p align=centerPrologue
The sun glowed brightly over the campus of Bowling Green State University the morning before Halloween. The students, some of whom dressed in costumes hastily thrown together the night before, slowly made their way to class, looking forward to promises of a night full of drinking and partying. It was just another normal day.
David woke with a searing burst of air, panting rapidly. The dreams were back again. They usually stopped occurring everytime he came back to the life-sucking cesspool people loved to refer to as Bowling Green. But last night, his dreams were unusually vivid. Reluctantly, he draped his feet of the ledge of his bed and wearily scratched his head, recalling the details of his disturbing dream.
There he stood, alone on a desolate, dry plain. Turbulent, icy winds slashed unforgivingly across his face; while the sky above was a volatile shade of crimson, relentlessly swirling in all directions as violet bolts of lightning split the clouds. Dave looked around, trying to make sense of the plain only to find the same endless stretch of cracked, umber ground running off into infinity. Just as he was about to move, a blinding flash seared his vision, sending him jarring back into reality.
Dave winced, remembering clearly the feeling of that last painful blow of the dream. He had already been disturbed enough for one day. Reluctantly, he stood up and started to gather his clothing and books for the day. Just as he finished dressing and had started to style his hair, the phone suddenly started ringing. Dave jumped in surprise and quickly darted over to snatch up the receiver before it rang again.
"H-hello?" he whispered, looking over at his roommate's side to see if the ringing woke him. All Dave saw was an empty bed littered with dirty shirts and boxes. He didn't come home last night.
"Hello?" Dave repeated louder this time.
"Dave!" chimed the voice on the other side of the line. It was Lissa, one of his friends from across campus.
"Hey Lissa, how's it going?"
"Not bad, not bad… just calling to see if you'd like to come trick-or- treating with me and a few of my residents tonight."
Dave hesitated a moment in apprehension, thinking about Lissa's offer. His mind kept wandering back to the dream, shoving the want to go out towards the back of his mind.
"Well, I don't know…" he began.
"C'mon Dave, it'll be fun! Just think of all the candy you'll get!"
"Sure," Dave sighed. "I'll go."
Lissa happily cheered, "Great, come on over to my room at about six tonight. We'll get some dinner then meet up with the students that are going and leave by about six-thirty."
Dave rolled his eyes, "Okay Lissa, I'll see you then. Bye."
He hung up the phone and quickly finished his hair and tossed his books into his back. Shortly after, he went over to his closet, slid the pasty brown door aside and started rummaging through a pile of clothes on the closet floor. After a couple of minutes, he quietly cheered, standing back up, bringing a small pile of shimmering, blue cloth. It was what he tried to make his costume. He designed it so it would make him look like a knight from one of his favorite video games. Instead, it looked like a mangled glam-rocker's outfit.
"Maybe being humiliated while acting like a child will keep my mind off of that damn dream," he sighed, stuffing the blue costume into his black shoulder bag. Shortly after, he flipped the bag up along with a second bookbag and hurried out the door, pulling it shut with a loud click.
p align=center* * *
The day trudged on, making it finally to the last ten minutes of Dave's final class: Social Psychology. He had struggled to remain awake throughout all his classes. So far, he was successful, but the relentless droning of the professor's voice was making staying awake almost unbearable.
Slowly, his eyelids started dropping lower and lower. He shifted around in his seat and quietly yawned, trying desperately to renew interest in the lecture. Finally, boredom won over, as Dave's eyes closed while his head remained propped up on his elbow.
He blinked, and came to back on the dirt plane of last night's dream. The crimson sky still churned and boiled relentlessly as lightning arched on down towards the dead ground. The storm gained strength, hurling increasingly more bolts of energy showering down upon Dave. Again, another bolt slashed his senses, deafening him. He fell to his knees, clasping his ears, yowling in agony.
Dave…
Dave spun around in all directions, searching for the bodiless voice. "What? Who are you?" he shouted out across the plain.
The time has come Dave…time for you to see the truth.
The voice aqueously reverberated across Dave's ears. It seemed so relaxing, yet unnerving at the same time. Dave slowly grinned as the tension drained out of his body. He sat down and started to look around; expecting something new to come rushing out at him. Instead, an overwhelming urge to sleep drifted silently across his eyelids…
He blurred back into consciousness with a startled jump in his seat, which scattered his books and papers onto the floor. Dave blinked a couple of times as he glanced around the classroom. It was completely vacant.
