Beginnings are often profound. You can tell when they're going to become something great, something notable.

Sometimes a beginning is the end of something else, as the remnants of the ending are transformed into something better.

Sometimes a beginning is clear what it will become, although disappointment is just as common as success. All one need do to see that is look at kickstarter and Indiegogo to learn this.

Sometimes its possible to even know that something is, in fact, beginning.

Terry, though, had no idea what this was supposed to be the start of.

Newly graduated from college with his Bachelor's in physics, Terry was in kind of a bind. It was the typical scenario of a newly-grad, really. He needed a job in order to pay for life, but in order to get a job he needed work hours. In order to get work hours, he needed a job. The end result was that he really couldn't get any good paying job.

So when the young man found the advertisement in the paper for a job that needed no previous work experience, he immediately went for it. It payed surprisingly well, but that was probably only because the place in question was closing in a couple of days anyways. With luck, it would be enough to last him until he got another job, but for now a single night's work was all he really needed to do.

Terry glanced up at the sky, staring at the clouds. The buildings in the city often blocked the sun, but the sunset's reflection off of the clouds was always a sight to behold.

Shaking his head, Terry walked on. His new workplace wasn't far. A surprisingly large place next to the museum, which was frankly just poor building planning. What kind of idiot designed a city so that the safehold of ancient artifacts was back-to-back with a public arcade?

Nevertheless, that was how it was.

Terry continued back to the arcade, glancing up at the sign. A cartoonish dragon and phoenix leaning together, each with an arm around the shoulders of the other. Underneath the two was the name of the place, Armory Arcade. The rest of the front of the building was pretty worn down. Terry could actually remember when his mom brought him here, before it had devolved into the place where the bad teens went to hang out. It had actually been quite well managed, back then. It had been clean, and the animatronic characters had been entertaining. Now, though, the place was a dump. Beer cans in the parking lot, cigarette stubs in the cracks of the sidewalk, and rot and mold covered the brick front of the building.

Stepping inside, Terry looked around the dim interior. Most of the lights were busted, meaning that the working lights only served to show the long shadows. Some of the arcade machines were clearly busted, with wires showing and screens cracked. Mold was growing in the corners, and the plaster on the walls was split apart.

The main attraction, though, was the stage that was visible from the entrance. Two statue-like figures stood there, frozen in the pose of waving. On the left was the dragon mascot, his black suit painted to look like scales. Flimsy wings extended from its back, broken and torn. A thick black tail wound around its feet, resting on the ground. The main thing that Terry saw was the eyes. While its left eye was a normal eye, for an animatronic, the right was a solid green, and glowed despite the fact that the power was supposedly off.

The other animatronic was the phoenix mascot. Her- and it was very, very clearly female- suit was red in color, with flame accents on the arms and legs. It was entirely clear that the suit had been reworked to draw in more late teenagers. Someone had looked at it and said 'you know what we need to do to draw in more customers? Give them sex appeal'. And clearly, that had been taken seriously. The phoenix had been given an unrealistically exaggerated figure. But again, Terry's gaze was drawn to the eyes. They were golden, and, impossibly, incredibly intelligent.

Shaking his head, Terry continued on through the building. The place was surprisingly large, with winding hallways and a great deal too many rooms. But the only room that Terry really cared about was the security room.

Terry stepped into the room and sat down in the chair. There were only two entrances, with buttons for lights and door control at each one. The doors were grates, as opposed to actual doors. Terry experimentally closed one, watching as the grate lowered. It wasn't particularly fast, but it would stop someone who was down the hall.

He shook his head again and looked at the television screen in front of him. There were buttons near the screen, one for each camera in the building. Terry glanced up at the clock and raised his eyebrows. It was already nearing midnight. Shrugging, Terry leaned forwards and turned on the television screen.

Immediately, a colorful ad began to play, featuring the arcade itself.

"Welcome to the Armory Arcade! Home of fun, games, and our iconic animatronic characters! Join Draco the dragon, Pharra the phoenix, King Arthur, and the knights Gawain and Lance in great fun on the show floor! But don't go into the dungeon, or-"

FSSSHHHHZZ

"-So enjoy your stay as night guard, here at the Armory Arcade!

"ArmoryArcadeisnotresponsibleforanyinjury,lostproperty,mentaltrauma,ordeath."

FSHT.

Terry stared at the small television screen for a moment and blinked. "What."

