CHAPTER TWO
Live
The sky grew cloudy as the night progressed, as a Severe Storm Warning drew near. Rain drizzled, thunder roared, and lightning came, then vanished, as the atmosphere grew cold and wet. It was as if Mother Nature was trying to inform the world about something... Something terrible. Calista Drover sat on the velvet, black couch in her livingroom, flipping through pages of an ancient book. It looked quite similar to the book that Kalina had gained all of her knowledge from in Thir13en Ghosts; The book that told of the Black Zodiac, and a machine designed by the Devil and powered by the dead, only it wasn't the same book. It was something different--much different. The words were inscribed in an old Archaic Language, that today, nobody would even know of, for it had died those thousands of years ago. Yet somehow, Calista could read and understand it as if she'd been born during the age itself. The language was known as "Devil Tongue", for those who dared to speak it were said to be speaking from the Devil himself. The book, itself, wasn't evil. It was the way that the possessor employed it. Calista, however, would never dare practice the Black Arts, for she was in fact a pure, good-hearted person, and for the first time in her life, she was about to perform a spell of such incredible magnitude, that the very thought of it terrified her--A spell that would be considered "God's Work" or "Playing God". She didn't want to do it, but she knew that she had to. Calista narrowed her eyes on a page which comprised of several unusual, cryptic illustrations--Slightly different in each, were images of a shadow figure, being held in the colossal arms of a gigantic man. Calista inhaled deeply, moving off the couch and onto the floor, as she approached Dennis Rafkin's lifeless body, which had been laying on the ground across the room from her the entire time. His eyes were closed now. Tray had insisted on closing them, since he was too cowardly to gaze into the eyes of a dead man. What Calista did next appeared nearly incomprehensible. From the pocket of her vest, she removed what looked like a tiny, bronze sword keychain, until she pulled it apart, and from the blade end, a sharp, pointy razor stuck out. The sound nearly vibrated as she pulled the two ends apart, and the tiny razor hummed, eerily. Calista laid the book down beside her, as she took Dennis' hand in hers, rotating his arm just a bit, until his bottom wrist faced upward. Visions began racing through Calista's head--Painful, horrifying visions. Calista fought back the urge to throw her arm back, and instead, sliced Dennis' wrist, quickly and slightly. It just barely slit the skin, yet blood from the dead man began to ooze, slowly, taking its time, as if it wanted to remain inside of him forever. Calista dropped his arm and, and it hit the ground with a spine- chilling thump. Calista's heart raced as she held her arm high into the air. She inhaled, deeply, as the horrible visions left her for now, until she did the unexpected. She held the razor up to her wrist, closed her eyes, and with all her will, she ran it across. She let out a blood- curdling scream, and then it was over. Calista became a little light-headed. She wasn't sure if it was because she was knelt beside corpse of a man she once knew, or because she had slit her own wrist, but she had to go through with the rest of her "mission". "You're going to live again." She whispered to Dennis, softly as she laid her bloody wrist delicately on top of his. She cringed, and wanted to vomit, but resisted the urge and began to chant words in Latin, as the terrifying visions returned once more, and this time... they hit her worse than before.
Live
The sky grew cloudy as the night progressed, as a Severe Storm Warning drew near. Rain drizzled, thunder roared, and lightning came, then vanished, as the atmosphere grew cold and wet. It was as if Mother Nature was trying to inform the world about something... Something terrible. Calista Drover sat on the velvet, black couch in her livingroom, flipping through pages of an ancient book. It looked quite similar to the book that Kalina had gained all of her knowledge from in Thir13en Ghosts; The book that told of the Black Zodiac, and a machine designed by the Devil and powered by the dead, only it wasn't the same book. It was something different--much different. The words were inscribed in an old Archaic Language, that today, nobody would even know of, for it had died those thousands of years ago. Yet somehow, Calista could read and understand it as if she'd been born during the age itself. The language was known as "Devil Tongue", for those who dared to speak it were said to be speaking from the Devil himself. The book, itself, wasn't evil. It was the way that the possessor employed it. Calista, however, would never dare practice the Black Arts, for she was in fact a pure, good-hearted person, and for the first time in her life, she was about to perform a spell of such incredible magnitude, that the very thought of it terrified her--A spell that would be considered "God's Work" or "Playing God". She didn't want to do it, but she knew that she had to. Calista narrowed her eyes on a page which comprised of several unusual, cryptic illustrations--Slightly different in each, were images of a shadow figure, being held in the colossal arms of a gigantic man. Calista inhaled deeply, moving off the couch and onto the floor, as she approached Dennis Rafkin's lifeless body, which had been laying on the ground across the room from her the entire time. His eyes were closed now. Tray had insisted on closing them, since he was too cowardly to gaze into the eyes of a dead man. What Calista did next appeared nearly incomprehensible. From the pocket of her vest, she removed what looked like a tiny, bronze sword keychain, until she pulled it apart, and from the blade end, a sharp, pointy razor stuck out. The sound nearly vibrated as she pulled the two ends apart, and the tiny razor hummed, eerily. Calista laid the book down beside her, as she took Dennis' hand in hers, rotating his arm just a bit, until his bottom wrist faced upward. Visions began racing through Calista's head--Painful, horrifying visions. Calista fought back the urge to throw her arm back, and instead, sliced Dennis' wrist, quickly and slightly. It just barely slit the skin, yet blood from the dead man began to ooze, slowly, taking its time, as if it wanted to remain inside of him forever. Calista dropped his arm and, and it hit the ground with a spine- chilling thump. Calista's heart raced as she held her arm high into the air. She inhaled, deeply, as the horrible visions left her for now, until she did the unexpected. She held the razor up to her wrist, closed her eyes, and with all her will, she ran it across. She let out a blood- curdling scream, and then it was over. Calista became a little light-headed. She wasn't sure if it was because she was knelt beside corpse of a man she once knew, or because she had slit her own wrist, but she had to go through with the rest of her "mission". "You're going to live again." She whispered to Dennis, softly as she laid her bloody wrist delicately on top of his. She cringed, and wanted to vomit, but resisted the urge and began to chant words in Latin, as the terrifying visions returned once more, and this time... they hit her worse than before.