"At least I didn't totally embarrass myself…" Dave sighed as he leaned over to pick up his notebook.
He looked up at the clock on the wall... it was six-fifteen. Dave screeched exasperatingly as he grabbed his bag and rushed out the door. He started out on a brisk walk, picking up to a slow jog as he dashed down the northernmost stairwell of Olscamp Hall. He bolted through the doors out into the bright daylight of the early evening. Suddenly, Dave stopped abruptly on the front steps, gazing out across the graveyard.
His eyes trailed up the desolate hill of dulled, cracked and blackened monoliths, thrusting skyward, praising the finality of death to the top of the hill. There stood the mausoleum, the lowly hermit-house of the graveyard, which had attracted Dave's attention for so many nights since he first set foot on campus.
He stood aghast at what he noticed. The door that had been sealed for ages behind a thorough coat of rust on the latch and hinges was now swinging open in the early evening breeze. Dave earlier had a feeling that something horrid had been bound there and now, it had been released upon the earth.
Dave shook his head, sighed, drew his bookbag up tighter against his back, and started running towards Lissa's dorm. He stumbled up the front steps of MacDonald North exhausted and out of breath. He yanked open the door and started to head inside. He couldn't believe he had slept so long.
"Gods, you're such an idiot!" he scolded himself as he bolted through the second floor doors.
Finally, with one last huff of air, he came to a stop right in front of Lissa's door. He carefully knocked on the door so as not to disturb or crumple any of the decorations that littered its face. Several seconds later, the door swung inward into a jumbled amalgam of collectibles, memorabilia and clothes. Lissa gruffly stared out at Dave from behind the dark green hood of her druid's costume tunic. She impatiently switched the ornate walking staff into her left hand.
"Dave!" she happily shouted out into the hall. "Where have you been?!? We were just about to leave without you."
"Um, yeah…" Dave apologized as he tossed his bag onto the bed and quickly started changing into his costume. "Sorry about that. I kinda fell asleep in my last class and didn't wake up until just a few minutes ago."
Lissa paused and checked her clock. "Your class ended an hour ago. You're gonna need a better excuse than that."
"I don't know what happened, sorry I was late… let's just drop it." Dave rambled uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact.
"Okay fine Dave…" she sighed. "Just change into your costume, we need to get going."
Dave nodded and slipped into Lissa's room and shut the door. Within minutes, Dave was out of his usual tee shirt and khakis and into what appeared to be a punk rocker obsessed with the color blue. His outfit was adorned with a silky, metallic blue headband and cape cropped off with silvery bits of duct tape.
"Do I really have to go out dressed like this?" Dave whined. "I look like a retard."
"You look fine, Dave, now come on… we're leaving."
Dave raced after Lissa, slamming her door behind him. He caught up just as they reached the lobby. Lissa hurried over and greeted the two other students that had come to tag along. Both were ladies, one dressed as a clown, the other Dave could only reason was a fifties sock-hop chick that was the victim of a vampire.
"Dave," Lissa said, turning back around towards him, motioning towards the clown. "This is Lynette."
Dave half-smiled; feigning interest while the clown enthusiastically waved at him.
"And this is Megan," she added, pointing to the vampire victim.
Dave just blankly nodded. Neither of the two was of genuine interest to him. Lynette, the clown, was incredibly short, Dave wagered she was barely over four feet tall. Even in her frilly and padded clown suit, she still looked almost stick-thin. Megan on the other hand was a bit taller than Lynette was but almost to contrast, she was much more heavy-set. Her weight problem seemed quite obvious to Dave by the way the seams of her dress struggled to hold her stomach in.
"Pleased to meet you," Dave half enthusiastically said.
"Great!" Lissa smiled. "Let's get going. We have lost time to make up for."
Dave silently sighed as he tucked the blue pillowcase he was going to use under his belt and wandered off behind the group; his mind constantly returning towards the dream.
