Hello, chums- D'n'A Productions back at it again!!! What, you thought you could get rid of me that easy? (Even though Aaron/James Bombeelu did deflate me quite a bit after he gave me a fake first review…)
But I'm over it now. And while I rant, I really need to come up with better chapter titles…
Darkness. It s dark.
Somewhere in Karen's concussed brain, the simple thought stirred. Blearily, she struggled to put together some form of coherent thought.
I don't like darkness. Light isn't darkness. How do I get light?
Lying still, she focused all of her energy into forming some sort of solution to her dilemma. Slowly, an idea dawned upon her. Tentatively, she cracked her eyelids open and was greeted by a harsh glare of the sun.
Duh. That was obvious.
Shutting her eyes tight to the brief glare of the sun, her memories began to recollect. Brief flashes, but memories nonetheless. Dimly, she recalled...an explosion- Jessica, screaming at her to run, and a boy clad in black, a boy who could have been no older than her but with the trained hands of a killer. A murderer. And then...then there had been the sounds of gunfire, with two of the boy's- no, the murderer's companions, also clad in the same uniform, black cloak with a star stitched across it, firing. Suddenly, Karen didn't want to remember, didn't want to hear the screaming, see the ground stained red with blood. Feel death.
Her eyes still clenched tight, she thought to herself over and over, It was all a dream. Just a dream. And when I wake up, it'll be Doria whispering into my ear bad things. Just Doria, devil that she is...just a dream, just a dream, just a...
She opened her eyes to see a serene clearing in the vast forest, a wizened old woman stirring a black cauldron full of enticing aromas, and the Ellinian trees whispering in the dappled sunlight. And even in this fairytale landscape, she knew with full certainty it hadn't been a dream.
Maybe the darkness isn't so bad after all.
"Any survivors?"
Seth curled his lip in disgust as he picked up the still body, checking for a pulse before tossing it aside. "Dead, the lot of them."
"What about escapees?"
It was Elton's turn to respond as he came jogging back. "Far as I can tell, most of them were killed on the spot."
The captain crossed his arms, looking down disdainfully at Elton. "Most?"
Cowering under his superior's glare, the Purist recruit backed up, nearly tripping over a pile of mangled carcasses. "W-well, sir, its just that-"
"Just what, lackey?!"
Pretending not to notice his peer cowering in fear, Seth hid with the premise of checking another dead body, covering his ears behind the cover of the deceased mage-in-training.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU MISSED A SECTION OF THE BUILDING?!"
"Umm, I kind've got caught up in the moment, shooting mages and all...a-and uh...I missed the back s-section..."
Seth smirked. If the rest of the Dark Brotherhood were as idiotic as Elton, he'd find his way up to the top in no time.
Turning aside in frustration, the captain kneaded his temples as he took out a walkie-talkie. "We missed a group of mages. I'm sending in a team to track them down- I'm going to need techies and back-up. You, too, Gren, we may have to detonate on this one."
One...two...three...
Karen's eyes flung wide open once more. No use. Still the same clearing, still the same old woman.
OK. Try again. One...two...
Her mental countdown was interrupted as the old woman finally spoke. "Unless you've caught some deadly eye-virus, get up and make yourself useful."
Not knowing what else to do, Karen rose and finally got a better view of her surroundings. She had been lying on a decaying log that had been soft enough to trick her into thinking it was some sort of fabric, and the women stirring the cauldron, in truth, was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. The hag's yellow teeth were split and chipped, and her milky gray eyes gazed sightlessly into the distance. Dressed in a tattered black shawl, the shock of white hair on her balding head swade with her as she chanted in a monotonic lisp.
Seeing Karen staring in revoltion out of the corner of her eye, the hag cast her a crooked grin, revealing black gums. "Didn't think any person could get so ugly, did ya? Didn't think a witch like me would be living...here." At this, she waved her hands around, gesturing at the scenic clearing.
The young mage put her hands up, quickly turning her eyes away and stuttering, "N-no! I didn't mean to be rude! I was just-!"
The old woman held up a finger, rising and putting the stirring ladle aside. "Hush, young one,", she said without turning her head, "They always have the same reaction. Common folk. Normal folk. I'm used to it now."
Straightening the haggard rags around her bodice, the hag began hobbling into the trees, which seemed oddly out of place in contrast with Karen's savior. "But if you really want to help, come with me. You weren't the only casualty, and there's work to be done."
And with that, Karen stood alone. Alone with a choice.
By the time the mages had breached the system of explosives hidden in the ground, it was too late. The Dark Brothers had vanished without trace, quite blatantly lacing the dead bodies, scarred expertly and dripping with blood, along the Ellinian trees. The symbolism was all too obvious.
But as the Purists cheered and drank beer in their hideout in Kerning City, Seth sat alone, pouring over one of those fancy new computers that had found their way across the ocean. Something wasn't right. They had caught a decent number of the disgusting, mage filth, but still, it seemed...too little. He had seen with his own two eyes their sheer numbers- surely that couldn't be all the mages of the entire west quadrant. Surely...
Taking off the popping out the tiny micro-cameras that secretly recorded everything that went on around him, Seth cast a furtive glance at the Purist party goers before hooking it into his laptop and pressing play. Scrutinizing it, he ignored the blood, the screaming, and the death, watching carefully until...there! Right after the initial explosion, several mages had been knocked out of the perimeter. But suddenly...they were gone.
Cursing, Seth rewound, slowing the it down to one frame per second. Then, he saw it. A flash of emerald-green light, a stooped figure waving a gnarled wooden staff among the trees, and the mages were gone. Shutting the laptop down and placing his precious camera in its customary position behind his ear, Seth stood and began walking out. The bartender, who was a Purist himself and didn't bother adding government tax to his whiskey, looked up. "Hey, Seth! Where you going?"
Seth smiled as he revved the engine of his motorcycle, completely ignoring safety and tossing the helmet aside. "Just going out to catch a couple stray mice," he said, cocking his gun. "A couple mice who are going to wish they stayed in their holes."
So...its kind of short (in my opinion), and for that long of a wait, too! Ah, well...
Anyways, word on the street is I need to work on my sentence structure...so there's not a single sentence with more than four commas (I hope)! HAH!
But seriously, thanks for the tip, CrapPishh. Until next time- ta, chums!
