Shades of Fear ~ 7 - Rejected

     You don’t usually focus on the quiet while walking on the Black Road.  Mostly you either focus on the lamp posts casting weird shadows in the rocks along the roads, the stars above being hidden by swirling clouds that could rain any moment in a dark water, or listen to the creatures that hide behind the rocks growl and getting ready to pounce at you for not paying attention to the dangers around you.

     But while walking with Asmodias and his soldiers, it was the only thing Captain and his group could do.

     Captain continued to walk silently as he stared behind Asmodias and his two soldiers carrying the box.  As he looked at the box, a cool stiff feeling was going through Captain that he couldn’t understand…

     “You seem kind of pale,” said Doc Jay as he walked up next to Captain.

     Captain broke his concentration from the black box and looked at the old man staring at him with concerning eyes.  “Yeah, sorry.  I’m just feeling odd about that box.  Salric and I were warned by Horace about these soldiers and that box, but…”  Captain looked at some of the soldiers and motioned Doc to come closer.

     “It felt like something was picking through my memories,” Captain confessed. 

     “Fascinating,” Doc said with interest. “I don’t feel anything from it, but it does seem odd for them to treat something like that with chains if it wasn’t special.”

     “If I can get you close, can you take a look at it?”

     “Well as much experience I have with the supernatural, it’s not really my forte.  But if I can get close without those cut-out copies punching my head off, I’ll take a look.”

      “Fair enough.  Stay here and stay alert.”  Captain slowed his pace and caught up with Tusk and Brant, the later looking bored while Tusk tossed his hand hammer without a care.  “How you two doing?”

     “Fine,” said Brant.

     “Pretty quiet, Captain,” said Tusk.

     “Well keep on your toes, there could be a blackout at any moment.  Or worse, rain.”

     “Blackout?”  asked Brant.

     “Rain?” asked Tusk.

     Captain pointed to one of the road lamps, “The lamps can flicker sometimes, hard to tell when it happens.  But when it happens, it’s the best time for the creatures to attack.  But the rain is just this muddy looking black water.  It puts out any fire, and what’s worse is that it dims the lamps.  We might as well pull our pants down and bend over for the creatures for them to chew our asses off when that happens.”

     Brant gulped and stayed silent, but Tusk smiled. 

     “We’ll be aware, sir.  No worries from us.”  Tusk gave a small salute with his hammer.

     Captain nodded back.  “Good man.  Keep an eye out for those soldiers too, while you’re at it.  Don’t want to get any surprises from them either.”  

     “We’ll keep an eye on them like a… like a…” started Tusk.

     “Hawk,” said Brant.

     “Yeah, that.”

      Captain nodded and slowed his walking pace down more before he could hear Tusk ask Brant what a hawk was.  He caught up with Salric, who was bringing up the rear with his rifle slung over his shoulder in a position for him to use quickly.  He nodded to Captain and the two started to walk side by side.

     The two silently walked together, looking at the group ahead.  A few minutes passed by like that, a simple peace that seemed familiar to the two.

     “How you feeling?” asked Salric.

     “Tired.  It’s something about that box… you remember what Horace was saying about it… well, I had this flashback from a few months ago, when you and me took down Tusk at the Blood Road.”

     “Yeah?”  Salric asked, but he seemed distracted.

     “And the more I try to remember, the more I get the feeling that something was… poking around in my memories.”

     Silence came back as they continued walking.  A few more minutes passed.

     Then Salric asked, “You remember how we first met?”

     This caught Captain by surprise. “Eh?”

     “Do you remember how we first met?”

     “Well, yeah about a few miles from here.”

     “Right, and do you remember your name?”

     Captain hesitated, not seeing where this was going.  “Um… no?”

     “Exactly.  Concentrate on the mission and let’s finish this as soon as we can.”  Salric gave a quick pat on Captain’s back and moved forward. 

     Captain stayed still for a moment, taking in the view of the group walking and the silence.  But then he turned towards the rocks and saw the shadows start moving closer to him.  He quickly rushed passed Salric and the rest of the group to walk close to Asmodias at the front of the group, who didn’t make any recognition. 

