Mysterious Stranger

    In the cold of the night a lone figure stood under a street lamp. It was midnight and the city streets were empty. The surrounding houses and buildings were run down and old and litter blew around with every winter wind that rolled through. The figure of a man was wearing a black trench coat and a hat. He was trying hard to conceal his face, but while doing so looked like the most suspicious character anyone can imagine. He also seemed out of place, not only was the trench coat fairly new looking but his shoes looked expensive and his hat was clean and well cared for.
    The man stood motionless by the street lamp, he didn’t even flinch or shiver when the cold wind blew through the city. It was the kind of wind that would cut through your layers of clothes and chill you to the bone, yet the man did not move. He stood unaffected by the cold and the wind. He didn’t seem restless or bored from standing around nor was he nervous about looking so suspicious. He was like a phantom or the image of a man caste on the sidewalk.
    A car pulled up and a tall man in a suit stepped out. He didn’t speak, instead stood next to the figure like he was waiting for a bus. The man in the suit set down a brief case and adjusted his tie. “The deadline is Saturday” said the suited man. Then he stepped back into the car and the car drove off.
    The mysterious figure stood stern and imposing, unflinching at the transaction. He seemed to be a man that was so used to these kinds of meetings that they seemed mundane. Then with a loud snort the mysterious man woke up. Albert Lewis was a business man who had been waiting for the bus. He had been working twelve hours a day for the last eight days and often had to take the late bus home. Albert rustled in his coat and shook his arms to further wake up. He checked his watch and smiled. “Must of dozed off” he said. Then the bus pulled up, right on time. Albert stepped up onto the bus and took a seat. He felt silly for falling asleep standing up and was happy he hadn’t fallen over or been robbed or worse, missed his bus.
    The bus pulled away and drove off. The mysterious briefcase was left sitting on the sidewalk with no one to claim it and the ‘mysterious’ stranger was just a sleepy business man.
In the cold of the night a lone briefcase stood under a street lamp….

The Journeyman part 2

Jorn kept running and the roars grew louder and more intense until finally the sound came from right above him. Jorn looked up and something dropped down from the ceiling. It smashed the stone steps and anything else in its way, making a large open space in the castle. This new creature had the shape of a dragon currently, but its body was made from a twisting shadowy darkness and it would occasionally change its size or shape in small ways. This explained how it fit through all the doors and hallways. Jorn swiped the kings sword through the air, not sure exactly were the shadow serpent was. It was so dark and Jorn could only see glimpses of shapes before the beast moved. At least the lumpy flesh monster had pale skin and solid features. There was no way to fight a dragon made of shadows in a castle where there is no light. Since flailing his sword didn’t seem to work Jorn turned around and ran back up the stairs. To get to the main exit, he would have to run past the dragon and he didn’t like that idea. So instead he backtracked hoping he could find an alternate route.

            The journeyman ran like mad as he heard the shadowy serpents body cut through the air as it moved, never touching the ground once.

Jorn was almost back to the armory, he thought maybe he could trap the dragon in there if he ran in, then double backed. It was a stupid idea but he wasn’t thinking very clearly. The dragon seemed to be getting closer and it lashed out with dark tendrils. The tendrils struck Jorns arm and back. Each strike felt like being hit with a sword that was shot out of a cannon. Jorn stumbled forward and then fell on his face. His old sword clanged against the ground and slide across the floor out of reach. The King’s sword seemed to be bound to his hand though and didn’t move when Jorn fell. Jorn was on the ground now, bleeding but still alive. He gasped for breath and scrambled to his feet. He saw movement in the corner of his eye and swung his sword. The kings blade sliced through the air and struck an oncoming attack from the dragon. The dragon roared loudly, its roar seemed to be coming from every direction.

            The Journeyman hoped to trap the dragon in the room, but now it seemed he was trapped. Jorn wasn’t a knight and didn’t think he could kill a demon shadow dragon. He would have even had a tough time even trying to kill the twisted flesh freak from earlier. Dark tendrils shot forward again, and luckily Jorn was able to strike them with his blade. The Kings blade seemed to be doing some of the work, making Jorns reflexes better and his strikes stronger.

            The dragon was tired of being slashed and instead of attacking with its tendrils or claws it opened its mouth and let out a blast of dragon breath. Jorn saw the inside of the dragon’s mouth for a split second, it looked like a glowing portal or ball of dark energy was contained within the creature’s throat. Then the dragon breath filled the air. It wasn’t fire or toxic and it didn’t even smell that bad. Instead of normal dragon breath this dragon had a demonic haze that it could breath out. The demonic breath affected the victim’s soul. It poised their very roots and prolonged exposure would turn the victim into a demon as the soul corroded away.

