Shadow Walkers
Prologue: Into the Shadows
Disclaimer: I do not own Priest only the demons, corrupted, and shadow walkers.
In the midst of the vampire human war a third party was discovered. A group of priests had set out to find a hive of vampires near the small town of Dust Town. The vampires had been sneaking silently in the night and dragging townspeople away. The priests had not believed it was the work of a vampire the war was coming to a close, but they could not look away from the inhabitants of the town slowly disappearing one by one in the night.
Five priests had been sent out; Jacob, Mary, Joseph, Mathew, and Andrea. The small party made their way to the town. The place was almost barren now; only ten of the original thirty were left. The traders stopped coming here from the stories and hushed whispers of paranoia that plagued the unfortunate town. The people were starved hardly any meat on them not much of a meal for the supposed vampire hive that lived nearby. Their malnutrition was probably the only reason the ten were left alive, but then again food was food so it was difficult to tell why the entire town had not been wiped out yet perhaps it was a small hive.
The people were cautious and afraid even under the sun, cautiously the current mayor of the town approached the priests (the original one had been taken and most likely killed). He greeted the five with a light bow. The mayor explained what had been going in the dying town. A few of the townspeople were exploring what they believed was a mountain trying to see if there were any precious metals so be mined they never returned and then people began to disappear with screams of bloody murder. When the priest asked where they the mine was his face visibly paled and his shaky chalk white fingers pointed to a large mountain like structure in the distance.
The priests waited until day light to leave. During the night they stayed in Dust Town they had taken turns guarding watching out for the vampires that the townspeople claimed to exist. It was nearing daylight and there was no sign of the vampires.
In one of the houses a man rocked back and forth muttering prayers in near sobbing hysterics, "Please, oh God, please don't let it be me, please, oh God, oh God,"
A light scraping echoed throughout the house. The man froze as the scraping grew closer and closer. The man was sweating eyes trained on the ceiling but he dare not move or speak. Anything could bring the vampires straight to him. He could already feel their sightless gaze upon him.
The scraping finally stopped and the man let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you G-," he never finished the sentence. Something had grabbed him pulling him through the wall. The cross he had held on for dear life had slipped from his hand as the man tried grabbing on for anything that would keep him from being the meal of a vampire. He thrashed trying to break himself form the monster's hold to no avail, so he did the only thing he could do scream bloody murder as all the others had.
The priests hearing the blood curdling scream ran to assist the unfortunate townsman. They arrived only to see a black form dragging the man in its teeth straight towards the mountain. Quickly Jacob grabbed a cross shaped throwing star and chucked it at the beast. A howl of pain rang through the air. Jacob flinched slightly thinking it was the townsman he hit, but it was not it was the beast's howl that seemed so human to their ears. The beast dropped the man and ran full speed to the mountain. Mary and Joseph ran to assist the man who was now in full hysteria with eyes of utter fear. Slowly the sun rose blanketing the land in its beautiful rays of safety.
Mathew examined the ground. Black tar like blood was splattered across the ground. The blood hissed and boiled as it slowly evaporated in the sun's light. The man that was being dragged away was physically unharmed but his mental state was all but gone as he walked back to town shock settling in on his brain. The priests and priestesses nodded to one another before setting off towards the mountain. The bikes kicked up storms of dirt as they drove just below using nitro. The scaled the wall there was no usual vampire residue that made up the usual hives. It was all very strange. As they approached the opening in the mountain air seemed to blow in and out as if something huge was breathing. The priests readied their weapons this place made them uneasy. Slowly they walked in a torch their only light in what seemed to be an abyss of darkness. No place was ever this dark. They walked deeper and deeper into the darkness. The air was becoming thick with humidity and the 'breathing' was deeper.
They stopped coming to a lighter area the mountain. They had entered a massive room that seemed to take up almost the entire inside of the mountain. Above the room a thin layer of rock allowed weak light to shine through. The priests froze at what they saw bathed in the dim lighting. A massive beast taking up nearly half the room was sleeping curled up into a circle. The beasts head was similar to a lizards with a long snout that ended into a point, its skin was black shiny and slick looking, sharp quills ran down its spine to the tip of its tail, two slits on its snout opened and closed with its breathing as well as large slits on the sides of its neck that the priests at first thought were just large wounds only to find those too opening and closing in tune with the slits on the snout. This was not a vampire there was no way to mistake it for one.
Bones lay scattered about. Dark figures also slept in the room the closest lay just before their feet. The smaller figures looked nothing like the bigger one. They looked human, more specifically like fifteen of the missing townspeople. Their breathing was rapid and loud, their skin was now a dark gray with visible black veins, only patches were left of their once full hair some were even bald, their cloths were tattered and shredded, and their sharpened teeth nearly three inches each poking out from their gray lips. The townspeople were infected by whatever poison the beast possessed and it had turned them into something else.
In between the beast and the infected townspeople sat five pale forms. They were the remaining five townspeople, the children. They were huddled together the oldest no more than twelve and the youngest four or five years old. They were oddly unharmed showing no signs of the infection that the others showed. Maybe they were waiting till they were older and keeping them to age, but for what they did not know.
"Can we get to them without waking those things up?" asked Andrea her voice hushed.
"No, it's to dangerous if those things wake up then we'll be swarmed then who will get them out," replied Mathew.
"We need to tell the clergy about this," whispered Mary.
The priests did not notice as the one Jacob had wounded hopped on three legs the wounded leg useless now. The creature hopped over to the head of the beast and hissed and growled at it. The beast's eyes flicked open its crimson pupil less orbs gleaming in the dim lighting. The once calm breathing became labored and ragged as if the beast was ill. Slowly the beast rose, its limbs trembling. It inhaled deeply catching the sent of five outsiders. The beast's pupil less gaze fell on the intruders everything a red tent and blurred. The intruder's hearts beating soundly in the beast's ears. The beast growled a deep bass growl that shook the hollowed out mountain.
The priests froze as the beast and creatures woke from their slumber. On that night out of the five priests only one had made it out alive and the night was forever stained within his brain. The priest had returned to the clergy and retold his tale; the clergy had then dubbed the new found creature as a demon and the infected human like creatures the corrupted and sent a large group of priests to extinguish them before they had grown too strong. They were successful and the 'demon' and corrupted in the mountain were wiped out.
What they did not know was that a small group of the corrupted escaped with the five children in tow and they disappeared lost forever and forgotten by all but the one priest that was there that day and they would never forget what the priests did. They would never forget.
Ok I hope that was good for the prologue. The actual chapters will hopefully be less choppy and rushed. I was hoping to make this sort of story typeish like the beginning of the movie I don't think I did it very well though. Anyway please click the button below. Thank you.
~Fade
