When Darkness Falls
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OMGOMGOMGOMG!!! After years of hunting and searching I have finally found it!!! [goes ecstatic] The 'IT' I am refereeing to is the "Parasite Eve" novel and movie [the long distant prequel to the popular Playstation game "Parasite Eve"]. I got the movie now and it's only a matter of time before I get the book! I'm in so much joy I could... I could just... [blows up]
Do not own!
I'm sorry but this one is going to be a short one due to the fact that a very important, very LONG event shall be occurring in the next chapter.
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This chapter is dedicated to YoMuM, whose threatening pineapples and wrath have kept me going!
[eyes YoMuM's big pineapples and chuckles nervously]
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"Talking"
'Thoughts'
Inner Voices/Sylver while in animal form
[Chaos Notes]
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Chapter 9
Power is Meaningless if You Do Not Have the Strength to Control It...
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Many a thoughts drifted through Sparrow's cluttered mind as she stared up at the now rather interesting ceiling as she laid sprawled on her bed. How long she had been in this state, not even she really knew. The hours just seemed to tick by as she tried to sort through the many thoughts that have plagued her mind since she returned from the swamp. Since that... man appeared. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as his words continued to echo through her mind.
"You are much weaker than I was led to believe."
Sparrow began to grind her teeth. How dare he?! He had waltzed in from the shadows and declared her weak after he saved her sorry hide. Her pride took one hell of a beat down... as did her body. Her anger was something she normally had control over. But that man... there was something about him that just made her snap. Something that drew her to raise her sword and launch herself at him. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not land a single blow. He would dodge like no other man could. He would be there one moment... and then way over there the next.
"You are going to have to do better than that if you have any chance of facing what is to come."
She had also tried firing several rounds towards him, but they would just stop. Stop in midair and fall into the swampy waters. This would only further her rage and force her to try even harder. But the harder she tried, the more he seemed to just... toy with her. As a last resort, she sent out a powerful blast of fire at him. Just when it seemed like she would finally get a hit on him, he raised his hand the Will induced fire ball vanished. It simply, freakin' VANISHED! At that moment, her anger dropped to sure shock. All she could do was start dumbly, her mouth gabbing like a fish out of water. In all her years as a Hero, she had never seen anyone simple make a Fireball vanish with the flick of his wrist. Even Garth at his best could only divert a Will Attack. And he was the strongest Will User she knew. Well... was the strongest she knew.
It took her and hour before she finally stopped trying to attack him. Mainly cause she was forced to the ground via exhaustion. As she laid there in the grubby water, her chest heaving, the man stepped towards her and looked down. She had never really gotten a good look at him since he stayed in the marsh's shadows, but as he towered over her his image was imprinted in her mind for all eternity. It terrified her to no end, to say the least. He looked like he belonged in a tomb in the middle of some god forsaken desert rather than wandering around screwing with peoples' minds. What little skin he had was dried and clung to his bones, looking as if it would crumble to dust from the slightest of breezes. Because of his lack of blood and the right amount of skin, his mouth spread over a large area of his face and looked as if it were in a permanent snarl. He wore a long blue robe with pieces of what looked like ancient armor and a blue cloth wrapped around the most of his head and across his face, bringing out the fierceness of those dark eyes as he towered above her.
If the power that radiated from him did not scare her, his appearance certainly did.
"Power is meaningless if you do not have the Strength to control it..." he spoke while looking down at her heaving and sore body. But it was the last thing he said as he drifted back into the darkness from which he came that turned the knife in her heart. "If you are indeed his blood... Then there is no hope for this dying world."
Sparrow sighed heavily and turned to the side, tracing a finger in the soft sheets under her. What did he mean by 'facing what is to come'? Just who was he? Why was if she felt something inside her stir as he stared down at her with those piercing eyes? She knew that they had never crossed paths. She never forgot a face, especially one like that. And yet... deep down, she felt a sense of familiarity to him. A kinship of sorts. Her blood tingled and her inner Will called out to his. They shared... something; that much she knew. But what?
A sudden pounding at her door caused her to jerk from her thought and her head to snap. Before she could utter a word, Hammer stepped into the room, her usual cheerful expression replaced with one of worry and growing battle lust.
"We have a problem." Sparrow had only heard her use that tone once since meeting her. It was the same tone she used when the priests buried her fallen father, when Theresa had taken her hand to guide her down a battle weary path. Nodding with a grim look of her own, Sparrow pulled herself from the bed, shoved her feet into her boots, slung her sleeveless jacket about her shoulders, and followed Hammer from the room.
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Hammer had gathered everyone of importance in the study: Sparrow, Sylver, Garth, Reaver, and two rather shady-looking men that Sparrow had never seen before. One was a younger, tall blond with a piercing blue eye; the other was concealed by an eye patch and was probably missing all together. The other was an older looking man with a scruffy face, quite a few scars, and medium black hair pulled into a tight braid.
"These are my informants, Tone and Jeq." She pointed to the tall blond first and then at mister scruff respectively. "They are my ears of Albion. It was Tone himself who told me of Reaver's existence ten years ago."
"And we are supposed to be impressed?" Reaver asked snidely, his arms crossed over his chest. "Surely everyone in Albion knows of my fame by now."
"More like infamy." mumbled Garth, causing Sylver to snicker slightly.
The two men both looked agitated, but made no move to correct the trigger happy Hero. Despite his fame in Bloodstone, he was a rather pain in the ass to find ten years back when the rest of the world was cut off from Bloodstone. The only time his name was ever mentioned outside of the corrupted city was in a bar and they often spoke of him as a daughter carting monster that would suck out your soul and leave your body to his pet Balverines, or something like that. Ignoring Reaver altogether, Hammer moved behind the two men and wrapped her large arms around them with her famous "grab-life-by-the-horns" grin.