* * *
Dave, Lissa and the rest of the group arrived back at the front steps of MacDonald Quadrangle. Everyone was remarkably happy and amazed at the haul of candy they managed to earn from the townspeople. Dave, Lissa, and Megan all contently strolling, idly chatting, and enjoying a few pieces of candy; while Lynette strained, trying to keep up with the group while dragging her overflowing pillowcase of goodies.
"Well, I guess this is your stop," Dave said to Lissa and the others. "I should be heading home, I have some stuff I need to do before I have to work tonight."
Lissa set down her bag and ran over to hug Dave, "Oh, okay Dave. Hope you had fun."
"I did, don't worry about it," Dave reassured her as he turned and started to walk away. "Thanks for a great time. Happy Halloween."
Dave started heading down Ridge Street towards Kreischer Quadrangle. He sighed in relief, happy to be away from the two immature girls he was forced to endure that evening. He looked at his watch; it was about eleven- thirty. Dave reached into his pillowcase and fished out a candy. He unwrapped the round, cherry red ball and popped it into his mouth. His mind then started to wander off to earlier that day. He remembered what he saw as he was running out of Olscamp. How did someone manage to pry the mausoleum door open; Dave now wondered if it still was open. Maybe it was just his imagination.
Dave walked over towards the cemetery. He stood against the westernmost side of the fence, gazing in between the cast iron bars into the dark stillness within. He wasn't able to see much, just a few gravestones. As he tried to focus his vision a bit more on the mausoleum, he briefly saw a faint flicker of light rise up from the ground and float off towards the center.
Curiosity settled over Dave like a thick blanket. He clenched his fists, turned and hurried off towards the front gates. Within a few minutes of jogging, he arrived at the gate. He didn't notice much activity on the streets, maybe an occasional car passing by every ten minutes or so. He took a deep breath and took a tentative step inside. Nothing jumped out of the nearby bushes to maul him. Dave wiped his brow and continued on in past rows upon rows of gravestones, past the tool shed and on up the hill.
Warily, he scurried between the gravemarkers up towards the mound of earth near the mausoleum. Dave was just about to reach the top when a shrill cold sensation raced up his spine. Dave looked around, but was unable to see what had caused this.
Dave…
He quickly jerked around with a sudden gasp. Every nerve in his body was on fire. Sweat beaded his forehead as he expectantly searched around, looking, waiting for something. Dave's eyes scanned the plots one by one, trying to make sense of it all. Just as he was about to give up, his eyes settled on it… something. He raced over to see what it was.
Settled over by the far base of a gravestone several feet away, Dave spotted a subtle glow. He crept up on it and knelt down to get a closer look. There on the ground was a small glowing ball of white light. It was sourceless and opaque. Dave couldn't see what the light was surrounding. He reached down and cautiously touched the light. It flickered briefly as his finger made contact. Dave quickly jerked his hand back, gasping in surprise as it continued to faintly flicker until the light dimmed down to nothing. Dave blinked, readjusting to the darkness; now, before his eyes sat a small, silvery disc.
Dave quickly lifted the disc up and slipped it into the palm of his hand. It seemed quite odd to Dave how it perfectly fit with the contours of his palm. He slowly traced over the finely etched lines and engravings on its surface. The pattern on the forward face seemed almost familiar. All the lines formed an intricate interlinking combination of shapes. Dave ran his finger over the centermost circle, then moved out to a square, then out to another larger circle. Around the edge of the larger circle were two words, which were etched in very ornate script.
"Agla…" Dave phonetically pronounced. "Tetragrammation…"
The pattern glowed for a brief instant as Dave's entire being shivered and quaked uncontrollably. He froze. His eyes darted around, searching for something his eyes just couldn't see.
Behind you, childe…
Instinctively, Dave jerked his head around, gaining a clear view of the area in front of the tool shed.
"Oh shit…" Dave trembled as he stood upright and started to run towards the entrance. Dave had little time to really see just how many rough, Italian men dressed in trenchcoats had just exited the shed. He was only able to see light glint off of at least three sharp blades and two polished gun barrels. He resisted the urge to scream as he bounded across the hills, dodging between gravestones.
"Come back here boy," Dave heard one of the men call out from behind him.