     “Hey,” said Captain.

     Asmodias stayed silent.

     “Can you talk?”

     Still silence.

     “Just like to listen to your own voice, eh?”

      Asmodias didn’t even look back at him.  And when Captain started to smell more heat coming from the suit, he stared to back away. 

      But then Asmodias stopped and looked toward the side of the road.  The shadows started to darken around the rocks, staying away from the lighted road but staying close enough to grab anyone who got close enough to the edge.      

     Captain stopped and asked, “What, you see them too?  What are you…”

     But before Captain could even finish, he watched Asmodias raise his unclenched hand and a black tube slid from under his wrist.  He moved towards the rocks and…

     Black oil shot out in a steady stream and with a spark from his fingers, a red flame started down the black sludge.  It hit the rocks and spread around the ground, causing the creatures to scream and flee.

     Asmodias laid his hand back down, and still without looking at Captain, continued walking.

     Captain froze.  And a pale sweat came from his forehead as he watched the rocks on fire.

     Doc rushed forward as the rest of the group caught up.  Doc looked over Captain quickly and then asked, “What’s wrong, Captain?”

     Captain stood silently, still stunned.  Not many people could remember what happened seven years ago, from the disappearance of the Shadow King.  But for Captain, he would always remember the first thing he saw when he woke up from the wreckage. The great Pride Castle was set on fire by the Burning Man. 

      It was the same blood red fire that Asmodias used.

      As the group went along the Black Road in silence, Captain had plenty of time to clear his head.  They let the soldiers and the box go ahead of them for a bit, while Captain shared his thoughts.

     “The Burning Man’s fire?” asked Tusk.

     “Yeah, this could go down pretty badly if we aren’t careful.  Doc, how close do you need to get to the box for you to check it out?”

     Doc pulled a crystal amulet out of pocket and twisted a metal band near that turned it into a bright blue.  “Give me at least a few feet.  If this turns black, we shall know it’s cursed.  I usually use this for people, but it should work on items.”

  

     “It’ll have to do,” said Captain.

     As more time passed silently, the road started to thin.  The rocks started to drop off into a canyon and the valley took a sudden drop into an abyss. 

     Then the soldiers and Asmodias stopped, as the road became a foot wide and above a pit.  At least a hundred feet long, and with no direct light nearby.  Captain passed the soldiers without saying a word or looking at Asmodias, but had to stop at the cliff and the lack of road.  He didn’t need to look down to see if it was bottomless, he did that the first time was on the Black Road.

     Tusk, however, did look down into the darkness.  “Long drop.” He said.

     Salric patted on his back, giving Tusk a sudden jump back away.  “Close, but it’s called the Thin Drop.”  He pointed to the light post, where in scratched writing could make out the words-

 

      Tusk read the words and replied, "Well at least they warned us."

      Salric ignored that and turned to Brant and asked, “Can you get the flares?”

     “Yeah.”  Brant nodded and with one arm, lifted his backpack that was twice the size of himself off and placed it in front of the group.  He opened one of its many pockets and pulled out long orange tubes and handed them to the group.  He took his foot long knife from his side, sliced the top of one of the tubes like a Champagne bottle, and bright silver light shot out from the tip like a rocket.  He pointed the flare towards the others and set the others of as well. 

     Doc asked, “Who’s first?”

     Brant responded, “Preference.”

     But Captain shook his head, “I’ll go.  Once I’m over I’ll wave you to cross.  Until then, keep an eye on ‘you know who’ and ‘you know what’.” 

     Before he could raise his flare and start down the thin path, Salric passed his torch to Tusk and stepped forward.  “I’ll be right behind you.”

     “Like old times?”

     Salric answered by cocking his rifle, expanding its body to the size of a watermelon.

     Captain nodded, looked quickly at Asmodias and his soldiers standing still, and started down the path.  

     With a steady pace and a cautious step, Captain made his way across with the flare raised up and without looking down.  Salric walked silently behind, his rifle aimed below and to the sides, watching for anything to move.  Luckily, they saw nothing.

