A/N: Alrighty, this will be my first published Lok fic. I'm working on a novelization but it works better with all the spaces and stuff so I'm going to try and make it work before I start posting it.
This little fic was because I got really creeped out while doing the whole Zephon bit. Not because of the setting, not because of Zephon himself (He was actually pretty easy) but because of his offspring! They are creeeeeeepy~! They skitter across surfaces and climb up walls! I'm a skitterish person so the two don't go well together. Needless to say I'm always on edge when I do that part in the game. I also noticed that they click when they walk, which is a good thing because then you know when they are coming, but I still don't like it, it's like an ax murderer tapping the ax against the ground with every step he took, it may warn you that he's coming but it will do anything BUT reassure you.
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own LoK... but I do looooove my copies of Blood Omen and Soul Reaver. LoK is owned by Crystal Dynamics and Silicon knights (Who I absolutely ADORE by the way, Twin Snakes is my only reason to look forward to November!). So please don't sue me, it wont reflect well on either of us ^^
Clicking Creatures
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Click
Click
Click
All I can hear in my deserted corner is the insistant clicking of the horrid beasts' claw-like hands on the pavement. The skittering of the 'transcended' vampires had haunted my villagers dreams for years, always outside a child's window, waiting and glaring from the wall that they had scaled.
Scaling walls.
If only they hadn't evolved to climb walls, they haunted us not only in dreams but in reality. They came to our houses with their glaring red eyes to pierce our shudders and tear our limbs from our bodies, drink our blood and leaving the rotting corpses behind. No respect for their own dead let alone for ours, the horrible things they would do with the bodies of our dead relatives.
'Are they sentient? Do they have morals?' These thoughts flicker through my head but I shove them to the side. Why should I care about them? why should I even be think about them besides ways to destroy them. Nothing else matters, only the demise of the clicking beasts.
Click
~My sister~
"Almari, hurry up, 'they' will be out in less then a half hour, we need to get back to the hut" I pleaded with my sister who was busy tying up the corn stocks and brushing her four foot long golden hair from her face. She refused to budge. She was only ten and already becoming independent, not needing her older brother to look out for her anymore.
We were gathering corn for supper before 'they' came out for feeding. Avoiding shadows, avoiding crevices, avoiding anything and anywhere that 'they' could be hiding in. I could still hear them clicking, even during the day and I wondered how long it would be until they evolved to be able to stand the sun. Hell would be paid that day. But for now we collected our corn in rushed silence.
"Almari, we've got enough, lets go" I tugged on the rope that connected us. Almari was mute and so every time we went out, we would tie a rope to my arm and hers so that whenever she was in trouble she would tug on the rope, nothing too complicated for this town, indeed. "Almari" I tugged the rope again and with a sigh she complied, dusting herself off as she rose to her feet.
Click
Two years ago that was, I can still remember everything that day. And the next. And the next. Never since that day were things the same in this small humble town.
Click
"ALMARI!" I screamed as I caught sight of the horrid white face of death standing before us. I hid my younger sister behind me and she went along with my pushing and shoving with ease now. It glowered at us and skittered - reminding me of some kind of insect - a few feet towards us. My skin crawled just at the sight of it, let alone the way it moved.
Zephons newest legacy, immunity to the harsh dealings of sunlight. I was the first to deal with this newfound enemy, first to look into its eyes and be filled with pure fear. It knelt back onto its hind legs and raised itself to its full height, with legs clicking menacingly, backwards legs that reminded me of preying mantis legs, bent ways that looked painful. Flat head swiveling to and fro, taking in its warm surroundings, soaking in the sun in a way of mockery.
"You wont survive the next ten minutes" I could almost hear it saying those words, mocking me and my villagers in our routine of only being outdoors when the sun is up. I trembled in the shadow of the evolved vampire and clung to my little sisters arm.
The next two events were too blurred together that I never truly knew what happened. Running, I remember running, I could see our hut, our safe hut. I remember feeling a jolt and then an emptiness. An emptiness in my hand where Almari once was.
She was gone.
I skidded to a stop and spun around, not caring if the creature was simply a foot away. But I did regret turning around. Horror twisted her face and ripping claws twisted her body. 'They' had her and there was already nothing I could do but stand there, stunned. The next thing I knew my mother was dragging me back to the hut, hiding her sobs and growing hatred.
Click
I spent all night watching them toss her body around like a doll, and they as morbid children. They received pleasure in tormenting me with the occasional splatter of blood against my window pain. Now I huddle in the corner that I had spent that night in. From that night I could never forget my vow to destroy the children of Zephon. He had created a morbid fantasyland for the murderers that were his offspring, they could toy with us all they liked now, no hindrances slowed them any longer. The night of Almari's death signified a new era of death and fear, the white, clicking creatures began feeding more often, more and more corpses were found at the doorstep of our village, warning anyone passing that this was a place for the damned, though the rest of Nosgoth was no better off.
Something scuffles across the windowsill and I jump, ready my crossbow, then lower it once I see the furry body of a mouse.
Click
~My Mother~
She was very kind and did everything for me and my sister, as my father had been one of the first to die under the hand of Zephon.
Depression settled in at our small elevated hut. What good would our elevation do us? They did not fear the light at this point and they had been able to climb walls for years. We both sat at the table in accustomed silence, eating our meals of rice and corn. The white creatures cared nothing for our corn crops and didn't know how important they were to us, so they left them alone.
"You have been training with Kilmara?" Our neighbor had been teaching me how to use a crossbow earlier that day so I nodded solemnly, continuing my munching of corn. "I'd rather you not spend time on the ground"
"It's not like it makes a difference now" I mumbled under my breath, irritated on my mothers naivity of our situation. "But to put your mind at rest, we weren't training on the ground, Kilmara has a set up in..." I looked up from my plate to be filled with dread.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It tipped its head at us curiously through the window that it tapped rhythmically. My mother turned to see its beady red eyes staring back at her merely three feet away from her face. I raced from the room to retrieve my crossbow from my room. I returned to an empty room that made my heart miss at least three beats. All dead, they were all gone, no more were left, everyone was dead, there was no reason to live anymore. But a swelling of anger rushed through me and I knew what I needed to live for, destruction.
Drip. Drip.
I spun around at the sound and found a pool of blood was being collected on the floor. I raised my vision and regretted it. Twisting my mothers limbs so that she fit between its own twisted arms the creature hung from the ceiling, watching me with unblinking eyes. It dropped to the floor and rasped after me, sounding like an elder with laryngitis. I ran for the window and leapt to my neighbors hut, the ground miles beneath me.
Blood. The hut was covered in blood. Blood and bits of human remains. I held back from retching and held my nose as I made my way across the small temporary home... temporary no longer. I looked out the window and saw the next hut was in no better condition, actually worse, as I could hear the clicking of one of the creatures searched the hut for anyone remaining.
Nothing comprehensible came to my mind. Anger. Fear. Disgust. Hate. Mostly sadness, I was so overcome with sadness and hopelessness that I nearly sat down where I stood and waited for 'them' to take me away. But no. I ran back to the window in which I entered.
The creature was gone. Back to its horde, back to feed them my mother. I jumped across again and ran to my room where I stayed, waiting and gathering my arrows and anything else.
Click
And that is where I stay. My room has become my shelter, barricading myself in, with small holes for light and the occasional kill. Every day I aim my crossbow out one of those holes and shoot, creating havoc below me. They scatter when one of them dies. They only fear for themselves, so that makes us the same now. I know eventually my stored food will rot, my rationed water will run out, but for now I simply kill and eat. Just like them.