"Nothing gets past these two." she beamed with pride, however it quickly faded. "Which is why I've called you in here. They've found something that might interest you. Remember that assassin that tried at you a few nights ago?" she asked Sparrow who nodded in response. "They've found more."
Moving away from the group, Hammer carefully cleared off the large desk and placed a large map on top of it. Motioning everyone to gather around her, she circled her finger around a small portion. "We're here, and the marsh is here." Tone, the blond with a single eye, suddenly placed his finger on the map as well, towards the heart of the marsh.
"An unusual wave of bandit activity has begun to radiate from this general area." As he picked up a pen and circled the corresponding area, Jeq stepped in.
"These bandits are unlike anything anybody has encountered." Like his face, his voice was rough and scruffy. "Most bandit movements and groups are disorganized with absolutely no leadership or intelligence. However this band is very well coordinated, organized, and highly intelligent."
Sparrow eyed the circled piece and turned to Reaver. "Hey, Reaver. Isn't this about where the Shadow Court is?" With his arms still crossed, he leaned over just enough to see where. This caused Sparrow's eye to twitch with annoyance. 'You could at least pretend to care, you stupid egomaniac...' Glancing over the map, his arms unfolded as he placed them on the table with a glare in his eyes.
"What the hell are those cursed spirits up to now?" he hissed more to himself.
"Maybe you forgot to pay your immortality bill." Sparrow with an almost devilish grin, causing Reaver to pull out his gun and tap it against the table with agitation.
"Do you really want me to shoot you?"
"At the rate you are going, you couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn."
"The only 'broad side' I am interesting in hitting is yours."
"Bring it on, Reaver! You're not the only one that knows how to fire a gun!"
Before the two Heroes could start a gun-war in the study, both Sylver and Hammer pulled the two away from each other and forced them to put away their guns. Clearing his throat, Jeq continued where he left off as Tone did his best to force back his laughter. "There is one other thing. Being the Hero of Albion yourself, I would assume you know what happens when a man is bitten by a Balverine?" Sparrow looked to the man with mild shock before looking to Sylver and then back to Jeq with a grim nod.
"The Balverine cursed is passed down through the saliva of the bite wound, forcing the host to transform both body and mind into one."
"Very good. It would seem that some of these bandits have begun this fusion." Sparrow's memory flashed back to that night of the party when one such creature attempted to slit her throat. "This is what has me worried. Human turned Balverines are not like pure bloods as I'm sure you are aware..." Jeq's voice faded slightly as he eyes Sylver, who in turn gave him a small glare back. "They are more aggressive and would attack anything and everything in sight, even other Balverine hybrids. To have so many in such a well organized group of bandits is impossible."
A heavy silence fell over the small group as their situation began to sink in. Hammer, Tone, and Jeq began to view their options and theories while Garth began to flip through a large book to try and figure out just how someone -or something- to control such a large number of hybrids. Sparrow fell silent as all the alarms in her mind began to ring. She knew damn well who it was behind this little army, the dagger found on the assassin's dead body proved it. Her silence did not go unnoticed. Reaver's eyes narrowed darkly as he eyed her. He had seen a small spark of recognition in her eyes.
"You know something, don't you?" he suddenly asked, causing everyone to snap their heads towards Sparrow. Mentally cursing the pirate, she sighed deeply and began her tale.
"I do have... a good bet. Ten years ago, shortly after we parted away in the Spire, I came across a band of bandits cheering their latest success. Their leader was a dagger twirling man named Nox." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the dagger meant to take her life and placed it on the table, point at the decorated hilt. "He carried daggers with the same insignia."
"How do you know that?" piped Reaver once more.
"It's kind of hard to miss details when they are literally thrown in your face [dumbass]. Anyway, a White Balverine was seen in the area as well and as we were fighting, it appeared and carted him off to its lair." She glanced over at Sylver from the corner of her eye. Hearing her talk about his mother probably didn't bother him much since he hardly remembered her, but it was still thin ice for her. "That was the last I saw of him. I didn't see his body anywhere and I assumed that the Balverine killed him. But... now I'm not so sure. A Balverine hybrid carrying his insignia is too much of a coincidence."
With her arms crossed over her chest, another pause echoed around the room before Garth [of all people] spoke up. "With what we were just told, this Nox must then be a..."
"... A Balverine Hybrid himself." She finished. "But... something troubles me. Like Jeq said, they are highly aggressive. And unlike purebloods, they can't retain a human form after the curse takes a hold of their minds." she added while moving her hand to indicate Sylver who nodded in agreement. "So here is my question: how is it that a hybrid can bring together an organized band of bandits and other hybrids?" Her question took the others by surprise. They had not thought of that and that certainly was something to ponder. A feeling of foreboding began rise up from the darkest depths of her soul. Something was coming... something that... she was not sure she could control.
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A dark smile, that rivaled the very shadows that surrounded him, played across Nox's face as he looked over a small chess board. Picking up a black pawn, he moved it forward with deadly ambition. "And the game begins once again. Soon the Knight, Bishop, and Rook with fall and the Queen shall free the King." His eyes began to glow a deadly hue as his smirk became fangy. The pieces were set and now... it was only a matter of time.
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CE: Eh... definitely not my best, but what can I say, my brain is currently being squeezed clean x.x I'll make it for the next chapter. The chapter that you've all [or at least most of you] have been waiting for! I'll do my best to get it posted as soon as human possible =P
All review are welcomed, I can handle anything thrown at me.
Special Thanks To: YoMuM and all my other loyal reviewers who flaming fruits of death and doom have kept me from abandoning this piece!
JA NE!