     They made to the end without any struggle.  With a sigh of relief and in the light of the street lamp, Captain turned and waved at the others while Salric stood near the edge, keeping his rifle pointing into the darkness.

     Doc started off slow, with his flare shaking slightly as he inched his away across the road.  As soon as he got halfway, Doc increased his speed and rushed to the other side with a heavy breath of relief.  He smiled at Captain and said, “Next.”

     Brant started with his large backpack on the pathway, with Tusk behind him looking down into the canyon without hesitation.  He whistled and continued behind Brant until they made it to the other side.  Tusk took another look down and with an outreached arm, dropped his flare into the darkness.  There were no visible monsters as the flare fell, but soon the light became a small dot like a single star in the night sky.  And then, it was gone.

     Tusk said, “Yeah, I can’t wait to do that again.”  Captain still couldn’t tell if he was serious.

     Salric came close to Captain and reported, “Seems clear.”

     Captain nodded, “Yeah, good luck for us.”  He then looked back at Asmodias, his eight soldiers, and the black box.  They were standing still, as if frozen in place.

     “What they waiting for?” asked Tusk.

     “Hesitating,” replied Brant.

     “Maybe they are frightened by something?” said Doc.

     “Or waiting for us to be bait,” replied Salric.

     Captain stayed silent, but continued to watch. 

     After a few moments, Asmodias turned to his troops and started to move his hands, one still enclosed with whatever Abbadon gave him.  After a few gestures, he moved in his usual pace on the pathway. 

     As he moved, he extended his arms to his sides and red fire erupted from his hands.  Shadow creatures that were nearby in the canyon shrieked out and scampered away as the fire spread into the canyon corners.  The oil stayed alit as Asmodias crossed to the other side, but quickly disappeared as it burned into nothing. 

     Asmodias turned around, still not saying a word, and watched as his six free soldiers crossed over in a single line, marching like a synchronized army.  They crossed but didn’t look back.

     Then the two with the plank started to cross.  And Captain felt his hair on his neck starting to rise.

     “Do you feel that?” asked Tusk.

     “Prickling?” replied Brant.

     Doc grabbed his arms, “Yes, I feel it too.” 

     Salric stayed silent, and readied his rifle.

     Captain spoke, “Something’s wrong.”

     The soldiers started out the same as the ones before, but the closer they got to the middle, the slower they became.  After each step, it seemed to Captain as if what they were carrying was getting heavier and heavier.  And then they stopped, both soldiers with their body armor and masks looked like they were hurting, in pain.

     And then Captain heard it.  It started out like a deep echo, a whimpering from far away.  But it bounced in Captains head, almost vibrating his teeth like the roar of an animal that was in his face. 

     “No.  Stop it.”

     The soldiers shuddered as they heard the voice.  Even the ones behind Asmodias seemed affected.  But Asmodias stood his ground, unmoved as if he heard nothing.

     “Did you hear that?” asked Captain.

     “Yeah,” replied Salric.  The others nodded in agreement.

     Then the voice said, “Let me go.” 

     The soldiers started to shake, and Captain could hear the wood plank they were using make creaking noises.  He could see the chains starting to shake as well, loosening and tightening as if it was breathing.

     Brant twitched and put his hand to his head, “Headache.”

     “Me too, like a drill is going through my ear,” said Tusk.

     And then, like a screaming roar, the voice said. 

    “LEAVE ME ALONE!”

    

     The board exploded, and the chains spun around like a whirlwind, knocking the two soldiers away, one hitting into the cliff and sliding away into the darkness, while the other fell straight into the canyon, only to be snatched by an large creature with long thin tentacles that dragged the soldier away without much effort. 

     The box swung the chains to the ground of the thin pathway and flew up into the air towards Captain and his group.  It landed hard, the chains crashing on the road with a loud clash.  The box rolled a few feet, before it stopped, its hole facing Captain. 

     And Captain could see the white in the crack.  The eye looked at him and…

.

.

.