            Jorn’s muscles tightened in pain. His veins constricted and his eyes opened wide. He stood in this state for a few seconds as he was paralyzed with pain. He knew he needed to escape, but he was cornered and the demon breath was filling the room. The only hope was to open the dormant portal. Jorn figured he was going to die anyway, he might as well take his chances with the portal. He stumbled over to it as he felt his senses going numb. The portal was soon within arms reach and Jorn struck it with the kings blade. Blinding light bursts out from the small portal as it opened. Jorn waiting to see what he just released from the portal. He could have just released the next plague on human existence, all because he wanted to buy a few more precious seconds of life.

            What emerged from the portal was not a demon, but a knight, a shimmering knight with sturdy armor. The dragon reared back and was about to launch forward at the new intruder, but before it could, the knight lifted his sword up and stabbed it forward. Light surrounded the blade as the sword stabbed into the dragon’s head. The Shadow dragon roared and began rapidly changing shape. The shadows seemed unstable and it began lashing out all around it. The knight blocked with his shield but the force of each attack pushed him backward. Jorn realized this knight was his only chance for survival and tossed him the kings blade. The knight saw this, stabbed his own sword into the stone castle floor then caught the king’s blade. As soon as the knight touched the sword it began to glow and give off even more power than before. It was clear the knight was no ordinary man. The knight ran forward at the twisting mass of shadows. The dragon was still striking out on all directions and even though the knight was hit, he continued to charge. Then when he was within range he stabbed the center of the shadow dragon with the king’s blade. The screaming of a thousand souls echoed through the hallways and the shadow dragon melted into the ground. Once defeated all of the souls he had consumed were released into the air. They flew off rapidly in different directions like bats from a cave.

            The Knight turned to the Journeyman and returned the King’s blade. Jorn knew the knight deserved the sword more, but took it anyway. Without saying a word, the knight stepped back through the portal. Jorn was tempted to follow. The knight was so powerful that he must have been from a world were humans ruled. Before Jorn made up his mind to follow, the portal closed. The portal not only closed but also disappeared as if it never existed. Portals open all the time, the really skilled can close a portal,  but no one has ever destroyed a portal before. Jorn stared at the empty space were the portal used to be. His mind was lost in wonder and amazement. Then he realized he needed to get back to his village. The shadow dragon might have been dead, but the castle was still dangerous.

             Jorn slowly made his way out of the castle. Even though the castle was till full of demons, it was possible that none of them bothered the Journeyman after they all heard the shadow dragon die. Not all demons know fear, but they do know that they would prefer to stay alive. So Jorn was free to leave the castle in peace. The very moment he stepped onto the grass just outside the castle walls, the Journeyman sighed a heavy sigh of relief. He had survived and even had the king’s blade to show for it. The village would be so proud, they might even call Jorn a Hero. And even though the knight saved his life, he still made the trip by himself and did what most ordinary men would fear to do.

            As the Journeyman walked home, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of world lay just on the other side of that portal

World of Chaos

            I float happily in a world of dreams and peace. Everything is dark and the only noise I hear is a rhythmic thumping. I feel like I have slept here all my life and hope that I can continue to do so for all eternity. Safe and secure I stay curled up in a ball and listen to the rhythm of the beats. Thump thump, thump thump. How nice it is to be here, to be in between existence and nonexistence.

            Then I feel something tug on me, my world shift and something is pulling me into another world. My head spins and my heart races, I cannot comprehend what is happening and can only feel terror. My world of peace is falling down around me and I am being rejected by it. Soon I fee a rush of cold air then a blinding light and terrible noises overwhelm me. I am in shock as the world falls to chaos.

            My eyes try to adjust to the light and my mind races to comprehend what is going on. Just as I start to calm down I am struck with a powerful force. I cry out and my voice adds to waves of confusion and noise. I experience pain, this only adds to the bright light and noise that I have come to hate. Hate, I can add that to the list as well. I have only been in this world for a few seconds and already have felt pain and hate, as well as confusion, anxiety and fear from the chaos of it all. I do not know why I could have possibly done to deserve this but I feel that I can’t go back to they way things used to be. I can never go home and instead must endure this.

            After some time has passed my eyes adjust to the light and the noise is no longer so intense. My mind begins building mental walls so I can survive this hellish place. I wonder how long I will be doomed to be here, but then again I do not think I want to know. I don’t think I could handle the truth right now.

Land of the living

Ok so before i start the story i would like to apologies for missing last week and say i promise the conclusion of the Ascended series will be next week. just hitting a few writers blocks and trying to make it great before i post it. so here is a different story that i think you might like.
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Darkness spread out and blanketed everything. Yusav wasn’t blind, but he might as well have been, because he couldn’t see even an inch in front of his face. He walked blindly, careful where he stepped. He didn’t know what the landscape looked like and didn’t want to trip over something of step off an edge. As he walked voices floated through the air. These voices were familiar but he couldn’t tell who it was, they were too faint and far away. he continued walking, trying to move a little faster, hoping to find someone he knew. even if they were both lost, they could be lost together.

