SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem: Origins
Part 1
Resurrection of the Mad Goddess
by Lotus
Disclaimers: Oy...stupid copyright regulations...I don't own Eternal Darkness or any of the characters or ideas in it. Goodness knows I'd like to, then I'd actually be able to make the games instead of just writing fanfics...plus, owning Xel'lotath would just be plain old cool. Many thanks to Tanbo for his reviews! Also, I'd like to give due credit to CyricZ, as the descriptions I'm using for...well, something...came from his FAQs. Thanks a bunch.
Chapter 4 En RouteWhat am I doing?
_Exactly what you are supposed to be doing_
But what am I supposed to be doing?
_Serving your purpose_
What is that purpose?
_You will know your purpose_
I want to know it now.
_Why are you so impatient?__ Many have waited long, sleeping in the shadows, for millennia upon millennia__Is it so hard to wait perhaps a few weeks?_
It is torture. I must know.
_Tortured by your own impatience__how curious__something I had not foreseen_
The other Alex hadn't spoken for almost a half-hour now, content, it seemed, to walk silently behind her. It was starting to bother her.
The bank was nearly empty today. Good. She didn't want to have to answer the questioning looks of a hundred different people today.
Alex stopped outside the bank, using the polished walls to make a last attempt at fixing her hair. She looked more ragged than she'd thought–her clothes were ripped and had dirt ground into them and her hair was an unkempt, tangled mess. I must look like some sort of hobo, she thought to herself.
Pulling open the heavy glass doors, Alex stepped up to the nearest available teller. "I'd like to make a withdrawal, please."
She let her mind wander for a minute, only half-focusing on her transaction. After she checked in, what was she going to do? Take a shower, first off, and then probably get something to eat. Then what?
"Thank you, miss." The teller said, handing her the money. "Have a nice day."
"Thank you. You too." She answered automatically, turning to leave. As soon as she turned around, in spite of everyone else in the bank staring at her, she froze in mid-step.
Staring back at her, almost lazily, was an eye. A single eye, deep green and so big as to occupy the entire area in front of it, was looking at her with half-interest, almost apathy.
"Who...?"
She turned around, searching for a way out. Her double was standing calmly behind her, returning the eye's gaze. Again, that hungry, desperate look crossed her face...
"Miss? Miss, are you alright?"
The teller's words jolted her out of the vision. The world was returned to the monotonous gray, and the eye was gone.
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine." She shook her head. "Just a headache. I'm sorry." Walking quickly and trying to attract as little attention as possible, she rushed out the door.
"Damn car, damn traffic light, damn pileup, damn Beltway!" Jenny pounded a fist on the dashboard. "Of all the times for there to be a massive backup, it has to be *now*." She slumped back into her seat. The line of cars hadn't moved for at least twenty minutes, and she wasn't even out of D.C. yet. At this rate it would be days before she got anywhere near Rhode Island.
Out of sheer boredom more that anything else, Jenny picked up her phone and dialed Colin's cell phone. After four rings, Colin finally picked up.
"Are you there yet?"
Jenny rolled her eyes. "Colin, really. I'm not even out of D.C. There's this giant pileup on the Beltway, it'll be a while before I get anywhere."
"Oh. So, what are you calling me for?"
"I dunno. Boredom, I guess. Have you found Alex?"
"No."
"Have you *looked*?"
"Yes!" Colin's voice became suddenly defensive.
"Okay, okay, I was just making sure, don't need to yell at me." Jenny glanced up and the line of automobiles before her in the dim hope that maybe it had moved. No such luck. She went back to her conversation.
"Do you have any small idea where she might--"
Thump.
Something struck her car, sending her spinning into the shoulder. The cars next to her pulled away in a hurry, braking and accelerating and scattering in whatever direction they could manage, all while beeping angrily at her.
"Jenny, what was that?"
"I don't know. Something hit me." She got out to look at her car. The hood had been struck hard by something; it had caved in and the metal had folded like fabric.
"Something big, apparently."
More honks from the other cars. Jenny looked up at the mass of traffic and found that, all of a sudden, every car on the road was tearing forward as fast and as far as it possibly could, disregarding other drivers and beeping at anyone in their way.
