Episode-05: Blackness

Date: November 24, 3008
Time: 03:30
Location: New Leaf City

~Maldran~

He ran down the street, his heart beating furiously against his ribcage. Not daring to look back, he could only hope to find somewhere to hide before it reached him, before it destroyed him. Maldran’s eyes darted left and right, trying to find a place to hide. Beside him, four other pairs of feet accompanied him in punctuating rhythms.

The ground shook with agony as it barreled down the street. Maldran could here the incessant crumbling of buildings as the mammoth monster bore down the street, destroying literally everything in its path. It let out a tremendous roar that rattled Maldran’s skull to the point of fracture.

But then, he saw it. Or rather, she saw it, for it was Nova who dove through the glass pane first. As the window shattered into a million pieces, five people jumped into the deserted store. Sliding on the cracked glassware, Maldran scrambled up to his feet and threw himself over the counter right as the monster passed by.

There was an earsplitting screech of metal twisting before everything became pitch black. The monster had unknowingly entombed them inside the store, trapping them in their own humanly creation. Maldran’s heart slowed down as the monster’s footsteps echoed away into the distance. He sighed in relief and turned on the flashlight underneath the barrel of his S-16 Scarab Assault Rifle.

“We’re trapped…” he muttered as he scanned the dark store with his light.

“Yea, no sh**,” Felix muttered back as he switched on his own flashlight.

“We have to get out of here,” Michael said sullenly as he strolled over to the window which was now blocked by tones of fallen concrete and brick. Suddenly, he jumped to the side with a cry of surprise. The rocks started to tremble supernaturally.

Maldran’s eyes followed the boulders as they shook with fright, as if death stared down upon them. But then, he noticed Nova’s emerald eyes focused directly on the rubble. Gaping in awe, he looked on as she cleared the debris using only her mind power, unblocking the catacombs.

“Nice, Nova,” Maldran whispered under his breath as he walked back out into the dark streets. Looking around, the scene of devastation utterly drove Maldran to the point of silence. The tops of most of the buildings were sheered right off, leaving a trail of wreckage on the road. At street level, all of the shops’ windows were blown in, tempting any looters who were still foolish enough to stay in the city. Numerous buildings were on fire as gas mains were ripped from their foundations. It was as if a bomb had gone off.

“Um guys?” Michael suddenly stuttered, breaking the eerie silence. Maldran whipped around and flinched on the spot.

A lone man, wrapped in a pitch black cloak, stood unwavering in the middle of the destroyed street. The slight wind ruffled his cape, swaying it to the side as he stood immobile like a statue. To his right, Maldran could feel Nova’s bewilderment as she cursed under her breath; he suspected she couldn’t read his mind.

“Hello?” Felix called out uncertainly, but the figure did not respond. For a brief moment, the man seemed to stare right into Maldran’s eyes, even though Maldran couldn’t see them. Then, in one swift motion, it unsheathed a long sword and vanished into the shadows.

The company stood rooted to the spot, uncertain of what just happened. Damiver was the first to break the trance, “What the hell was that all about?”

“Beats me,” Michael replied in a hushed voice, as if someone was listening to him. Maldran looked up and around, wondering if the man had been following their steps. Bit of a bad time for stalking someone…

Without warning, the monster’s roar slammed down the street once more, accompanied by a sudden grey pole imbedding itself into the road directly in front of Maldran. Falling back in surprise, his eyes traced the pole up, but he suddenly realized that it was no pole.

It stared at him, and for the first time, Maldran could see its face. The monster’s head resembled that of a dragon. It was massive, about the size of a dropship. Two slit-like cuts on either side of the head made the eyes, black with no pupils. Maldran trembled in fright as the monster’s head dipped lower and lower, as if to examine the company. Its narrow nostrils fumed in fury as slimy saliva dripped down to the ground in large drops.