The voices of his pursuers already started to sound distant as he raced as fast as he could across the muddy grass. He slowed down to look behind him. Dave smirked. Apparently a couple of them had tripped and fallen while the others stopped to help them up. Dave sighed in relief and turned back to leave the jokers behind. As he made it around, and was about to take the first step, he noticed something new blocking his path.
"Damn it!" Dave cursed. "This can't be fucking happening!"
Before him stood nine skeletons, each one smelling of fresh earth, from which they had just risen. Each one of them shambled at him in the tattered remnants of their burial gowns and suits. The air reeked of rotting flesh emanating from small bits of flesh and muscle that strained to stay attached to the bone. One got closer and took and awkward swipe at Dave. The swipe barely missed as Dave wrenched himself sideways, his cape being ripped off his shoulders instead.
Dave wildly swung at the skeleton with a loud thunk that drove it backwards a couple feet. It collided with its nearby neighbor, which stopped the other from falling. It regained its bearing and the group continued to swarm him.
Now is no the time to fight childe, run…
"I sure fucking hope you're right!" Dave roared, harrying himself into the first monster.
He screeched as he strained against its weight. Dave's skin was perspiring and his heart pulsed in sync with every heated burst from his nerves. Suddenly, Dave's expression blanched from his face as the skeleton toppled backwards. Dave raced forward, unaware of the bullets zipping past him. The gunmen shouted as Dave lurched onward through the gate, the rest of the skeletons barely a foot behind him.
Dave raced across the empty road, followed by his pursuers. Instinctively, he dodged in and out of the rows of student cars.
Just a bit further…
Sweat dripped from his brow as he made it to the center of the lot. He turned around and his legs locked. A sharp wind kicked up nearby debris and swirled the clouds into the beginning of a whirlpool in the sky. Dave groaned as his body lifted up, his feet no longer touching the ground.
"What the fuck?" one of the trenchcoats yelled over the wind. "Kill the bastard! Fire! Fire!"
The jarring barrage of bullets speeding towards Dave temporarily drowned out the growing roar of the wind. A serene look fell over Dave's face as the swirl of clouds completed the nautilus pattern.
Now is the time, Dave… Awaken!
Dave screamed out loud as he felt every fiber in his body ignited as the world went light and black at the same time and fell unconscious.
The sun glowed brightly over the campus of Bowling Green State University the morning before Halloween. The students, some of whom dressed in costumes hastily thrown together the night before, slowly made their way to class, looking forward to promises of a night full of drinking and partying. It was just another normal day.
David woke with a searing burst of air, panting rapidly. The dreams were back again. They usually stopped occurring everytime he came back to the life-sucking cesspool people loved to refer to as Bowling Green. But last night, his dreams were unusually vivid. Reluctantly, he draped his feet of the ledge of his bed and wearily scratched his head, recalling the details of his disturbing dream.
There he stood, alone on a desolate, dry plain. Turbulent, icy winds slashed unforgivingly across his face; while the sky above was a volatile shade of crimson, relentlessly swirling in all directions as violet bolts of lightning split the clouds. Dave looked around, trying to make sense of the plain only to find the same endless stretch of cracked, umber ground running off into infinity. Just as he was about to move, a blinding flash seared his vision, sending him jarring back into reality.
Dave winced, remembering clearly the feeling of that last painful blow of the dream. He had already been disturbed enough for one day. Reluctantly, he stood up and started to gather his clothing and books for the day. Just as he finished dressing and had started to style his hair, the phone suddenly started ringing. Dave jumped in surprise and quickly darted over to snatch up the receiver before it rang again.
"H-hello?" he whispered, looking over at his roommate's side to see if the ringing woke him. All Dave saw was an empty bed littered with dirty shirts and boxes. He didn't come home last night.
"Hello?" Dave repeated louder this time.
"Dave!" chimed the voice on the other side of the line. It was Lissa, one of his friends from across campus.
"Hey Lissa, how's it going?"
"Not bad, not bad… just calling to see if you'd like to come trick-or- treating with me and a few of my residents tonight."
Dave hesitated a moment in apprehension, thinking about Lissa's offer. His mind kept wandering back to the dream, shoving the want to go out towards the back of his mind.
"Well, I don't know…" he began.
"C'mon Dave, it'll be fun! Just think of all the candy you'll get!"
"Sure," Dave sighed. "I'll go."