"Weird. It's like everyone's brakes are broken." She turned around to see if the rest of her car was damaged, and found, instead, the source of all the panic.
Something–that was the only way to describe it, something–was hoping from car to car. It resembled three human bodies, fused at the abdomen, one with legs, and the other two with arms, but without anything resembling a head. She vaguely recognized it from her unconscious nightmares.
A Guardian of Xel'lotath was making it's way through the traffic.
"Jenny? Jen, what's wrong? Jen, why'd you go all quiet all of a sudden?"
"You're not going to believe me."
"Jen, think about what has happened to us in the past day or two. I'll believe you."
"There's a Guardian of Xel'lotath on the Beltway."
"On the road? In broad daylight?"
"Leaping over the cars, no less."
"Shit. Jenny, shoot it."
"I don't have a gun."
"Do you have any weapon of any kind?"
"No."
"More shit. Get back in the car, you're safer in there."
Jenny obeyed without hesitation. "What do I do?"
"Drive like hell is what you do. Go!"
Stamping hard on the gas pedal, Jenny wove in an out of the traffic, trying to put as much distance between herself and the Guardian as possible. The Guardian had other ideas. Taking a flying leap over a row of cars, it landed squarely on her roof, driving the metal closer to the frantic drivers head.
"Colin, that thing is on top of my car!"
"So attack it!"
"With what?"
"Okay, Jenny, repeat after me. Antorbok Redgormor Chattur'gha."
"What? What does that do?"
"Just do it!"
Realization dawned on Jenny. "Oooooh...." Keeping one foot firmly on the gas pedal, Jenny pointed upward at the Guardian, which was beginning to work it's way through her ceiling.
"Antorbok Pargon Redgormor Pargon Chattur'gha."
The lightning of the Magickal Attack struck the Guardian, and it swerved and left her roof.
"Okay, now drive, girl. Drive like there's no tomorrow."
Jenny, instead, turned the car 180E and hit the brakes.
"What are you doing?" Colin's voice asked. He must have heard the sound of the brakes.
"If that thing's still alive, it'll still follow me. Just attacking it doesn't solve anything."
"So what are you going to do? Beat it to death with a windshield wiper?"
"Actually, that's not an entirely bad idea, but I have something better." Jenny pulled the steering wheel lock out from under her seat. "I'll get back to you, okay, Colin?"
"You're crazy."
"You're probably right about that."
Alex sighed with relief. After jumping out a window and sleeping on concrete, taking a steaming hot shower had felt really, really nice.
Her next order of business, she decided, was to buy a change of clothes. She had put her clothes in the hotel coin-op, but that meant that until they were done, she was going to have to walk around in nothing but a bath towel. Her double was fixing her hair in front of the mirror, in spite of the small problem of her not having a reflection.
"How does that work?" She asked of her duplicate. "What's the point of standing in front of a mirror if you don't have a reflection?"
The other her shrugged. "I do have a reflection, Alex. Just not one that you can see, apparently. The light is reflected, but since the light is Within, reflecting something that exists Beyond, even it's residual image is invisible to you. Curious, isn't it? How physics adjusts itself to accommodate the Veil?"
"Then how come I can't see your reflection, but I can see you?"
Again she shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you can see me–and therefore, the light Within reflecting off me–but you can't see the secondhand image, i.e. the reflection." She continued adjusting her hair.
"If you say so." Alex sat down on the bed and grabbed the TV remote. "I'm going to watch TV until my clothes are done." She announced to no-one in particular as she hit the 'Power' button. Whoever had occupied the room last had been fond of the news, as that was the first channel that appeared onscreen. A female announcer's voice spoke the latest-breaking news development. Alex was about to change the channel when she heard something very interesting.
"In other news, traffic is in chaos on the Beltway. Commuters are totally disregarding all traffic laws and merely trying to evacuate. While the cause of this behavior is unknown, some have attributed it to the alleged appearance of what witnesses describe as an unidentified animal of some sort."
Alex snapped to attention, staring intently at the screen. The image of the newscaster had been replaced by a blurry, shaky amateur video, obviously taken on the side of the road. It showed the thickly packed cars racing every which way. Leaping on top of them, like a grasshopper, was a creature that was instantly recognizable to Alex, however fuzzy the image of it was.
