Small note from me:
So you actually decided to read this one? Well, I'll be introducing some new characters here, and reveal much more of the backstory as I go along. Again, no criticism against any bad writing. I'm still new to this! Sorry to leave you hanging at the end, if you really care.
The Shadows of Dimbor
Chapter 2: The Awakening
No! No! Don't come closer...you don't want me! Althin was running in a dark void, trapped in his own mind. He was being chased by a dark figure of an old man, down an endless path of darkness. Althin found himself falling, tripped over an unseen stone. The shadow overtook him and the screams of anguish that followed died out in a last gasp.
He found himself again sleeping in front of the tavern, with a few scraps of cloth hardly wrapped around him. It was his favorite blanket; one his family had made during the Inquisition, long passed.
He stood up and put his blanket in his sack, and scratched his head. In the pale light of the moon, he saw the tavern's door opened. With the TV on. He stared at the door for a while, then went inside. The television was on channel 999, with weird images that look like they come from the Asylum.
A book was open on the table, "My Greatest Excesses," by Lord Dimwit Flathead. "and then I named myself the most excessive Flathead of them all. The End."
The old man was still sitting in the corner, not moving. Althin moved over to his chair, and the old man slumped back...to reveal his face...his face! Eyeless sockets staring into nothingness...no nose, as if it were torn clean off...mouth open as if in a silent scream! He was drenched in a black blood, with his ears sliced into pieces in his hands.
Althin, sensing no danger from the man, shuddered, and looked on to the computer screen. Instead of the normal blue blankness, there was a document open, with a strange message, "Dockside...have them...no escape...Antharia...Sea of Void...dumped them...two months..."
It didn't make much sense at the time, being no "Sea of Void" in Zork, and no reference to who "them" was. Yet there was something strangely deceiving going on, all within the context of his dream. His dream seemed to have some notion in it...relating itself to his current confusion. But he could not decide if it were foreshadowing something, or merely metaphoric.
As dawn crept in over the horizon, the computer went back to its normal blank blueness, and the TV changed to channel 14, showing the local news. There was a clamor from somewhere, and Althin went outside. Well, he thought to himself, I've got nothing much to lose...and I'm curious as to what this all means. Whatever happens to me can't be any worse than living my life the way it is. I may even save someone.
He went down to the docks, where an early morning boater was preparing to leave. "Aye there, can I help you?" the boater politely addressed Althin.
"Actually, yes. I would like to know where you're headed first."
"I's going to Antharia, but I heard something's gone wrong over there. The people aren't very open to visitors anymore. So I thought I'd head to the Westlands for a nice quiet vacation."
So that message does mean something. "I need a ride to Antharia...I was wondering if you could take me there?"
"Oh, no. You know what they're doin' down there? I hear the people gone savage, eating unwelcome guests. You'd havta pay me a load of Zorkmids to even pass within sight of the shores."
"Are you sure? I'd give you fifteen Zorkmids if you take me within a mile or two of shore...I can swim."
"Definitely not. I'm not letting a young'n like yourself end up in the fires of their pits. It would be murder taking you near the water, if that's what you're plannin on."
"Sir, I have nothing to lose. They take me, I'm gone. No one cares...who'd miss me? This may be important."
"If that's your attitude, I'll do it for free. But may Yoruk have mercy on your soul."
After about half an hour, they set off. It was a slow and tedious journey, with nothing other than conversation to pass the time.
"Why do ya want to go to Antharia? It's hell they say. Never been worse in Zork. First, there were those two guys laying on the docks back there," said the boater, "I don't fully understand meself. They say that there were two guys out there, looked like they were freezin to death. But they were more like sleepin, yet they were incorporeal or whatevers they call it. Not solid. After a few hours shadows surrounded them and they vanished. But why do you want to go?"
"I don't really know," said Althin. "It's just, something is bringing me there. Could be just curiosity. But who were these guys on the dock?"
"The thing is, before we could identifies thems, they vanished. We thinks they're ghosts from that house in mountains. Anyways, that's not the scary part. We found some strange things washed up from Antharia on the beach. Strange bodies, with parts missin from them."
* * *
"Wake up Zordir! Wake up!"
Zordir tried to lift himself up, but he couldn't tell the ground from the roof. He tried rubbing the grogginess out of his eyes, but it wouldn't go away. Then he realized why.
He was underwater, upside down, and chained to a rock. There was a faint glow coming from below, or above really, but it seemed dark inside and outside the water.
When he discovered this he began to realize his lungs. They were functioning normally, as if he were in the air. He always knew his master could do this, but Zordir never once thought he could. In an instant his thoughts turned to his master.
Dimbor was nowhere in sight.