“Maldran!” Damiver shouted out from behind him, beckoning him to move. But Maldran was stuck to the spot; his muscles had abandoned him, leaving his body useless as it shivered on the ground. The monster had two jaws, one inside the other, each lined with rows of hundreds and hundreds of razor sharp teeth. It’s fangs dripped with hot saliva as it continued to push forwards, its head now hovering directly over Maldran’s. In the streetlights, he could see a long arcing neck supporting the monster’s angular head.

Then, it lunged forwards with a deafening bellow, shaking what seemed like the entire city, and Maldran was sure he was dead.

Yet, the impact never hit. The monster screamed out again, but this time a bit further away. Daring to open one eye to peek, Maldran’s mouth gaped open once more.

The monster flinched away, its long neck craning in another direction. Something had drawn its attention. Whatever it was, Maldran did not want to find out.

But then, as Maldran’s muscles finally began to regain consciousness, the monster stumbled over him, crashing into an apartment building, toppling over as the structure imploded within itself. In a deafening cacophony, dust and debris swarmed out of the wreckage like the ocean’s tide, completely engulfing Maldran in a suffocating darkness.

Groping clumsily at the air, Maldran tried to make his way out. Coughing profusely, his ears registered a series of metallic rings, accompanied by the ever loud bellows of the behemoth. The earth suddenly shook once more, bringing Maldran to his knees as he tried to regain his balance. He heard another screech and then felt the monster’s footsteps fade away, as if it were running from something.

At last, he found his way out of the cloud of rubble into the open night air. Taking in a deep breath of the cold wind, Maldran felt tears of happiness flow from his eyes; he was still alive, still able to taste the delicious oxygen of the world.

Staggering up, he saw his friends run towards him, and Maldran suddenly felt a surge of affection of each and every one of them. But then, they screeched to a halt, their countenances frozen with fear. Maldran froze too, feeling something rustle behind him.

Slowly, he gathered up his wits and inched around. Maldran found himself face to face with a pair of heavy black boots. Making his way up, he saw the man was wearing all black, made with some sort of cloth he had never seen before. At his waist was a shiny belt full of random little pockets. Buckled to his side were two long sheathes, one empty, the other not. Taking a nervous gulp, Maldran finally gained enough courage to look the man in the eyes.

They were silver, glinting with fire as they stared right back down at Maldran’s eyes. The man’s face was shrouded with a silver facemask, only the eyes showed from two slits cut into the material. It was the only part of the man that was not black.

It was then that Maldran noticed the man was wielding a long katana, dripping in black ooze. Suddenly, with his free hand, the man yanked Maldran off of the ground, and with amazing strength, lifted him several inches off of the street. Maldran felt blood drain from his face as his feet dangled pointlessly.

Then, the clacks of the group’s weapons reverberated off of what was left of the street’s buildings.

“Let go of him!” Michael’s voice boomed out, but it reached Maldran’s ears as a whisper; he needed oxygen, and knew he was suffering from anoxia.

“Let him go now, or we will fire upon you!” Felix roared, his voice decrescendoing from Maldran’s fading ears.

But then, the man spoke in a low voice, his tone deathly quiet, “The minute you pull your triggers, you will already be dead.” Maldran felt a sudden release of pressure around his neck and he hit the floor, gasping for breath. Coughing and sputtering, he scrambled back into his group’s welcoming arms as they kneeled there, their weapons trained on the man dressed in black.

“Who are you?” Nova called out in a frustrating voice. Maldran felt a lump rise in his throat. Something was preventing him from speaking.

The man remained eerily still, with only the blood dripping from his blade pervading the silence. A gust of wind rushed by, ruffling his cape, and in turn, making Maldran’s teeth chatter frightfully.

Who is this son of a b****… Nova thought out openly. Maldran should have felt protected, with a telepath on his side, able to kill with a single thought. Logic told him he was safe with Nova, that whatever happens, Nova would see it through so that no one got hurt. Logic was such a liar.

“That ‘son of a b****’, is your savior…” the man growled; Maldran felt Nova taken aback, “I am Naz Black, and I am a Shadow Templar.”