Lissa happily cheered, "Great, come on over to my room at about six tonight. We'll get some dinner then meet up with the students that are going and leave by about six-thirty."
Dave rolled his eyes, "Okay Lissa, I'll see you then. Bye."
He hung up the phone and quickly finished his hair and tossed his books into his back. Shortly after, he went over to his closet, slid the pasty brown door aside and started rummaging through a pile of clothes on the closet floor. After a couple of minutes, he quietly cheered, standing back up, bringing a small pile of shimmering, blue cloth. It was what he tried to make his costume. He designed it so it would make him look like a knight from one of his favorite video games. Instead, it looked like a mangled glam-rocker's outfit.
"Maybe being humiliated while acting like a child will keep my mind off of that damn dream," he sighed, stuffing the blue costume into his black shoulder bag. Shortly after, he flipped the bag up along with a second bookbag and hurried out the door, pulling it shut with a loud click.
p align=center* * *
The day trudged on, making it finally to the last ten minutes of Dave's final class: Social Psychology. He had struggled to remain awake throughout all his classes. So far, he was successful, but the relentless droning of the professor's voice was making staying awake almost unbearable.
Slowly, his eyelids started dropping lower and lower. He shifted around in his seat and quietly yawned, trying desperately to renew interest in the lecture. Finally, boredom won over, as Dave's eyes closed while his head remained propped up on his elbow.
He blinked, and came to back on the dirt plane of last night's dream. The crimson sky still churned and boiled relentlessly as lightning arched on down towards the dead ground. The storm gained strength, hurling increasingly more bolts of energy showering down upon Dave. Again, another bolt slashed his senses, deafening him. He fell to his knees, clasping his ears, yowling in agony.
Dave…
Dave spun around in all directions, searching for the bodiless voice. "What? Who are you?" he shouted out across the plain.
The time has come Dave…time for you to see the truth.
The voice aqueously reverberated across Dave's ears. It seemed so relaxing, yet unnerving at the same time. Dave slowly grinned as the tension drained out of his body. He sat down and started to look around; expecting something new to come rushing out at him. Instead, an overwhelming urge to sleep drifted silently across his eyelids…
He blurred back into consciousness with a startled jump in his seat, which scattered his books and papers onto the floor. Dave blinked a couple of times as he glanced around the classroom. It was completely vacant.
"At least I didn't totally embarrass myself…" Dave sighed as he leaned over to pick up his notebook.
He looked up at the clock on the wall... it was six-fifteen. Dave screeched exasperatingly as he grabbed his bag and rushed out the door. He started out on a brisk walk, picking up to a slow jog as he dashed down the northernmost stairwell of Olscamp Hall. He bolted through the doors out into the bright daylight of the early evening. Suddenly, Dave stopped abruptly on the front steps, gazing out across the graveyard.
His eyes trailed up the desolate hill of dulled, cracked and blackened monoliths, thrusting skyward, praising the finality of death to the top of the hill. There stood the mausoleum, the lowly hermit-house of the graveyard, which had attracted Dave's attention for so many nights since he first set foot on campus.
He stood aghast at what he noticed. The door that had been sealed for ages behind a thorough coat of rust on the latch and hinges was now swinging open in the early evening breeze. Dave earlier had a feeling that something horrid had been bound there and now, it had been released upon the earth.
Dave shook his head, sighed, drew his bookbag up tighter against his back, and started running towards Lissa's dorm. He stumbled up the front steps of MacDonald North exhausted and out of breath. He yanked open the door and started to head inside. He couldn't believe he had slept so long.
"Gods, you're such an idiot!" he scolded himself as he bolted through the second floor doors.
Finally, with one last huff of air, he came to a stop right in front of Lissa's door. He carefully knocked on the door so as not to disturb or crumple any of the decorations that littered its face. Several seconds later, the door swung inward into a jumbled amalgam of collectibles, memorabilia and clothes. Lissa gruffly stared out at Dave from behind the dark green hood of her druid's costume tunic. She impatiently switched the ornate walking staff into her left hand.
"Dave!" she happily shouted out into the hall. "Where have you been?!? We were just about to leave without you."
"Um, yeah…" Dave apologized as he tossed his bag onto the bed and quickly started changing into his costume. "Sorry about that. I kinda fell asleep in my last class and didn't wake up until just a few minutes ago."
