not change reality, but simply color it. Humanity has been on the edge of extinction for two millennia. Ignorant of so much and dependant on so few. The guardians grow restless, their time once again near. Whether by fate or misfortune, my family has crossed their path. And they didn't take kindly to it. Their attention turns to my granddaughter, for she is the last of my line. And the last hope for humanity.

Alex looked around to see her room filled with shambling zombies. But it wasn't her room, and she was holding a shotgun. Using what she had to her advantage, as she had done since her parents died, she took aim at their heads and just starting shooting. But they didn't stop; they got back up and still ran after her. She could feel their hunger raking across her flesh as they stared her down. The corpses themselves were simply bodies, but they had lost all muscle and were now just shrunken skin on a skeleton. Alex wasn't sure what was going on, but as she ran out of shells she bolted to the door. She also found it locked. She pounded on the door as a strange voice yelled from behind it.

"May the rats eat your eyes, the darkness comes." She kept pounding on the door as she waited for the corpse's dead claws to pierce her flesh, but instead she saw only a blue light behind her. She turned to see an incorporeal form of her grandfather, Edward Roivas, forming behind her.

"Remember me, Alex?" Alex started to reach for her grandfather's hand, when she was suddenly jolted awake by her phone ringing beside her head. She looked at the clock and wondered who could be calling at 3:30 in the morning?

"Eh, Hello?"

"Miss Alexandra Roivas?" The strange voice crackled into the receiver.

"Um, yeah," She wondered, none of her professors called her by her full name, and she had no other relatives besides her grandfather. And that wasn't his voice. "Who is this?"

"This is Inspector Legrasse of the Rhode Island police." Rhode Island? She was in California, this better not have been a prank call. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but there's been an accident," His short pause only gave Alex more time to worry. "With your grandfather." That's why. Was that dream real? No. He probably slipped and fell. He was what, 93, 94 years old?

"I'll be on the next flight out."

"But-." She hung up before he could say another word. Alex hurried along and packed a small bag and headed to the airport. She'd had a stash of money from her parent's inheritance that she'd saved for an emergency. She thought this would qualify. The flight was silent; it was still early morning when she got there. It had grown late as the taxi pulled up to her grandfather's mansion. She was escorted through the front door by an ambulance worker; she walked through the main foyer to her grandfather's library. A taller man stood there, he was a bigger gentleman but not what you would consider fat. He stood in a trench coat with a coffee in his hands. Alex could swear his hands were shaking.

"Ah Miss Roivas, pleased to meet you, I trust you had a pleasant trip." He idly made small talk while the last of the CSI left the scene.

"Um, yes I suppose so, considering."

"Yes, my condolences. This is most unpleasant. It's a shame we couldn't meet under brighter circumstances." He watched as the last CSI left giving him the thumbs up. Alex paid no attention to him, but there was blood on his sleeve, that worried her.

"Yes it is. Can we get this over with please?" She asked nervously moving around. The inspector shuffled nervously as well.

"Of course, this way," He started to turn to walk away but sharply turned back. "But I must warn you, it's not a pleasant sight." Alex gulped quietly as she walked with the inspector. Why did he use the word pleasant so much? "I'm afraid there isn't much to see." What? They turned around the corner to see the mangled twisted remains of Edward Roivas, haphazardly covered with a sheet, but the sheet did nothing to hide what the story told. Limbs were twisted in unnatural ways and others were missing. Blood strewn across the hardwood floor, decorating the walls, ceilings and even the books on the bookshelves and yet only one thing showed. Her grandfather's limp twisted arm and broken hand. Wearing the Roivas family ring, a sapphire blue band with gold edges. Alex fought her hardest not to throw up, the stench of death was fresh and she couldn't help but crying out a few times. Who, or maybe a better question, what could have done this? "Miss Roivas," the inspector asked hesitantly as she finished her crying. She promised herself she wouldn't cry. After her parents died she needed to be strong. "Is that" she cringed at the word; even he didn't recognize it as a human body. "Your grandfather, Edward?"

"Yes, it's him. He's wearing our family ring." Alex ran to a trash can to throw up what little breakfast she'd had. Seeing the ring so pristine and clean amidst the horror and chaos her grandfather had become. "I don't understand, why are you showing me this?" She looked back at the inspector who himself had grown pale. "Can't you check dental records or something? What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked angrily as she continued to weep for her grandfather. She scolded herself internally for it but she figured if she didn't she would look suspicious.

