Nowhere Beyond the Veil

Chapter 2

Nothing major had attacked Courage, yet, but Courage continuously heard voices as he walked. What also got him nervous was the sight of blood dripping from the walls. Courage was frightened and some what annoyed that the darkness wouldn't come up with something more original than the old bleeding walls trick. Courage finally came across a large circular room. There on the table was a green diamond that appeared to be the same shape as the diamonds that were in the door. Courage gleefully picked up the diamond but then the door closed shut and Courage could hear an incantation being spoken.

"Tier...Pargon...Aretak...Ulyaoth...Pargon."

Courage screamed with terror as five blue lights appeared and from those lights, five blue colored zombies appeared. The zombies began to walk towards Courage in the same manor that red zombie did. Courage ran to a corner of the room searching frantically through the Tome of Eternal Darkness for a spell that can help him. Courage located a Magickal Attack spell and he activated it. Courage was then surrounded by seven green runes and a feminine voice said the incantation.

"Antorbok...Pargon...Redgormor...Pargon...Pargon...Xel'lotath...Pargon."

From Courage's location, five green lightening bolts shot from him and upon striking the zombies, a green energy surrounded them. All five zombies fell to the ground. Courage kissed the book thanking it for his life. He didn't bother with the zombies as they twitched on the ground. Instead, he just grabbed the diamond and tried to leave but the door remained closed. It wasn't until the zombies had vanished that the door opened giving Courage a way out.

Courage continued walking back to the locked door. Along the way, Courage was beginning to hear more voices and see more bleeding walls. Courage could hear the sounds of babies crying, whispering voices, and loud knocks on doors. Courage was beginning to grow more afraid as he got closer to the door leading into the room where the locked door was. But before Courage could open the door, Courage was engulfed in a strange white light.

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Alex stopped reading for a moment to rest her eyes. Alex has been reading chapter after chapter for about five hours strait without any decent rest so understandably, she was tired. It was at this point that the ghost of her grandfather appeared at her side. The ghost was in the same color scheme and hollowed out design as Roberto.

"I see you are still plugging away on my paper trail, Alex." said Edward but he sounded more like he was taunting her instead of feeling proud about her. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Edward ran a ghostly hand through Alex's hair and the feel of it caused Alex to shiver as if he was made of ice. Alex pushed the ghostly hand away and the ghost vanished. Alex felt rather disturbed about the behavior of the ghost of her grandfather and she wondered what has gotten into him. Alex shoved the idea out of her head and she continued to read from where she left off.

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"This isn't happening." said Courage in fear once the strange white light had vanished. Courage had no idea what had just happened. Trying to take his mind off of the strange light, Courage opened the door and was surprised to see another one of those crab monsters at the door. Courage tried to close the door but the monster had already grabbed him by one of his ears. The monster held Courage over its head with its sharp claws pressed against his sides. Courage tried to wiggle free but the monster held him too well. The creature opened its gapping mouth and was about to swallow Courage. Courage screamed in fear as the monster began to bring Courage to its mouth. Courage closed his eyes, awaiting to be eaten alive, but it never happened. Courage wasn't sure how it happened but Courage found himself lying on the ground with no monster in sight. Courage wondered what had happened and as he pondered this, he realized what was going on. He was hallucinating. The monsters that he has been encountering has been draining his sanity and causing him to see and hear things that aren't real. The voices and the bleeding walls were all caused by these hallucinations. Courage pulled out the Tome of Eternal Darkness to cast a Recovery spell on himself to restore his sanity. He was surrounded by seven green runes and the incantation was spoken.

"Narokath...Pargon...Santak...Pargon...Pargon...Xel'lotath...Pargon."

A green light surrounded Courage and instantly, the voices and bleeding walls had vanished. Pleased that that was over with, he walked over to the door and placed the diamond inside. The doors opened automatically allowing Courage into the room.

Courage walked through the empty stone hallway, grateful that there was no monsters. At the end of the tunnel was Muriel. At first, it seemed odd because Muriel didn't look afraid and she didn't appear to be in any danger. None the less, Courage was overjoyed to be seeing her and he ran up to hug her.

