Ghost Fragment - The Journal of Mason Glade: Red Death 10
Light filled me, and with it came life. The darkness of my sleeping mind was blinded with radiance for a moment before I felt myself become whole again. Suddenly, I was standing on ground, and could feel musty air filling my lungs. I held my hands up in front of my face and saw a brilliant solar light radiating from them - from my whole body. It lasted for a few more moments and then died away.
"... Well done! *chink* You did it!" my ghost congratulated me.
I grinned to myself for a moment, then examined my surroundings... or lack thereof. "Ghost... where are we?" I asked. As far as I could see, there was just black in all directions.
"Scanning... *beep* ... I'm not entirely certain. I think we are somewhere underneath the black lake but... something's not right." I reached to my back for my scout rifle, only to find it missing.
"Ghost... what happened to my weapons?" I inquired.
"Your scout rifle and machine-gun? Inconclusive. We lost them in the blast from Phogoth. Your fusion rifle I had to dispose of so as to focus all of my energy on keeping you from slipping away into oblivion... *click* Sorry," my ghost offered.
I sighed. "I need a weapon... and a light... ghost?" After a few clicks, a bright light emanated from my ghost. There wasn't much to reveal, just reassurance that I was, indeed, standing on a floor. I picked a direction, and began walking.
After a few minutes of travel, I noticed that the darkness around me was beginning to change. It seemed to writhe with a dying life, and it began to change in hue. At first I thought it was just my eyes, but after blinking a few times, I found that the darkness around me was beginning to look more red than black. "Ghost... what is this?" I asked. As I stopped moving, so did the darkness around me.
"I don't know. I've never encountered anything like it before... maybe we shouldn't go this way?"
"Maybe..." I agreed cautiously. I turned and began walking away, but as I moved, the darkness started to writhe again, and continued becoming more red. I stopped again, and picked another direction. Still, no matter which direction I moved, my surroundings became more and more red in hue.
"Scanning," my ghost said suddenly. "... *click* My logs read that we've been walking in a straight line the entire time... something definitely isn't... *beep* ... wait... up ahead... Oh my... Guardian down!"
A moment later I came upon him, a Warlock. He sat propped up against a rock, slumped forwards over a rifle. "... How long has he been here?" I asked.
"Uncertain... *beep* A long time," my ghost chirped. Slowly, I squatted down beside the fallen Warlock. I took hold of his shoulder and pushed him back slightly. That's when I noticed that the rifle had a bayonet, and it was buried into the Guardian's stomach. The guardian's hand still gripped the weapon tightly "... *click* Was he trying to stop something from stabbing him? Or did he do that to himself?"
A shiver ran through my body. I stood and looked around. The red darkness still surrounded me like a thick blanket... I felt like something was watching me. "Well, I still need a weapon."
"I'd be careful... *chink* This place is dark..." my ghost warned me.
"All the more reason." I stooped over again to grab the handle of the weapon. I hesitated for a moment, and then took hold of the grip.
Immediately a bright light blasted on, illuminating the chamber in a bright red hue. The circular room I was in was maybe fifty yards in diameter, myself and the dead Guardian at the center. I looked up, and glanced around the room. All was bright except for a number of shadows that stood - yes, stood - around the edges of the room as shapeless entities that consumed the light rather than reflect it. They began moving. "... *click* ten of them, coming towards us. I don't think they're friendly," my ghost informed me.
I tired to pull the weapon out from the dead Guardian's body, but it wouldn't budge. It didn't seem stuck... it just wouldn't move. Even when I grunted and struggled with all my strength, the weapon wouldn't budge. I guess I'll just have to fight them with void light. I let go of the weapon's grip... or at least tried to. My hand refused to relinquish its grasp on the weapon. "What is this?" I asked as I focused all of my attention on letting go of the weapon - my hand wasn't stuck either... it just refused to listen to me.
"This is bad," my ghost said. I glanced up.
The shadows were still coming towards me, and I began to hear voices, whispers. They were speaking. I couldn't tell what they were saying yet, but imagined I would when they reached me - unless they were just hissing, which was a possibility. "Ghost," I said, and my ghost vanished.
The first shadow reached me. I felt it brush up against me. It wrapped itself around me. I released a charge of void light from my free hand, and the shadow shied away momentarily, but it only writhed back, unscathed. Then it whispered in my ear: You want power... I will help. As the shadow wrapped itself around me once again, I felt it start to tug at the weapon... it was helping me remove it from the dead Guardian.
The next shadow reached me, and did the same. I will help...
And the next shadow: I will help...
My fear started to subside as I felt the strength of each shadow join mine. They were helping me. As the eighth shadow joined me, I felt the bayonet start to budge. It was working!
See? We are helping. Only helping. NO DON'T LIST- ... Helping. We are helping. We promise. The ninth shadow joined me, and slowly but surely the blade began to dislodge from the corpse. I was almost there...
MASON STOP!
The voice almost startled me.
Ignore that. We are helping. Only helping. Keep going. We're almost there.
Then my mind started working again. "... There were ten of you. Where's the tenth one?" I asked.
He is helping.
"I doubt that," I grumbled as I finally started to look up from the weapon. After a moment, I spotted the tenth shadow - he was trying to pull my ghost apart.