"I'm," he tried to speak but she was caught up in the moment. "I'm sorry, but it's my job lady. Look you're the only living relative and no we can't check dental records because," he paused as she looked up at him. "There's no head. Now none of this makes sense, there's no sign of intrusion and there was certainly a lot of force used here. In 20 years with the police force I have never seen anything like this. We have no evidence except for the body, but what's left," he paused again taking another drink. "Well it doesn't say much. We don't have a single damn clue." Alex gritted her teeth and looked up at the inspector.

"Well you'd better find out whom or what did this. Because I'm not leaving Rhode Island until you do. There's gotta be something in this old rundown mansion that can tell us what happened." She turned and looked back at the body, not feeling sorrow anymore, now filled with wrath. "I want answers." The inspector sighed and looked at his drink, obviously wishing it was something stronger.

"So do I," he sighed drinking the last of the drink before throwing the cup away. "I wish I had some." He started to walk away, leaving Alex to look at the body alone. After he was gone she took the family ring off his body and put it on herself. She swore she wouldn't take it off until they found out what happened. After two weeks of seeing the police bumble around their own feet and kicking up dust about what happened they called the case cold. She stayed in the mansion after everyone else left. She knew something here had to reveal what happened, if there was a tie to his past, and possible his murderer, than it would be here. Alex sighed as she locked the front door behind her. This place by inheritance was hers now. By the looks of things Edward had either fired the servants or they resigned some time ago. It was falling into disrepair. If the walls could talk then she probably wouldn't like what they would say. She walked forward to a strange clock on the table in the foyer. It was stuck on 3:33 but it still kept ticking, Alex found it odd, and started to wind it with the key. She soon found out it wasn't a clock key at all, it was another type of key it looked like a dresser key. She pocketed the key and began to move on. She recalled seeing a dresser in her grandfather's room in the second floor. She walked up the stairs as thunder and lighting crackled outside. She tried to use the second floor key that the inspector had given her but as she attempted to use it, the key broke in her hands.

"Fuck." She muttered pocketing the pieces. She could probably fix it, even if she didn't know how. She went back downstairs and went into the kitchen; it was a pretty empty room. Her grandfather didn't cook very much so he pretty much lived on takeout food and whatever his servants could cook. She noticed a large board on the pantry door. It held a slot just wide enough to fit like a sword in or something. It had a strange purple sigil on the plaque and didn't make much sense at all. But there wasn't a way to open the pantry without it so she just let it go for now, but she knew she would figure it out eventually. Her grandfather loved puzzles so she would just have to figure this one out. She made her way into the dining room to see a large dining room table with only one seat and one place set. Her grandmother had died before she was born so she had never met her. She saw the dusty old piano; she used to play with her grandfather. Their definition of playing was just banging on the keys but it was fun nonetheless. Near the other side of the room she saw something that caught her eyes. A large picture with four small orbs, three orbs making a circle an obvious rock-paper-scissors type chain, red beats green, green beats blue, and blue beats red, it all seemed fairly obvious. But the large orb in the center, it had the same purple rune that was on the door. Yet it had no weaknesses. The picture intrigued Alex but she knew she had to move on. She walked across the foyer to the library. The smell of death still hung in the air, she tried to avoid it by walking into the observatory. "Whoa." She muttered to herself, a large telescope loomed in front of her. But it was missing the crankshaft to move it around. She sighed.

"Figures." She walked back into the library and looked around some more; books littered the shelves ranging from classic literature to a few pulp fiction novels. She kept walking around until she saw her grandfather's personal study. She could swear she could see little claw marks in the floor, as well as some teeth marks in the chair beside the fireplace. She shrugged it off as she stared at the grandfather clock. It had stopped from not being set. She looked at the time on her watch. A couple minutes past 4:00. She started to set the clock but the hands stopped on 3:33 with a loud click. She looked around as the wall on her right started shifting inwards, indicating a secret passage. "Okay then." She pushed her way through to see a small hallway that led to a door. She opened the door slowly to see a small room filled with eclectic collections and pictures. A gladius hung on the wall and grabbed it. It was a sturdy enough blade she figured she'd keep it. She looked around at all the pictures a few times before she'd noticed the large leather bound book on the desk. She picked it up and opened it trying to read it. It was written in strange runes and languages but after a while she could read it clearly. As she read it in English, images of cathedrals, towers in the Middle East, giant worms and a large mass of teeth and eyes flashed in front of her causing her to gasp. She recovered and kept reading.

