I'm pretty pleased the way this chapter turned out.

Chapter 4

Oblivion Begins

Isaac's eyes shot open, his peaceful sleep interrupted by the sound of clashing thunder. He groaned and slowly sat up, looking around. Something didn't feel right. He tried to reach over and turn on his bedside lamp; however he was simply met with the endless sound of empty clicking. The power was out.

He got out of bed and quickly put on some jeans and a shirt, stopping momentarily to grab his necklace from the dresser, its symbol, strangely enough, wasn't glowing. He opened his door a crack and peered out into the darkness of the hallway, filling with light every time the lightening flashed, only adding to the already creepy feeling he was having. He crept out and slowly shut his door behind him.

"Caron?" he softly called out, straining his ears for the slightest of sounds. "Caron!" he called again, this time louder, his anxiety and worry growing. "Mom!"

He made his way to the top of the stairs, slowly descending them, making sure not to trip this time. As he reached the bottom, he called out for Caron once more, receiving no answer. A sudden terrible feeling came over him; it filled his mind and heart as he slowly looked into the kitchen. What seemed to be coming out of the floor was a small black creature, with bright yellow eyes, two smooth and long antennas, and two feet that seemed to be too big for its size. Its clawed hands held still while the rest of its body looked around and fidgeted in place.

Isaac's eyes widened and he inhaled sharply, the creature before him looked exactly like the ones in his dream. He took a step back but wielded around to see two more of the creatures appear behind him, another on the steps. They edged towards him, causing him to move backwards until he hit the front door. Finally realizing what he should do, he flung open the door and bolted out into the night, the creatures chasing after him. The sky was black, yet no rain fell. The winds were blowing with incredible intensity as the thunder and lightening seemed to duel in the sky. He tried to go right, towards the town, however several of the creatures appeared on the path, making him tear back the other way, leaping over the ones that were originally following him, getting sliced across his arm by one of the creatures leaping into the air. He clutched his arm and tried to ignore the stinging pain as he went the only way he could now go, up the path of the mountain. He let go of his arm after he felt that the bleeding at stopped, his hand and arm stained with his blood. He looked down to check on the slash when several of the creatures appeared on the path in front of him, preventing him from going forever. He screeched to a halt and looked behind him, the creatures pursuing him already standing behind him. He looked to his side and his heart sank. It was the last place he wanted to go now, the VERY last place, but he had no choice now. He leapt over a few rocks and jumped into the darkness of the cave, the creatures didn't follow.

He tried to calm himself and keep from going into shock as he felt along the cave wall, unable to see a thing in the thick darkness. His wound stung painfully but he ignored it, continuing through the black inside of the cave. He noticed the further he went into the cave, the thinner the darkness seem to become, until he was sure he could see a light around a corner far ahead. Urging his legs to move, he may his way around the corner and came into a large cavern, stalactites and stalagmites stretching from the floor and ceiling, moisture dripping from a few of them, making them glisten and shine in the darkness. Isaac was so caught up with the cavern that he finally now realized what the source of the light was. On the other side of the cavern, at the far wall, was a large wooden door, smooth and polished. Taking up most of the center of this door was an outline of a large golden keyhole, which was emitting the strong bright light. As Isaac's eyes focused, he noticed someone standing in front of it, watching the door intently, as if examining it. Isaac immediately recognized it as the brown cloaked man from before.

"YOU!" he yelled, his fists clenched together and his eyes burned with anger. The man slowly turned around to face Isaac, saying nothing, his body looking just a limp as before.

Isaac rushed towards the man, ignoring the pain as the sharp rocks sliced his legs repeatedly, reading his fist to strike. "What did you do!"

However, when he was almost in striking distance of the man, he vanished, quickly fading into nothing. Isaac was met by the door blasting open in the center, the two halves of it hitting the wall on either side of it. From the door shot out a stream of darkness with such intensity it put the wind speed outside to shame. Isaac yelled in pain as he was caught right in the center of the darkness now shooting out of the door. It blinded his eyes and scalded his skin like volcanic steam as he was lifted off his feet and blown backwards, out of the cavern, out of the tunnels, and finally crashing onto the rocks and gravel outside the cave.