"My God, there's a Xel'lotath Guardian right there in the middle of the Beltway..."
The Guardian began to pry apart the roof of the car it was currently on top of–she couldn't tell exactly what car it was, as the view of it was blocked by other cars. Magickal lightning struck it from nowhere, and the Guardian dropped onto the road, where oncoming traffic parted around it like the Red Sea. The car on which the Guardian had been riding did a 180 and stopped–
Alex gasped. The car was a black Mini Cooper. Jenny's car.
Almost on instinct she reached for the phone. If Jenny was out there, heaven only knew what the Guardian had done to her.
The car in the video stopped, and the driver's-side door came open...and then the video cut off.
"Authorities have not arrived on the scene yet and have no explanation for this appearance." The reporter concluded.
Please show the video again, please show the video again... Alex begged inside her mind.
"The stock market closed on a high note today, with the Dow up 20 points..."
Alex swore under her breath. She'd have to call her dorm if she wanted to find out if Jenny was okay, and her dorm phone had Caller ID. She didn't want Colin or Jenny, or anybody for that matter, to know where she was.
Oh well. Alex dialed the number for her dorm room. She'd just have to risk it. The phone rang only once before Colin's frantic voice greeted her.
"Jenny? Are you okay?"
"Colin?"
A pause. "Alex?"
"Hi, Colin."
"Alex, where are you? We lost track of you after you jumped out the window."
Alex avoided his question. "What's happened to Jenny?"
"She was on her way to the Roivas Manor, and--"
"What was she doing there?"
"She was going to look for a page that Minerva said we missed–but anyway, she--" Colin blurted out, unaware of himself.
"She's looking for what?"
"Oh, crap." Colin muttered.
"Colin, what did you say?" Alex's voice was like a stone-level and cold.
"Nothing."
"Colin, you're a terrible liar. What did you..." Suddenly, the words he had hastily spoken began to make sense.
"Colin, you read from the Tome, didn't you?"
His next word was spoken so quietly as to be unintelligible.
"Did you?"
"Guilty as charged."
Alex wanted to scream, laugh, and kick herself all at the same time. Stupid, stupid, wonderful Colin. She had been acting strangely, so of course Colin would try to find out what was wrong, even if that meant going through what she had kept hidden from him. She should've figured this would happen, this was all her fault, she should've left the Tome in the Manor...
"Alex? You still there?"
"Yes, I'm still here." She kept her voice as unemotional as possible.
"Alex, I didn't mean to. I just got worried about you and I wanted to know what was wrong--"
"So you poked around in my safe? Colin, do you have even the slightest idea what you've gotten yourself into?"
"I do now..."
"Colin, this is serious. This is more serious than you can possibly imagine. I ran away because I didn't want you to get involved in this, Colin, couldn't you figure that out?"
"That reminds me. Where are you?"
Again, Alex avoided the question. "Does Jenny know about it too?"
"Yes. She does."
"Why is she going to the Manor?"
"Because, supposedly, there's a page you missed. She's going to go find it."
"All alone?"
"I was supposed to stay here and look for you."
"Does she have the Tome with her?"
"Yes. She said she wouldn't be able to read the page without the Tome. Although frankly, I think she's got other things on her mind right now."
"I know. I saw it on the news. Is she okay?"
"I don't know."
"Can you find out?"
"No."
Jenny had to admit, she was doing better than she thought she'd do. She wasn't dead yet, at least. Or missing any limbs or vital organs. It really was amazing what one could do with an Enchanted steering wheel lock and a few well placed incantations.
The Guardian struck at her again, repelled by the Runic confines of the Field. Jenny stabbed at what she estimated would be it's face if it had one, and the creature reeled back.
"Antorbok Pargon Redgormor Pargon Chattur'gha" Jenny pointed at the beast again, and the crimson-colored Magick paralyzed it momentarily. The girl ventured out of the Field's protective confines and raised her makeshift weapon. The Guardian stirred, but could not move in time, and it let out a dying cry as it was transfixed straight through it's center.
Jenny sighed with relief. Hopefully that was the only one; she may have killed this one, but she doubted that she could hold off many more than that.
She heard the sirens of police cars in the distance and cursed silently. The media–not to mention the police department–would have a field day if they found the carcass of a Xel'lotath Guardian in the middle of the street.