"I had no knowledge of what was to come, nor did I care. How the knowledge changed me, it will also change you. As you read this, you will come to learn fear as I have. You, too, will come to understand or you will perish. To think that once I could not see beyond the veil of our reality, to see those who dwell behind. My life now has purpose, for I have learned the frailty of flesh and bone. I was once a fool." The words were written by Pious Augustus, a Roman soldier during the Ancient Roman Empire. Alex viewed as a phantom three soldiers by a river, a battalion of other soldiers just beyond the hill. Only one had a gladius like Alex did and he spoke with a regal authority. Alex strained to understand them, but eventually they spoke in English though it sounded strange to them.

"I would like to compliment you once more on your battle tactics; our enemies did not stand a chance." He smiled, saluted and went off.

"Do you believe it really exists centurion?" The other soldier asked.

"I do not doubt our Emperors beliefs, or his orders. But if we are to retrieve the artifact, we must be strong and patient." The other soldier saluted and followed his comrade. Pious hadn't the chance to rest yet when he heard something calling him.

"Come to us," Pious turned to see nothing, but heard the whispers. "Pious Augustus." Pious started to move toward the voices with no change in his resolve. He traveled far still hearing the whispers, but the whispers were from three people. He drew his sword as he heard a woman whispering his name.

"Come to us, Pious Augustus." He soon came to a clearing with five large stone pillars, each having runes marked into it that were unfamiliar to him. As he stepped in between the stones, they each crackled with a dark energy surrounding and trapping Pious. Pious felt the energy connect with his body as he let out a short grunt; not allowing whatever that was doing this to him the pleasure of seeing him in pain. Pious closed his eyes for only a moment. When he opened them again it was hard to say where he was. A strange temple was the likely scenario there seemed to be only one path through the temple. He stood at the ladder before holding his breath and descending. The stench of death was prevalent and it was all he could do to keep from vomiting. He found the bottom rung of the ladder and looked with horror into the long hallway stretched before him. Corpses littered the ground, as he moved through the hallway he noticed a granite block with a strange rune on it. He gripped his sword tightly as he watched what was guarding it. One of the corpses from the hall rose from the ground staring Pious down intently. Pious could feel fear in his gut start to rise but he knew he had to be defeated. Pious struck him in the head and watched his head roll on the floor. The corpse still stood but now tried to feel where his head was; now just swinging randomly. Pious was disturbed by the sight and kept moving; he grabbed the granite block and examined it. The rune was a strange one to him. He had never seen it but it caused worry in him. It shone with an unnatural crimson hue. He put the stone in his pack; something in his gut was telling him to keep it.

"Strange." He muttered to himself as he continued. He opened the door and quickly dispatched the corpses. Another stone stood in the centerpiece. This time shining a sickly green rune, in stark contrast with the blood red hue on the other one, what would the significance be? He moved on through the only door there only to be greeted by a mass of corpses. He struck them down one by one but by the end was winded. He'd been in war but this was too much. He started to wonder if there was any end to them, finally grabbing the prize another stone block. This one at least had a calming blue rune that still made no sense to him. He looked but there were no doors only a ladder leading further down into this maze of perdition. He swallowed his fear and went down. He knew there had to be a way out. The ladder led down to a small T-shaped hallway with one of the corpses, easily killed. A door lay to his left covered with chains and bars. To his right an easy to open door he hated taking the easy way out but it seemed it was the only option. He opened the door then immediately wished he hadn't. A dozen corpses filled the room they hadn't seen him yet though. He took a deep breath swallowed his fear and charged courageously. Bodies dropped left and right as he finished his grizzly duty. He panted and wiped the perspiration from his brow as he surveyed the site. He saw the bodies and another granite block.

"How many of these things are there?" He turned and saw four large stone tablets each depicting one of the blocks he picked up. He quickly slid the green into the green, blue into blue, red into red and purple into purple. He could hear a loud crash as he slid the last block in. He left the room and saw that the last door was free. He quickly entered the room to see a statue version of himself staring him down. A strange voice called to him as he walked into the room further.

"Pious," the voices called to him again. "Prove your worth to us," They whispered in his ear and shouted to his soul. "Destroy this statue." Pious did as he was commanded and entered the last room. He dashed through it only to find more corpses. He quickly killed them and looked to see a large button with glowing yellow energy behind it. He pushed the button and three stone pillars made an area that looked like what brought him here. He ran with fervor looking for an escape only to have his hopes dashed by another hall. With no exit, he cursed but continued still hoping for an escape. He walked through the hall and was surrounded by three floating artifacts. Power emanated through each of them. He saw the one that called to him and reached up to claim it.

Well readers that's the first chapter. Review to vote, shall he choose:

Xel'lotath: The path of insanity

Ulyoath: The path of magic and intelligence

Chat'turgha: The path of power and fear

Vote for your favorite! I will close the votes soon though so get it in soon.