Finally!

I deleted my story from FanFiction and decided to try and fix up the first chapter when I realized it was gone!! Gar, I miss-named a file at some point, and now I start over. Ah well, at least I have a clean slate. Hope you enjoy Darkened Time ver. 3.0!!

The name in the ( )s represents who's point of view this is from.

(Fezdon)

I slowly crept up the wooden stairs as the rotted material creaked and groaned dangerously. I looked around carefully, taking care to stay in the middle of the wooden boards. The walls bent and swayed in the wind, looking as if they could fall at any moment. The trees hung sadly, outlined by the feeble light the stars gave off. I looked back at Zeno, wishing that I could find some miracle to shut him up. Riza followed Zeno, looking just as annoyed as I was.

"I don't get it, why are we here? This is most likely illegal. Who knows how much trouble we could be in if anyone found out we were here." Zeno was ranting on behind me. He had been hesitant from the beginning, but it was too late to back out now. Now he was nervous, and it wasn't hard to tell.

"I say we should turn back before we get caught. It's not like-"Zeno stopped abruptly, mid-sentence. "Do you hear that?" he whispered. I listened, holding my breath. At first all I could hear was the creaking of the old house, but slowly a low mummer met my ears.

"Sounds like…" I started, working the sound around in my skull.

"I think someone's talking." Riza finished for me.

"Right, now would be a good time to leave." Zeno said nervously. He placed his foot on the stair behind him. As he slowly backed down, I heard an ear-shattering crack. I looked back to see that the edge of the stair Zeno had his set foot on had shattered, the shards of wood clattering down to the ground. The quiet murmur from above ceased, and I heard something move across the floorboards. Riza grabbed Zeno by his collar and started dragging him down the stairs.

"Come on Fez, we're leaving." I nodded, but looked up at the top floor. If we left now, there was a chance we would never get to see this place again. I hesitated, a precious few seconds that cost me dearly. I turned around to head back down when I saw a horrifying sight. The base of the stairs split, sending splinters of wood everywhere. I felt the stairs beneath me tilt slightly. There was no way I could make it back down and over the mess before the thing totally collapsed. I turned around, this time heading for the top of the stairs in hope of finding another way down. I stopped short when I saw that the top end had also cracked. I felt the stairs jolt as the wood bent and rotted supports broke away.

I briefly saw two dark shapes standing above me on the top floor of the house before the staircase gave in and crashed down, with me in the middle of the confusion. Dust swirled around me and I lost purchase on which way was up. The whole world seemed to be moving in slow motion. I finally hit the ground hard, my chest crushed on impact. I felt my vision flicker as small, multicolored splotches danced in front of my eyes.

After the dust had cleared, I sat there, coughing and gasping for air. After I caught my breath, I rolled onto my back and concentrated on looking around. The staircase had crumbled to ruble, shards of wood still falling from the top floor. I looked up toward the sky, desperate for help, when two dark shapes on the top floor caught my attention.

There were two people, one tall and one short, but that's all I could discern in the twilight. I squinted, trying to make out some details of the two figures. The short one was pointing down at me while talking to the other person. I strained to hear what they were saying but couldn't make anything out. I wanted to yell at them for help, but the words wouldn't form. A movement from above me caught my attention.

I looked up in time to see a large piece of wood hanging above me. It was only supported by a tangled vine, and it swung dangerously in the breeze. This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't directly over my head. I tried to get up, but my limbs refused to move. I heard a small snap. It wasn't much, but I knew what it meant. The large board had broken free of the vines. Seconds later it was sailing down towards me. I only had time to put my hands up defensively and tilt my head to the side before impact. I was too late to do much else. The heavy bored slammed down onto my outstretched hands. It broke the fall, and possibly a bone or two. But the torture wasn't over yet. The board slipped off of my hands and onto my head.

Everything grew bright for a second, then dimmed as I lost vision. Rainbows raced across my eyes. Colors blended and swam into each other as everything slowly went dark. The last thing I saw was a bright red light, and one of the figures. A flash of white and an evil smile. I slipped gratefully into unconsciousness.