She ducked back into her long-suffering Mini Cooper, out of sight of the commuters, muttering "Tier Aretak Chattur'gha" under her breath.
The Trapper skittered across the pavement, largely ignored by the confused commuters. A moment later the body of the Guardian had vanished from sight.
Crack.
The phone dropped from Colin's hand, it's pieces coming apart as it hit the floor.
"What is wrong, Colin?" Minerva turned to him.
The boy had his head in his hands, his eyes squinted shut, his breathing growing rapid. He sank to his knees, letting out a low moan of pain.
"Colin?"
He tried to open his eyes, but his vision swam in a haze of red. Vertigo overtook him, and his legs gave way. The pain in his head had spread like a cancer; his whole body was aching.
"Colin, answer me!"
He opened his mouth to speak, but his vocal chords refused to produce the sounds. It was becoming harder to breathe...
"Colin!"
The Trapper, still unnoticed, scurried back to Jenny's car. It snapped to attention, then collapsed in a heap on the pavement as the effects of the Summoning waned. Avoiding the eyes of the people around her, Jenny ducked out of her car and gingerly picked up the carcass of the Trapper, shuddering involuntarily as she did so. The creature's exoskeleton was cold as ice, and its limp tail still twitched on occasion. It was like picking up an oversized scorpion. Dumping it unceremoniously in the back seat, she climbed back into the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition.
He gasped, letting in sweet, precious air. The throbbing in his head and the ache in his body had suddenly subsided.
"Colin, what happened?" The concerned faces of the ghosts looked down on him. "What is wrong?"
"I don't know." He gasped. "All of a sudden my head started hurting, and then..."
"Colin? Colin, are you still there?" Miraculously, the phone was still working, in spite of the drop and subsequent impact.
He picked up the phone, massaging his aching head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm still here."
"Colin, what happened? You just stopped talking all of a sudden..."
"I don't know. My whole body started hurting all of a sudden...I don't know what happened."
"Did you get a hold of Jen yet?"
It was at that moment that his cell phone rang.
"That might be her right now. Let me go check." He picked up his cell phone and pushed 'Talk'. "Hello?"
"Hey Colin."
"Jenny? Are you okay?"
"Couldn't be better. The Guardian's dead."
"Wait a minute. How did you do that? You didn't have a weapon."
"I had my steering wheel lock."
Colin was silent for a moment. "You beat a Guardian to death with a *steering wheel lock*?"
"Well, it was the only weapon I had. And I Enchanted it, if it makes you feel any better."
"You Enchanted a..." Colin sighed. "Forget it. Get out of there, I don't want to know what the police will do when they find the body of a Guardian on the street."
"They won't find it, Colin. I Summoned a Trapper."
"Oh. Good thinking, Jen."
"Thanks. Any sign of Alex yet?"
"As a matter of fact," Colin picked up the room phone, "She's on the phone right now."
"What?" Alex's voice from the phone protested. "Colin, don't tell her that!"
"Alex? Where are you?"
Again Alex had to dodge the question. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"
"I guess so."
"Where are you?"
"Jenny, did I answer that last question the last time you asked it?"
"No."
"Do you think that asking it again is going to do anything?"
"No."
There was silence between the two for a moment.
"Can I ask you a different question?"
"Sure."
"Why won't you tell us where you are?"
Click.
"Alex?"
There was nothing on the other end of the line but a dial tone.
"Colin, she hung up." Jenny sighed.
"Here, I'll call her back."
"Don't bother. She doesn't want us too. Listen, I'm going to stop at an auto body shop or something, my car's a mess. I'll call you later." Turning left onto the nearest exit, Jenny pushed the 'Off' button and dropped her cell phone in the passenger's seat.
_It seems my efforts have not gone unnoticed_
Did you expect them to?
_I suppose they would not, at least not for long__No matter, though__Soon I will have what I need__The others move slowly, as always__
Has this happened before?
_It will not happen again_
If you get what you want, will I know who I am?
_Possibly_
How long will that take?
_I do not know_
I hope it's soon...
_It will be soon__It will be very soon__If you serve your purpose, it will be very soon indeed_
But what is that purpose? Why won't you tell me?
_You already know_
End Chapter 4