So you actually decided to read this one? Well, I'll be introducing some new characters here, and reveal much more of the backstory as I go along. Again, no criticism against any bad writing. I'm still new to this! Sorry to leave you hanging at the end, if you really care.
The Shadows of Dimbor
Chapter 2: The Awakening
No! No! Don't come closer...you don't want me! Althin was running in a dark void, trapped in his own mind. He was being chased by a dark figure of an old man, down an endless path of darkness. Althin found himself falling, tripped over an unseen stone. The shadow overtook him and the screams of anguish that followed died out in a last gasp.
He found himself again sleeping in front of the tavern, with a few scraps of cloth hardly wrapped around him. It was his favorite blanket; one his family had made during the Inquisition, long passed.
He stood up and put his blanket in his sack, and scratched his head. In the pale light of the moon, he saw the tavern's door opened. With the TV on. He stared at the door for a while, then went inside. The television was on channel 999, with weird images that look like they come from the Asylum.
A book was open on the table, "My Greatest Excesses," by Lord Dimwit Flathead. "and then I named myself the most excessive Flathead of them all. The End."
The old man was still sitting in the corner, not moving. Althin moved over to his chair, and the old man slumped back...to reveal his face...his face! Eyeless sockets staring into nothingness...no nose, as if it were torn clean off...mouth open as if in a silent scream! He was drenched in a black blood, with his ears sliced into pieces in his hands.
Althin, sensing no danger from the man, shuddered, and looked on to the computer screen. Instead of the normal blue blankness, there was a document open, with a strange message, "Dockside...have them...no escape...Antharia...Sea of Void...dumped them...two months..."
It didn't make much sense at the time, being no "Sea of Void" in Zork, and no reference to who "them" was. Yet there was something strangely deceiving going on, all within the context of his dream. His dream seemed to have some notion in it...relating itself to his current confusion. But he could not decide if it were foreshadowing something, or merely metaphoric.
As dawn crept in over the horizon, the computer went back to its normal blank blueness, and the TV changed to channel 14, showing the local news. There was a clamor from somewhere, and Althin went outside. Well, he thought to himself, I've got nothing much to lose...and I'm curious as to what this all means. Whatever happens to me can't be any worse than living my life the way it is. I may even save someone.
He went down to the docks, where an early morning boater was preparing to leave. "Aye there, can I help you?" the boater politely addressed Althin.
"Actually, yes. I would like to know where you're headed first."
"I's going to Antharia, but I heard something's gone wrong over there. The people aren't very open to visitors anymore. So I thought I'd head to the Westlands for a nice quiet vacation."
So that message does mean something. "I need a ride to Antharia...I was wondering if you could take me there?"
"Oh, no. You know what they're doin' down there? I hear the people gone savage, eating unwelcome guests. You'd havta pay me a load of Zorkmids to even pass within sight of the shores."
"Are you sure? I'd give you fifteen Zorkmids if you take me within a mile or two of shore...I can swim."
"Definitely not. I'm not letting a young'n like yourself end up in the fires of their pits. It would be murder taking you near the water, if that's what you're plannin on."
"Sir, I have nothing to lose. They take me, I'm gone. No one cares...who'd miss me? This may be important."
"If that's your attitude, I'll do it for free. But may Yoruk have mercy on your soul."
After about half an hour, they set off. It was a slow and tedious journey, with nothing other than conversation to pass the time.
"Why do ya want to go to Antharia? It's hell they say. Never been worse in Zork. First, there were those two guys laying on the docks back there," said the boater, "I don't fully understand meself. They say that there were two guys out there, looked like they were freezin to death. But they were more like sleepin, yet they were incorporeal or whatevers they call it. Not solid. After a few hours shadows surrounded them and they vanished. But why do you want to go?"
"I don't really know," said Althin. "It's just, something is bringing me there. Could be just curiosity. But who were these guys on the dock?"
"The thing is, before we could identifies thems, they vanished. We thinks they're ghosts from that house in mountains. Anyways, that's not the scary part. We found some strange things washed up from Antharia on the beach. Strange bodies, with parts missin from them."
* * *
"Wake up Zordir! Wake up!"
Zordir tried to lift himself up, but he couldn't tell the ground from the roof. He tried rubbing the grogginess out of his eyes, but it wouldn't go away. Then he realized why.
He was underwater, upside down, and chained to a rock. There was a faint glow coming from below, or above really, but it seemed dark inside and outside the water.
When he discovered this he began to realize his lungs. They were functioning normally, as if he were in the air. He always knew his master could do this, but Zordir never once thought he could. In an instant his thoughts turned to his master.
Dimbor was nowhere in sight.