Lissa paused and checked her clock. "Your class ended an hour ago. You're gonna need a better excuse than that."
"I don't know what happened, sorry I was late… let's just drop it." Dave rambled uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact.
"Okay fine Dave…" she sighed. "Just change into your costume, we need to get going."
Dave nodded and slipped into Lissa's room and shut the door. Within minutes, Dave was out of his usual tee shirt and khakis and into what appeared to be a punk rocker obsessed with the color blue. His outfit was adorned with a silky, metallic blue headband and cape cropped off with silvery bits of duct tape.
"Do I really have to go out dressed like this?" Dave whined. "I look like a retard."
"You look fine, Dave, now come on… we're leaving."
Dave raced after Lissa, slamming her door behind him. He caught up just as they reached the lobby. Lissa hurried over and greeted the two other students that had come to tag along. Both were ladies, one dressed as a clown, the other Dave could only reason was a fifties sock-hop chick that was the victim of a vampire.
"Dave," Lissa said, turning back around towards him, motioning towards the clown. "This is Lynette."
Dave half-smiled; feigning interest while the clown enthusiastically waved at him.
"And this is Megan," she added, pointing to the vampire victim.
Dave just blankly nodded. Neither of the two was of genuine interest to him. Lynette, the clown, was incredibly short, Dave wagered she was barely over four feet tall. Even in her frilly and padded clown suit, she still looked almost stick-thin. Megan on the other hand was a bit taller than Lynette was but almost to contrast, she was much more heavy-set. Her weight problem seemed quite obvious to Dave by the way the seams of her dress struggled to hold her stomach in.
"Pleased to meet you," Dave half enthusiastically said.
"Great!" Lissa smiled. "Let's get going. We have lost time to make up for."
Dave silently sighed as he tucked the blue pillowcase he was going to use under his belt and wandered off behind the group; his mind constantly returning towards the dream.
* * *
Dave, Lissa and the rest of the group arrived back at the front steps of MacDonald Quadrangle. Everyone was remarkably happy and amazed at the haul of candy they managed to earn from the townspeople. Dave, Lissa, and Megan all contently strolling, idly chatting, and enjoying a few pieces of candy; while Lynette strained, trying to keep up with the group while dragging her overflowing pillowcase of goodies.
"Well, I guess this is your stop," Dave said to Lissa and the others. "I should be heading home, I have some stuff I need to do before I have to work tonight."
Lissa set down her bag and ran over to hug Dave, "Oh, okay Dave. Hope you had fun."
"I did, don't worry about it," Dave reassured her as he turned and started to walk away. "Thanks for a great time. Happy Halloween."
Dave started heading down Ridge Street towards Kreischer Quadrangle. He sighed in relief, happy to be away from the two immature girls he was forced to endure that evening. He looked at his watch; it was about eleven- thirty. Dave reached into his pillowcase and fished out a candy. He unwrapped the round, cherry red ball and popped it into his mouth. His mind then started to wander off to earlier that day. He remembered what he saw as he was running out of Olscamp. How did someone manage to pry the mausoleum door open; Dave now wondered if it still was open. Maybe it was just his imagination.
Dave walked over towards the cemetery. He stood against the westernmost side of the fence, gazing in between the cast iron bars into the dark stillness within. He wasn't able to see much, just a few gravestones. As he tried to focus his vision a bit more on the mausoleum, he briefly saw a faint flicker of light rise up from the ground and float off towards the center.
Curiosity settled over Dave like a thick blanket. He clenched his fists, turned and hurried off towards the front gates. Within a few minutes of jogging, he arrived at the gate. He didn't notice much activity on the streets, maybe an occasional car passing by every ten minutes or so. He took a deep breath and took a tentative step inside. Nothing jumped out of the nearby bushes to maul him. Dave wiped his brow and continued on in past rows upon rows of gravestones, past the tool shed and on up the hill.
Warily, he scurried between the gravemarkers up towards the mound of earth near the mausoleum. Dave was just about to reach the top when a shrill cold sensation raced up his spine. Dave looked around, but was unable to see what had caused this.