"Oh Courage, thank goodness you came to save me." said Muriel. But as Courage hugged Muriel, Courage took one whiff of her and realized that she did not smell at all like Muriel. Who ever it was, it was an impostor.

"You're not Muriel." said Courage as he let go of the impostor. Suddenly, the fake Muriel transformed into a completely different person. He looked like a human who has been dead for years. His skin was dark brown and gray and his flesh was withered. His skeletal face housed a set of vicious looking teeth and gray eyes. He wore an old set of armor that looked like the kind Roman warriors wore. In his hand was a staff made out of a human spine.

Upon seeing the horrible creature, Courage screamed in terror.

"So, you sniffed me out." said the zombie monster.

"Who are you?" asked Courage ignoring the fact that it seemed odd that this monster could understand him.

"I am Pious Augustus." said the zombie man.

"What have you done with Muriel?" demanded Courage trying his best to sound brave.

"Your family will be honored to take part in a sacrifice to my master, Chattur'gha." said Pious. "You, however, will have to parish here." Pious struck the ground with his magic staff and suddenly, he was surrounded by seven red runes and an incantation was sounded.

"Tier...Pargon...Aretak...Pargon...Pargon...Chattur'gha...Pargon."

There was a blinding red light and two of those same three headed monsters that Courage encountered earlier appeared. Courage shook with fear as he saw the monsters appear.

"Good bye, Courage." said Pious as he left into the next room. Courage stared wide eyed at the monsters. He ran to the door he came in but froze when he remembered that Muriel was still in trouble. However, he wasn't sure how he was going to defeat these monsters at once. Courage opened the Tome of Eternal Darkness and cast the first spell he could find. He was surrounded by a seven blue runes as the spell was being cast.

"Bankorok...Pargon...Aretak...Pargon...Pargon...Ulyaoth...Pargon."

A blue light struck one of the monsters and seven small spheres of light circled around the middle head of the monster. Without warning, the monster turned around and began to attack the other monster. Courage was confused about this so he read the name of the spell he just cast. It was called a Bind spell and it has the power to force monsters to turn on each other. Courage decided to take this opportunity and ran for the next door while the monsters fought.

Courage opened and slammed the door shut panting heavily from fear. After he relaxed, he screamed in terror as he saw what lay before him. The room he was in was the size of an indoor hockey rink. In the center of the room was a rectangle shaped pit about the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Within the pit was dozens of red zombies devouring helpless people. More of those red crab like monsters were throwing screaming people into the pit to be feasted upon by the zombies. Courage noticed a familiar dark haired and sunglass wearing teen saying, "Watch where you're going, you fool," before being thrown into the pit. Courage also noticed another one of those bone pillars, like the one he saw before, but this time, it was glowing a red color.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" said Pious as he approached Courage. "With this sacrifice of flesh and bone, Chattur'gha will have more than enough power to free himself early. It is only a shame that you wont be able to live long enough to witness the doom of mankind. Guardians, come to me." Five of the crab like monsters (which Pious had called 'guardians') transformed into spheres of red light and started to fly towards Courage. Courage didn't know what to do as the monsters drew closer. The guardians materialized around Courage surrounding him on all sides.

"Kill this dog." ordered Pious before turning around to leave. All at once, the guardians were surrounded by five red runes as an incantation was spoken.

"Bankorok...Pargon...Redgormor...Chattur'gha...Pargon."

All at once, the guardians were surrounded by a damage field. Courage knew that he couldn't harm the creatures if they were surrounded by magic. Courage looked through the book to find another spell to cast that would get rid of the damage fields. He found a spell called Dispel Magick that should eliminate the damage fields but the guardians had already started casting their own spells before he could.

"Antorbok...Pargon...Redgormor...Chattur'gha...Pargon."

From the guardians were these bolts of red lightening that all targeted Courage. Courage managed to dodge the attacks except one that hit Courage hard. Courage felt a burning sensation through out his body as if the bolt had burned him from the inside out. He was snapped right back out of his daze when he heard Muriel.

"Courage, help me." screamed Muriel. Courage watched as Muriel and Eustace was lifted by two guardians and was being carried towards the pit. Reacting fast, Courage activated the spell. Courage was surrounded by seven blue runes and the mysterious voice said the incantation.