Before he could ponder what was just said any further, though, the screen blinked back to life. A scruffy middle-aged man was on-screen, replacing the colorful and dishonest commercial from a moment ago. He glanced to the sides of the screen, then leaned close. "Alright, so you probably already hate this job just 'cause of that stupid ad, right? But you're here, and leaving is probably more dangerous than staying."

The man glanced around again, then reached over and pushed a button. "I'm sitting where you are right now, although by this point I'm either dead or left. Probably dead. My goal here is to make sure you don't wind up that way. Little reprogramming here, a little video camera there, and suddenly you've got a functioning tutorial for the new guy, as opposed to the stupid shit they had when I showed up.

"But enough complaining. You want to know why I'm talking to you, and without a doubt you haven't got a clue as to what's going on. I'll lay it out plain and simple." The man leaned forwards and stared at the grainy screen, seeming to see beyond it to Terry. "The robots are going to try and kill you. There's something real, real wrong with 'em, and it's terrifying. I'll go through 'em one by one, hopefully you can remember what the damn things do."

Static overtook the screen, then the main stage appeared. Standing there were the two main mascots, the dragon and the phoenix. "First is the lizard. Dunno why one of the eyes is always lit up, but it makes the thing easier to see. You've probably seen the light button on the camera controls. Don't use it when this guy's in the room you're watching. Light makes it spaz, or something, and it just moves faster. You can't really miss it when it shows up at the door, which helps 'cause you gotta immediately close the grate. Turn the light on, and it'll dash in.

"Then there's the bird. It's sneaky as hell, and tends to follow the dragon around. It'll back off if you shine the light on it, same kind of glitch. But the real problem is that it's fast. Like, real fast. Dunno how it moves that fast with that stupid as hell design, but it does. Don't try to slam the door on it, it'll dash through before the grate closes."

The screen flickered with static again, this time resolving on the side room that was inhabited by a trio of suits of armor. A large circular area in the center of the floor was clear of any obstruction, and half of its edge was made up of benches and chairs. "Then there's the knights. Lance is the one in red and black, Gawain is in blue and white. They both move at the same time, so it's easy to find the other if you can find one. The problem is that they both show up at the doors at the same time too. If you see one at your door, close both doors. Checking the other door is a death sentence.

"Arthur's the real problem though. Hulking thing was nailed to the chair by management to keep it from acting up during the day, too. It'll usually sit in that chair, but if it does move, you need, need, to keep the camera on it. Don't bother to check the others, you can take care of them with your doors and lights. Something about Arthur's armor makes it so that the thing amplifies the signal from your camera, causing the robotics to freeze up."

The screen flickered one last time, this time resolving on a room that wasn't on the maps. It was an old storage chamber, filled with decaying boxes and props. In one corner a humanoid figure sat slumped, its cowled black robe keeping it hidden. Bones were littered all around the figure. Terry fervently hoped they were Styrofoam. "Then there's this thing. Used to be called 'Duncan the Dungeonkeeper', but then the face fell off and the endoskeleton began to spasm at random. I call it the wraith now. They put it in the storage room and hoped people would forget about it, which is probably why they keep finding bones in the storage room. Real bones. Dunno where the skin and blood and organs go, but all that's ever left are the bones. Check on it often. Really often. Shine your light. If it starts to move, shine your light more. It'll be hell on the electrical bill, but it's cheaper than a funeral. If that thing moves while Arthur's out of its chair, just run. Set the cameras to Arthur and run. Can't outrun Arthur, as big as it is, but hopefully you can outrun the wraith and the others."

After a moment of hesitation, the man glanced around. "Gotta go. Midnight just struck, both for you and me. Watch the wraith, check on Arthur, remember your lights, and only worry about the knights when one is at your door. Good luck."

Click.

After a second, the television turned back on, this time as a camera display system.

And all Terry could do was say one thing.

"What."

Then the clock chimed.

Still confused beyond comprehension, Terry leaned forwards and turned on the stage camera. He looked at the two animatronics onstage and frowned. Was the dragon in a different position? That eye illuminated its position, making it quite clear that the creature was still there.

Then it moved.

The black dragon moved jerkily, with stuttering motions. It stepped down off of the stage, its spotlight-like gaze sweeping across the broken machines. Each of its footsteps caused its suit to rattle loosely on its mechanical skeleton, the broken wings flopping loosely and the tail dragging on the floor. It came to a stop halfway across the room and looked around again. Then it looked up. Not at the camera, but at Terry.

Immediately, Terry flinched back. "What the hell?"

The dragon looked back at the stage, glancing for a moment at the phoenix, then continued on. As it left the room and the light from its eye vanished, the room was plunged into darkness. Terry quickly turned the light on, his eyes widening at the sight.