     Captain turned and looked at Evita, sleeping soundly next to him.  She was crying in her sleep again, with tear stains down her face.  What sort of nightmares do you have, he questioned to himself.  He reached out to touch her, and winced from the movement. 

     She slowly opened her bright green eyes, and wiped her tears while smiling into Captain’s face.

     “Does it hurt again?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

     “Not too much.” Captain tried to say softly, but it came out strained.

     Evita touched Captain’s face gently and sighed.  “I wish we knew what happened.”

     Captain didn’t speak, but smiled gently back to her.

     She moved slowly, revealing her smooth skin under the covers of the bed.  She stared to say, “Here, turn around and let me look…”

.

.

.

     Captain pointed his revolver to a ragged man kneeling down on the Black Road.  The ragged man was wrapped in a dirty clothe like a thin corpse forced to walk.  He was bleeding from the shoulder and holding it tightly with his thin hand.  His face looked older than his eyes, which gave an intenseness that gave the man a frantic look. 

     Captain said, “I don’t want to do this, but if you don’t come back with me, I won’t have any choice.”

     The ragged man clenched his teeth, and replied, “Go fuck yourself.” 

     Captain looked slightly surprised, but kept a calm voice when he said, “You can talk?”

     “No, you’re just hearing things.”

     “You know sarcasm too, I see.  Do you have a name?”

     The ragged man looked angrier, but answered with a rough tired voice.

     “Salric.”

     Captain frowned, “I would think they give you ‘Walkers’ numbers instead of names.”

     “They did.”  Salric started to breath heavier.  “If you’re going to shoot, then do it quick.”

     “I rather not carry your body back if I do.  Too much work for the amount they want to pay me.”  Captain voice sounded hesitant, but his gun didn’t move.  “It sounds like you want me to pull the trigger though… what’s up with that?”

    And Salric, as angry as he looked, suddenly looked extremely tired.  It was if years of age had suddenly fallen upon him with a tired anger that only comes with the truly desperate, and his fierce eyes looked almost pleading as he spoke.

     “Please.  End it now.”

     Captain raised his gun to Salric’s head and…

.

.

.

so…nearly…free…

     

.

.

.

     “What the hell was that?!”, yelled Tusk.

     Captain shook himself awake, and quickly remembered where he was.  He looked at his group, who seemed to be quiet shaken.  Tusk had his hammer in his hand and had his other one on the hilt of his sledge hammer, looking around in case something else was to happen.  Brant held his head as if it was in pain, and Doc was checking on him even though he seemed hurting as well. 

     But Salric looked heavily affected.  He gave a look that even though he was masked, Captain could tell he saw something. 

     Through gritted teeth, Brant said, “Shit.” 

     It seemed to be what everyone was thinking.

     Captain said, “Now you believe something’s wrong with that box?”  The group was silent, still recovering from what happened.  Salric gave Captain a harder look and motioned him to head away from the rest.  When they were far enough, Captain asked first, “What did you see?”

     Salric said with a strained voice, “The memory of you pointing a gun in my head.”

     Captain smiled. “Good times.”  Captain didn’t say anything about Evita crying, but it seemed that was only from him.  It still felt as if something was poking around, grabbing at certain things. 

     Salric asked, “Was that what happened in the city?”

     “Yeah.”

     “What was that?  It felt like…”  Salric couldn't say, but instead moved his finger around his head.

     “Yeah, I wish I knew.”  Captain though, aloud.

      And then Captain had an idea.

      He turned back to the group and put a hand on Doc.  “Hey, can you get close to it now?” 

     Doc looked at the box hesitantly.  “I don’t know.  After what just happened I’m not sure…”

     “Pick up the box.” 

     It was a voice that sounded like it was said on an intake of breath, covered by something that dulled it to a wisp of a sound.  But the words echoed in Captain’s head like a cavern.  He turned to Asmodias, who was staring at him with an intense heat. 

     Captain started to ask, “Did you just…?”

     But the voice came again from Asmodias.  “Pick up the box.  We can not touch it.”

     “You could talk this whole time?  Why didn’t…”

     Asmodias ordered.  “Pick up the box, now.”