"Nethlek...Pargon...Redgormor...Pargon...Pargon...Ulyaoth...Pargon."

The runes lifted off of the ground at about five feet and then came crashing too the ground causing a wave of energy to pass through in all directions erasing the guardian's damage fields. The energy struck the glowing pillar causing its light to fade. The zombies in the pit all collapse now that the power of the pillar was destroyed. The guardians that held Muriel and Eustace were about to throw their captives into the pit when the entire temple began to shake.

"Arge, stupid dog." said Pious. "You have just destroyed the magick in my pillar of bones. Now this entire temple is going to collapse." Pious waved his staff and vanished into thin air.

The guardians in the temple all turned into spheres of red light and flew through some small holes in the walls.

The temple continued to shake and break apart. Courage wasted no time in running over to Muriel until he over heard the other survivors who were still locked up in the cages. They all were screaming for help. Courage knew that his conscience wouldn't allow him to just stand there and watch them die so Courage ran over to the people and unlocked their cages.

"Such a good dog." said Muriel. Once all the cages were open, Courage ran over to Muriel and Eustace and lifted them both over his head. For such a small dog, Courage was certainly stronger than he looks.

"What do I do? What do I do?" repeated Courage as he hopped around in fright.

"Courage, over here." said Roberto's voice. Courage turned his head towards the source of the voice and he noticed Roberto's ghost near a ladder. Courage ran towards the ladder and began to climb up it as fast as he could with just one paw while the other held Muriel and Eustace. He and the remaining survivors escaped the temple just as the thing collapsed.

Several weeks later....

An old man with white hair was standing alone in a dark alley one night. His name was Edward Roivas and he received a strange letter requesting him to meet someone inside this alley. Edward waited there in the dark waiting for this mysterious person who wished to see him. From deep within the alley, Edward noticed a small person heading his way. Judging from how small the person was, he thought that it was a child. But when the visitor got into the light and Edward got a good look at his face. Edward realized that it wasn't a human but a dog. A small pink dog (purple now do to the lighting) and he had long dark ears, a black spot on his back, and a back pack on. Edward was a bit startled by the sight of this strange looking dog.

"Where have you come from?" asked Edward. Courage pulled out a small slip of paper and gave it to Edward. Edward looked at the message written on the slip of paper.

"Are you Edward Roivas?" read Edward from the paper. "Yes I am." Courage then gave Edward another slip of paper with another message.

"My name is Courage and I have asked you here to give you something important." read Edward from the paper. "Important? What on Earth do you have?" Courage didn't answer. He pulled off his back pack and reached inside it. He pulled out a long thin object from the back pack and gave it to Edward. It was wrapped in a brown cloth. Edward unwrapped the cloth and discovered the enchanted gladius underneath.

"Fascinating." said Edward as he studied the sword that glowed with a blue energy. "This weapon has been enchanted with the power of the ancients. Where did you get this?" Courage answered by shape shifting into a guardian carrying Muriel, then into a hybrid crossover of himself and Roberto's ghost, and ending into a hybrid crossover of himself and Pious Augustus. Edward didn't fully understand what Courage was trying to say but he did figure out the important parts.

"This sword may come in handy." said Edward. "Thank you for bringing it to me." Edward patted Courage on the head as a display of gratitude. Courage then headed back down the alley and walked towards Muriel who waited at the other end of the alley. Edward wrapped up the enchanted gladius back in the brown cloth and then headed home leaving the alley still and quiet.

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Alex finished the chapter she was reading with a sigh, wondering where her grandfather had put the sword. Alex couldn't help but feel amazed at this dog's courage and even more surprised that he could do all that even though he was scared out of his skin. In a moment like this, Alex could only think of one thing to say in response: "That is one courageous cowardly dog."

The End

Author's note: I originally wanted to make this story a one chapter story but I figured that the story was a little too long so I made it into two chapters instead. For those who are familiar to the game, you may have noticed that I made numerous references to Eternal Darkness. However, you would have to be familiar with the game in order to spot them and understand them. I hope you enjoy how I did it, though.