Isaac lay on his back and yelled as his skin still steamed and burned red from the darkness that had scalded him, the cuts on his legs from the rocks, and the mark on his arm from the creatures piercing and stinging like never before. He yelled as he forced himself to sit up, only to grit his teeth together as several of the creatures appeared around him. He bit his tongue and jumped to his feet, leaping over one of the creatures and managing to avoid getting sliced. He ran back down the path, the creatures in tight pursuit. Isaac was relieved when none of them appeared in front of him, allowing him to tear down the path towards town, trying to push out the terrible thoughts that could be happening there. He had to find Lizzy, Allen, and Caron.

He rushed into the town, standing in the middle of a street as he looked ahead in disbelief. Over the center of the town was a massive ball of darkness, sucking up everything. Even buildings broke and crumbled, then were pulled up and into the ball, disappearing. Isaac didn't know what to do, what could he do? However he was snapped out of his thoughts as he remembered the creatures following him, now very close. He ran down the street, ducking at times when an object shot over him towards the ball of darkness. A crashing and breaking sound to his side stopped him. He looked to see a building tear off its supports and shoot towards the center of town. Isaac had to drop to his back not to be hit by it as it flew by. He sighed in relief but gasped and rolled back as a creature leapt up into the air and was coming down at him. The roll back got him to his feet and he continued running, faster this time. He began to think of some way to lose the creatures when he reached the intersection at the center of town, above which floated the giant ball of darkness. He looked behind him, the creatures had gone. He turned back in front of him at the center of the intersection. There stood Allen, looking up at the ball of darkness that was causing so much destruction. Isaac managed to catch his breath and walked to the center of the intersection, coming up behind Allen.

"The darkness has come, Isaac," said Allen, turning to face him, confidence burning in his eyes. "The door to the outside as finally opened!"

Isaac took a step back. "What's going on Allen? Where's Lizzy, where is everyone!"

Allen shook his head. "Lizzy has already escaped! Her heart was strong enough! All three of us want to see what's out there, now's our chance! Only the people who aren't afraid, and whose hearts are the strongest will be able to leave." Allen turned back around, looking up at the ball of darkness. "I'm ready! My heart's strong enough! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" A pool of darkness appeared underneath Allen, darkness coming up from it and spreading across his body. Allen turned his head to look behind him at Isaac as the darkness covered him completely. It then sank back down into the pool, and Allen was gone.

Isaac stood still, not knowing what he should do. "Allen," he said, taking a step forward towards the pool of darkness. Suddenly he jumped back as darkness slowly rose out of the pool, morphing and changing into someone. Isaac's eyes widened, his breathing immediately increasing as the black hooded man from his dream appeared, his hood concealing his face in darkness, his arms at his side as he stared at Isaac. Isaac stumbled backwards, falling to the ground and backing away. He watched as the pool of darkness underneath the man expanded to take up most of the intersection. From the pool, behind the hooded man rose the giant creature from his dream. Its face wrapped in tentacles, its eyes glowing yellow, and the heart shaped whole in its chest. It stood behind the hooded man, towering above him as it stared down at Isaac.

Isaac tried to scramble away as the hooded man began to walk towards him. However he hit a building and was trapped as the hooded man grew nearer, the large creature watching. The large ball of darkness continued, sucking in everything around them. Isaac closed his eyes, wishing for it all to stop.

"Don't be afraid."

Isaac opened his eyes.

"Keep your light burning strong."

Isaac's eyes narrowed and he slowly got to his feet, pushing the pain aside, causing the hooded man to stop in surprise.

"And don't forget."

Isaac gritted his teeth together and brought his arm back, thrusting his open palm at the hooded man.

"You are the one who will open the door."