     Captain stood up straight, as his anger started to rise.  “If you think you can…”

     But Asmodias stepped in front of Captain and stared him down. 

     “Now.”

     Captain wanted to say something else, but he couldn’t think of anything.  He looked back at the box, its chains on the road like limp appendages.  Captain didn’t gulp, but he took a step forward.

     “Wait.”

     Captain was surprised to hear it come from Brant, his face pale and his nose evident of bleeding but with an angered determination that couldn’t be stopped.  He put down his backpack, and cracked his knuckles and neck. 

     “War.”

     Brant walked over to the box with an anxious look, and with a sudden jolt grabbed the box…

     And lifted it with little resistance.   

     Brant and the group looked surprised.  And after a few moments of waiting, nothing happened. 

     “Huh.  Didn’t expect that,” replied Doc.

      Asmodias nodded, turned, and started to walk away with his remaining troop, seemingly unaffected by the loss of two men.

     Captain gave a harsh look towards Doc and said, “How about now, Doc.”

     Doc looked surprise, “Oh, yes, I guess I could now.”  He pulled the crystal out, which was still glowing blue and came close to Brant and the box.  Brant held it out with one hand, the chains dangling off it without much movement.  Doc held the crystal out, waiting for it to change or react, but it still glowed blue.  Finally, the crystal touched the box. 

     But it never changed color. 

     Doc brought it back, with a confused look, “Well it doesn’t seem to be curs…”

     The crystal exploded in Doc’s hand.

     Doc cursed loudly, and Captain and the group gathered close to make sure things weren’t that bad.  Captain started to yell at Asmodias, but saw that he was staring at him.  He didn’t need to say anything, because Captain could feel what he could say. 

     Asmodias was telling him to hurry up.

     Doc pulled his flask and poured some in his hand, wincing a bit before he quickly started to wrap his hand with a makeshift bandage. 

     Brant said, “Rejected.”

     Captain looked at Brant with annoyance.  “What the hell does that mean?”

     Brant didn’t answer, but with help from Tusk, he put his backpack back on and wrapped the chains around the box.  And then with another crack of his neck, he started to walk down the Black Road again.  Tusk shrugged at Captain, and followed behind Brant for extra security.  Salric helped Doc finish the wrapping, and with a small nudge, motioned Captain to keep moving.

     “He was right,” Doc said quietly, as if deep in thought.

     Captain held back his annoyance but was too tired to hold back his anger, “Say that again?” he asked with more heat than he meant to.
     Doc ignored his anger, and started speaking.  “Brant was right.  The amulet was rejected, like a bad transplant for a patient.  And I can only think of two reasons that it did that.  One is that two extremes, such as a curse or a blessing are mixing around that thing and the crystal couldn’t handle the two opposites, causing a reaction that could only lead to it overreact.

     “The other, I’m afraid is a little more terrifying.   It could be that the box is so cursed that it’s gone beyond our ways of seeing, an extreme case.  Think of a curse so powerful it over exceeds our basic thoughts and becomes something…”  

     Doc trailed off his theory and had an intense look of concentration.   

     “Something what?” asked Salric.

     Doc looked at the two with a pale look, but quickly took a swig from his flask and gave a small cough.  “Different.” 

     Captain gave a dark look to Salric, and then looked at the darkness off the Black Road.  Yeah, thought Captain, or maybe we can hope that amulet of yours was just a bad reject.  

End of Part 7 ~

Shit's getting real, yo.

And it's the beginning of it getting dark.

And it will just keep getting darker.

Until...

But that's for later.

Lots of things going on, but I keep on going.

But for fun, I've started watching Fringe.

Liking it so far.  It has some problems (like some of the writing), but I really like Walter.

Also trying to work on a new art project.

But I have to work on a sketch for the model.  It involves...hmm.

I'll probably do more reviews first though.

We shall see.

Later~

Previous Chapters -
Part 1 - Unease
Part 2 - Disbelief
Part 3 - Bargaining
Part 4 - Paralyze
Part 5 - Recognition
Part 6 - Denial