I cracked my eyes open. The world spun around me, and it was still blurry. Slowly, though, outlines formed and everything found a solid place. Maybe I had been out for and hour, or a day. Everything was still spinning around in my head, and concentrating only made my brain hurt. I thought I was buried under something, but I looked down to see I was just sprawled out on the ground. Everything felt heavy and weak. I tried to move my head, but it felt as if it had been cut in half. Tears formed in my eyes from the extreme pain. To put it simply, I felt terrible. I waited at least half an hour before I attempted to move again.

This time I could move my head without the tears. I slowly flexed my hands to get some life into them. Getting bolder, I moved my arms and then my legs. Nothing seemed to be broken. I lifted myself into sitting position. My hands hurt as if I had stuck them in a blender. I looked at them to see they were only slightly bruised and scraped, but they hurt like hell. I squished them together and wished they were still numb. I took the time to look around at my surroundings.

I gasped inwardly as I saw a huge house surrounding me. It looked like your average, giant mansion, except for a few things. It had absolutely no furniture, not even a light. But somehow, the walls seemed to glow, as if they were being projected into space. Still looking around, I caught sight of a thick beam of light and, as it turned out, the only other source of light in the house. I stood up and walked over to it, resisting the urge to hold my hand in front of it. It made a connection from the wall to four other light beams. I traced it to the intersection of the beams.

It turned out that my idea of a projector wasn't far off. What I arrived what looked like a box with a four circular windows in it, one on each side and the top, where the strong light beams shot out. I put my hand in front of one of the beams experimentally. Suddenly everything dimmed as one whole wall of the house disappeared. I pulled my hand away, and instantly the house came flickering back to life. I saw two green buttons on top of the strange box. They were in the shape of two arrows pointing opposite directions. I took a chance and pushed one of them. The lights changed color and soon a new image surrounded me. It showed the wooden frame of the building. I pushed the arrow again. This time the image changed to a giant blueprint. I started to piece things together. They were building something here. Still, the only blueprints I had ever seen were on a piece of paper. I pushed the button again. This time a design appeared. I guessed it must have been what was going to be painted on the outside. Elegant, golden vines formed over the arch of a large, silver door whish had two oversized handles. There were also few lines and ribbon designs that pointed to a large, silver circle with a large, jewel encrusted, golden-brown "T". I could only guess that was the first letter of the name of the person who owned the house. Ego I guess.

I wasn't gaining anything by just standing there, at any rate. I figured I should leave and go to the hospital. Or maybe my house. For some reason I wasn't really concerned about it. I walked here, and I could walk back. Since the building was only light, I figured I could walk right through it. I strolled up to one of the walls and casually walked through.

Only to bump my head on something solid.

My head screamed in pain and I started getting dizzy again. I shook it off and investigated the solid object I had run into. At first I thought the projector actually made a solid wall, but I realized I had run into the wooden skeleton of the building. The real one. It seemed that construction had already started. I negotiated my way around the wooden post and walked outside into a chilling wind. I looked up and down the street. It wasn't like it was before. The street was eerily empty and quiet. But the odd part wasn't how the road was, but the fact it was there at all! There had been no wide road here, or we would have been seen by a passing car. There had only been a small, abandoned dirt path.

Right, my friends. I thought they would have waited for me. Or maybe they went to get help. I thought about it while still looking around. I noticed there were other houses, again not as I had remembered. There were no houses before the unfortunate accident with the old building (gone as well). The houses were black with dark windows. They looked new, but vacant. Perhaps it was some project to help the homeless? But what caught my attention was that on every house there was a large "T" similar to the one I had seen from the projector. The only difference was it was intertwined with a smaller and more modest "G".

As interesting as it all was, I was still confused about why everything was here. Had I been out for a year? It seemed possible, but impossible at the same time. Maybe I was in a coma at some hospital. It seemed more plausible then anything else I thought of. I started walking down the road. Maybe, somewhere in this twisted fantasy, I could find my home.

I walked along the quiet road, folding my arms around me to keep warm. I still was looking around, but nothing changed. There was just one black house after another. I wasn't sure if I was traveling in circles or what. I kept going until I came to a small path that crossed the road. One direction lead to more houses, and the other seemed to lead to a forest. I was tired of the old scenery, and didn't think the road would get me anywhere, so I took the path towards the forest.