“Yusav, I miss you” a voice echoed. Everything the voice said before and after this was too quiet to hear. But just hearing that phrase he knew who it was. “Ann?” he shouted back. Ann was his sister and she seemed upset and by saying she missed him it must mean he had been gone for a while now. Yusav didn’t even remember how he got here or where here was, he certainly wouldn’t be able to tell how long he had been away from home. Every time Yusav spoke, his words came out as silence. He could not call out to his sister or the other familiar voices because he no longer had a voice. His family was lost in this strange darkness and he could not hear nor see them.

He stumbled through the darkness for what seemed like hours, but without a sense of time it could have been minutes or days. Despite having a silent voice, Yusav called out to his family. “Sister, Mother, father!” he yelled, his words floated out in front of his face then vanished in the darkness. the more he walked the louder the voices were. He could hear his girlfriend crying, then suddenly she would be reading a story out loud, then the voice would change to Ann’s voice and she would talk about her day. The voices talked like they weren’t lost in the darkness, they seemed upset but not scared and alone, like Yusav was. “Family, where are you!” Yusav yelled out. He had grown desperate and began sprinting through the darkness, no longer being careful of ledges or walls that might be hiding in the shadows.

He ran forever but the darkness never waned and the voices never grew any closer. Feeling defeated, Yusav collapsed to the ground and began to cry. He didn’t know why he was here in this place of torment and he no longer believed he would be able to escape. Then his body began to twitch and jerk around, he felt a rush through his veins and felt like he was being dropped into icy cold water, he gasped to take one final breath, then bright light washed the darkness away. He began to see images, everything was blurry at first but then they came into view. He saw his family standing over him, smiling with tears in their eyes. “Welcome back to the land of the living” His father said. Yusav was in a hospital bed, but he couldn’t remember why. The doctor explained he had been in an accident and went into a coma for a year and just now woke up after no signs of recovery.

Yusav didn’t remember any of this, but realized that the voices he heard were his family visiting him and talking to him every day. Reading from his favorite books or making conversation like everything was normal, and this made his brain respond. Yusav was pulled out of the nothingness and back to the land of the living. His body hurt and he would have to regain his motor functions but he was alive and had his family there to help him. So even though he couldn’t remember everything from his past yet, he knew his future would be fine.

The Old Stone Tower

            Merek wrote feverishly, trying to scribble down every word onto his piece of parchment. He sat in an old wooden chair at a wooden desk, in a stone tower built on the side of a hill. The whole tower was dark except for the room at the very top. Merek’s study was lit with torches, creating plenty of light for reading and writing. The abundance of light also kept the night at bay.

            Over the years Merek had seen something moving and shifting out in the darkness. In the black of night, something would emerge from the forest and creep up the hill. The writhing darkness would surround the tower and Merek would light his torches and keep them lit till morning when it was safe again. This didn’t happen very often and when it did, it could be managed by keeping torches lit. But tonight, a night with no moon, the strange moving darkness emerged from the forest, larger and faster than before. Merek wasn’t sure if he was going mad or there really was something out there.

            Merek wrote what down everything he heard and saw, he wrote his thoughts and his last words, just in case. Merek kept seeing movement in the corner of his eye, always by the window. Almost as if something was trying to get in, but couldn’t. He heard the sound of his stone tower creaking as if a large snake were coiling around it. Merek tried to concentrate on his writing. He needed to write his last words to anyone who found this, he needed to document what was happening, but most of all he needed to write to stay sane. He couldn’t allow himself to focus solely on the slithering darkness or the creaking noises. Every time he looked out the window, he saw nothing, but whenever he passed the window he felt something watching him.

            If he looked down toward the forest he would see a squirming motion, if he looked out toward the sea he could catch a glimpse of something moving past his window. None of it made sense, but every sense he had told him to stay indoors and stay in the light. The logical part of his brain kept trying to tell him it was all superstition and nonsense, but fear sure has a way of making every horrible thing seem real.

            Merek paced through his room, muttered to himself. Trying to think calming thoughts and speaking reassurances. Then the torchlight dimmed and he looked out the window one final time. He saw a face staring in from the darkness. It was a face from his nightmares, smiling in at him. Merek screamed and the windows burst open, a chill wind blew out the torches. All went dark and quiet.

            Days later a deliveryman from the town rode up to the tower with supplies. Old Merek was always busy working up in his tower, Writing or trying to invent new things. So deliveries were made to his home. The Man knocked on the large door to the tower and waited. He looked around and gasped at what he saw, Merek, dead at the base of the tower. At the top of the tower a window was open and it looked like he jumped.

            The deliveryman went back to town and told the mayor. The mayor send town guards to investigate. The guards found pages and pages of ramblings. Insane rants about shadows and demons. Merek could have been crazy, no one really knew him, so every just assumed he was crazy. A crazy old solitary man, scared so badly by his own imagination that he jumped from his own tower. That was the official story anyway. What really happened was a mystery. No one ever saw the moving darkness, or at least if they did, they didn’t live long enough to talk about it.