Isaac's clothes glowed and changed as a blast of light shot out of his palm, hitting the hooded in the chest and throwing him backwards across the intersection, landing on his back. Isaac's new clothes looked like the hooded man's, however they were white, the chains still silver, and his hood was down. The light in the middle of his symbol around his neck held a stable glow as his eyes burned with determination, not a trace of fear left on his face.

Across the intersection the hooded man slowly got to his feet, looking over at Isaac for a moment. Then, he finally thrust his arm forward, pointing at Isaac. The large creature in front of him tilted its head back, and stretched its arms, as if it were roaring if it had a mouth. The buildings surrounding the intersection were pulled up and into the ball, making the intersection much larger as the creature took a few steps forward, brining its hand down and into the pool of darkness. From the pool now rose several of the small creatures from before, surrounding Isaac on all sides. Isaac held out his hand and a sword appeared in his fingers in a small and quick flash of light. The sword had a golden handle and a silver blade, designs all across the handle. He held it at the ready, his eyes looking left and right.

One of the creatures in front of him moved first, leaping up at him, its claws raised. A sing vertical slash destroyed the creature, exploding into small scraps of darkness which disappeared afterwards. The rest of the creatures sank into the ground, becoming flat. They circled around Isaac before suddenly shooting up out of the ground. Isaac turned and slashed one to his right, then brought his sword behind and stabbed one directly. The creatures kept coming, Isaac kept his pace and destroyed them, twirling his blade and rushing towards a group of them, making several slashes back and forth as they leapt up at him, destroying three of them with a blast of light from his hand.

The large creature finally brought its hand up out of the pool of darkness and the creatures stopped coming out of it. The large creature quickly took a few steps towards Isaac, bending down and making a sweeping motion with its hand, trying to swat him. Isaac leapt over the hand as it came near him, slicing it with his sword as it passed. The creature brought its hand back and clenched both of them into fists. It then proceeded to try and hit Isaac, slamming its fists down at him, making dents in the ground, and causing small shockwaves. Isaac rolled out of the way every time the creature brought its fist down, leaping up to avoid the shockwaves. When the creature managed to bring its fist down over Isaac, he held is sword up and jammed it into it. The creature yanked its fist back, standing up straight. It held up its hand, palm up, as a ball of energy appeared above it. Isaac watched as the ball exploded into dozens of smaller balls, which then plummeted down towards him. Isaac rolled and leapt out of the way of the blasts as they hit the ground and exploded left and right. He didn't see the creature reach down until it was too late.

It closed its fist around Isaac and brought him up to its face, examining Isaac as it tightened its grip. Isaac yelled and struggled in its grasp until he managed to free the arm that held his sword. He stabbed it into the creature's hand which immediately let go. Isaac managed to jump up onto the creature's wrist, stabbing his sword into it and running up its arm, trailing his sword along the way, making a long, deep slash in the creatures arm. The creature tried to reach over and grab Isaac, but was only met with Isaac slicing its hand. When Isaac reached the creatures shoulder he jumped into the air, causing the creature to look up at him, reaching up to grab him. However Isaac brought his arm back, and thrust his sword down at the creature's face, shooting straight through it.

Isaac landed on the ground, his blade appearing back in his hand as the creature clawed at its face, darkness pouring out of the wound Isaac had made there. The creature's body seemed to melt and drip until it finally completely turned back into darkness and sank into the pool below it, disappearing.

Isaac smiled and directed his attention to the hooded man across the intersection, who had been watching with his arms crossed. He unfolded his arms casually, a black blade appearing in his hand as he readied himself. Isaac did the same, glaring at the man as he waited for him to make the first move. They were interrupted by the hooded man suddenly looking up at the ball of darkness, Isaac doing the same. The ball had stopped sucking things up and simply floated above them, everything seeming to freeze. Suddenly, it exploded, darkness shooting out and engulfing everything, Isaac got one last look at the hooded man, whose blade had disappeared and was crossing his arms in disappointment, before his vision was shrouded in darkness, his body overcoming the strangest feeling, and everything around him disappearing into darkness.

There we go, please read and review.