While I was walking, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a floating blue dot. I changed course and walked onto the soft grass, headed for the strange spot. I kept my eyes on it as I got closer, making sure it didn't move. I thought it might be some kind of bug, but it wasn't. It was a lifeless glowing circle. I reached out and tried to grab it, only to find my hand hit something. I pressed my hand against the dot. I heard a small click as black liquid started to flow out of the sky. I stepped back, thoroughly surprised. After all the black liquid was gone, what was left was a small, black, windowless building. I touched the wall to see it was dry. It dawned on me; the black stuff wasn't liquid, but the wall of the building appearing. Though explained, it still didn't make any sense.

Next to the blue dot, which turned out to be a button, was a door. It was set back in a small arch. I tried the doorknob to find that it was unlocked. As curiosity got the best of me, I opened it and peered inside.

The building had only one small room. It was painted a light brown color, and nothing but a chair and a ladder leaning against a wall. There was a single bulb hanging from the ceiling that let off a soft glow. The light was barely enough to see by. My gaze wandered to a shadow on the other side of the room. I crept closer to get a better look. What I saw was, to say the least, unusual.

It was a girl, her hands tied together by a rope that reached to the ceiling. I looked at her for a second, debating on weather I should help her. Maybe she wanted to be up there, though it was highly unlikely. It would make sense if her clothes weren't dirty and torn. Perhaps a prisoner? So why should I help her? She could have killed someone for all I know. Or maybe she was from some cannibalistic war tribe…

My brain struggled with the possibilities, but ultimately I decided that if I freed her and ran, she could do me no harm. I grabbed the ladder and stood it against one of the walls. Testing it for sturdiness, I placed my foot on the first wrung. Good enough. I climbed slowly, as there was no one holding the ladder at the bottom, and the ground was pretty smooth. I noticed this as a problem when I noticed that I was slowly coming to a more horizontal position and, at the same time, loosing altitude. I looked down and, lo and behold, the ladder was slowly sliding away from the wall.

Time was not on my side. I quickly climbed to the top of the ladder and, without thinking, jumped to the rope that had been tied to the ceiling.

I heard the ladder fall to the ground, and decided to spare myself the sight of it. I clutched the rope harder, hoping it would be strong enough to hold me. I shook it slightly in a sad attempt to wake the girl up. However, my efforts did not seem to be in vain. I was met by a chilling pair of red eyes.

I took a deep breath and fiddled around in my pockets for something that would be remotely helpful. I settled on a small army knife. I flipped out the knife and set it against the rope, sawing vigorously as small bits of the thick rope began to fray and rip apart.

Finally, the rope had thinned to a point where it would rip apart easily. I gripped the rope and pulled hard. Small snaps were heard as the last strings of twine broke apart. Unfortunately, I hardly noticed that the rope was broken before I felt the weight of the girl suddenly jerked my arm down. I was all at once in free-fall, my brain not quick enough to tell my hand to release the rope.

Somehow, the girl managed to untwist herself from the rope. By the time I made hard contact with the floor (my arms and legs bending to absorb the shock), she had strolled casually to the door. She fiddled with some buttons, trying to get the door open, while I tried to untangle myself from the rope. Thankfully, the rope finally gave in and I was freed. However, my temporary relief vanished the second I heard a wailing siren blare from somewhere outside of the square building. The girl had already figured out the door and quickly pulled it open. Not caring to check on me, mind you. In any case, it's not like I wanted to stay behind and find out what the sirens meant. I stumbled to my feet and headed towards the door.

The cold night air bit into me, the chill more fierce than I remembered it. I caught a flash of red hair in the general direction of the forest and decided that following the girl was my best hope. I ran after her, away from the sirens.

I caught up to the girl in a small circle of trees. She sat on a rock, trying to untangle her long hair. For a moment I wondered if she was at all sane; I just saved her from who knows what danger and she was fretting over split ends.

"H-hey you!" I said, panting. I realized how hard I had been running as I hat to catch my breath for the second time that night. She looked at me, uninterested, but stood and faced me. She stood tall, forming an almost calm atmosphere.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are very welcome. Come on, review. You know you wanna!