In the fraction of a second that the light had been out, the phoenix had moved. Not just shifted position, but flat-out sprinted. It was all the way across the room, nearly at the exit of the show floor. As the light flickered on, the phoenix also glanced up at the camera. Not through it, in the odd way the dragon had, but examining the camera. It was seeing the camera, analyzing it.

No robot should be able to do that.

Terry quickly changed to another camera, remembering what the guy had said about the wraith. As the camera changed to the storage room he quickly turned the light on. Two glints of cold blue shined back as the cowled form glanced up. It flinched as its 'face' turned towards the light. Then the light flickered, and shut off.

When Terry turned the light back on, the shadowy form was gone. Frantically, Terry flipped through the cameras. He couldn't see the wraith, which he wasn't sure whether it was good or bad.

A moment of terror shot through Terry, and he glanced at the doors. No lights were visible, so the dragon wasn't there. He quickly pressed the light buttons, revealing only a fleeting red shape. After a moment of processing, he realized that he had caught the phoenix just before it had gotten in. Terry sighed in relief and changed the camera to the room with the knights. The two smaller knights, Lance and Gawain, were gone, but since neither of them was at his door there was no risk.

The massive knight, the one nailed to its seat, though, was still there. It was slightly risen, the chair partially falling apart. The nails that had held it in place clearly weren't enough to keep it motionless. In any event, the king could clearly pull the chair apart. It wasn't like it was being repaired any more.

Keeping the camera on Arthur, Terry turned the right door's light back on. His eyes widened at the sight of a red and black knight, and he immediately closed both doors.

After a moment, the sound of clanking metal alerted Terry to the knights leaving. He turned the light back on to check if the knights were really gone, and sighed as he opened the doors again.

How in the world had the knights come up so silently? They were covered in metal, for god's sake! Not only that, but they had made so much noise walking away!

Terry turned back to the screen and flicked through the cameras, pausing when he reached one that had a single green light. There was something… wrong in that room. Flickering movements around the green light that was the dragon's eye. The green spotlight swept up towards the camera once more, seeming to look at Terry, then focused on something else in the room. The green light outlined a shadow in the room, then looked at the camera once more.

Then the camera shut off.

Eyes widening in surprise, Terry pressed the camera button repeatedly, trying to turn the camera back on. He groaned in disappointment when it didn't work, then changed the camera back to Arthur's room.

The king was gone.

Panic flooding through him, Terry flicked back through the cameras until he found the massive armored figure. It was holding a massive broadsword, one that Terry was certain was not there before. Not only that, but it appeared to be heading towards the security office.

Knowing now that he couldn't afford to change the camera, Terry backed away from the screen. He quickly checked both doors, noting that the phoenix dashed away again.

Sighing and sitting back, Terry shook his head. He was so screwed. He glanced up at the clock, his eyes widening when he saw that it had only been about an hour.

Then an ear-splitting screech filled the air, and there was the thump of something breaking plaster. An odd, unrecognizable sound quickly followed the screech, accompanied by an extremely strange sensation that he couldn't place. Kind of like a ripple through the air that caused dust to fly up and the air to shift.

The air began to grow colder, causing Terry to begin shivering.

A mechanical hand reached through the wall, phasing through plaster as though it were air. The palm of the hand flattened against the wall, pushing the rest of the arm through. A ragged black sleeve shrouded the arm from the wrist up. At the shoulder, the black sleeve met with a black shroud, made of the same tattered rags. In moments, a towering creature of metal and black robes had walked into the security room out of the wall.

Terry backed away, coming up against the back wall of the security room. With a panic fueled punch, Terry attacked the creature.

A metal hand swept up at exactly the same time, as though the creature had anticipated it. The mechanical fingers clasped around Terry's wrist, immobilizing his arm. Terry's eyes were drawn to the creature's metal hand. From within the deep sleeves of the robe, a bleached white shape slowly emerged. Four fingers, followed by a hand and then a thumb, all made of bone. The skeletal hand wrapped around Terry's arm, causing him to hiss at the painful cold.

The dark wraith hissed, its darkness-filled cowl leaning closer.

Fresh meat.

Then the darkness consumed him.


Alternate ending: Terry consumes the darkness and the story ends there.

Here we are, folks! Chapter 1 of Soul Without Life! Terry's not going to be the only protagonist, of course. We're going to be going back to Vincent quite frequently, and we'll even have Nightmare, Marion, and one of the new animatronics showing up as our P.O.V.

Now read on!