Dave…
He quickly jerked around with a sudden gasp. Every nerve in his body was on fire. Sweat beaded his forehead as he expectantly searched around, looking, waiting for something. Dave's eyes scanned the plots one by one, trying to make sense of it all. Just as he was about to give up, his eyes settled on it… something. He raced over to see what it was.
Settled over by the far base of a gravestone several feet away, Dave spotted a subtle glow. He crept up on it and knelt down to get a closer look. There on the ground was a small glowing ball of white light. It was sourceless and opaque. Dave couldn't see what the light was surrounding. He reached down and cautiously touched the light. It flickered briefly as his finger made contact. Dave quickly jerked his hand back, gasping in surprise as it continued to faintly flicker until the light dimmed down to nothing. Dave blinked, readjusting to the darkness; now, before his eyes sat a small, silvery disc.
Dave quickly lifted the disc up and slipped it into the palm of his hand. It seemed quite odd to Dave how it perfectly fit with the contours of his palm. He slowly traced over the finely etched lines and engravings on its surface. The pattern on the forward face seemed almost familiar. All the lines formed an intricate interlinking combination of shapes. Dave ran his finger over the centermost circle, then moved out to a square, then out to another larger circle. Around the edge of the larger circle were two words, which were etched in very ornate script.
"Agla…" Dave phonetically pronounced. "Tetragrammation…"
The pattern glowed for a brief instant as Dave's entire being shivered and quaked uncontrollably. He froze. His eyes darted around, searching for something his eyes just couldn't see.
Behind you, childe…
Instinctively, Dave jerked his head around, gaining a clear view of the area in front of the tool shed.
"Oh shit…" Dave trembled as he stood upright and started to run towards the entrance. Dave had little time to really see just how many rough, Italian men dressed in trenchcoats had just exited the shed. He was only able to see light glint off of at least three sharp blades and two polished gun barrels. He resisted the urge to scream as he bounded across the hills, dodging between gravestones.
"Come back here boy," Dave heard one of the men call out from behind him.
The voices of his pursuers already started to sound distant as he raced as fast as he could across the muddy grass. He slowed down to look behind him. Dave smirked. Apparently a couple of them had tripped and fallen while the others stopped to help them up. Dave sighed in relief and turned back to leave the jokers behind. As he made it around, and was about to take the first step, he noticed something new blocking his path.
"Damn it!" Dave cursed. "This can't be fucking happening!"
Before him stood nine skeletons, each one smelling of fresh earth, from which they had just risen. Each one of them shambled at him in the tattered remnants of their burial gowns and suits. The air reeked of rotting flesh emanating from small bits of flesh and muscle that strained to stay attached to the bone. One got closer and took and awkward swipe at Dave. The swipe barely missed as Dave wrenched himself sideways, his cape being ripped off his shoulders instead.
Dave wildly swung at the skeleton with a loud thunk that drove it backwards a couple feet. It collided with its nearby neighbor, which stopped the other from falling. It regained its bearing and the group continued to swarm him.
Now is no the time to fight childe, run…
"I sure fucking hope you're right!" Dave roared, harrying himself into the first monster.
He screeched as he strained against its weight. Dave's skin was perspiring and his heart pulsed in sync with every heated burst from his nerves. Suddenly, Dave's expression blanched from his face as the skeleton toppled backwards. Dave raced forward, unaware of the bullets zipping past him. The gunmen shouted as Dave lurched onward through the gate, the rest of the skeletons barely a foot behind him.
Dave raced across the empty road, followed by his pursuers. Instinctively, he dodged in and out of the rows of student cars.
Just a bit further…
Sweat dripped from his brow as he made it to the center of the lot. He turned around and his legs locked. A sharp wind kicked up nearby debris and swirled the clouds into the beginning of a whirlpool in the sky. Dave groaned as his body lifted up, his feet no longer touching the ground.
"What the fuck?" one of the trenchcoats yelled over the wind. "Kill the bastard! Fire! Fire!"
The jarring barrage of bullets speeding towards Dave temporarily drowned out the growing roar of the wind. A serene look fell over Dave's face as the swirl of clouds completed the nautilus pattern.
Now is the time, Dave… Awaken!
Dave screamed out loud as he felt every fiber in his body ignited as the world went light and black at the same time and fell unconscious.
