RuneScape Forum Archive | \\||~Nightmare~||//

Infinity A8

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~Chapter XVI~

Before I can even breathe, Xavier has me ahead of him, sword drawn and ushering me along with all haste. We pass the fountain, the news stall and then into the gates of the palace. While he isn't concentrating, I shrug Xavier off and stop to see what's wrong.

"Noah! There's no time!" He roars but I ignore him, swinging my lantern around and focusing on the body.

They look as a corpse should, but one thing is different. Their blood, organs and eyes have turned a pale black. I can see the skin bubbling and pulsing, as if something is inside moving.

It's obvious what it is.

Then the dead persons body trembles violently. The body begins to shake and move along the ground as if they were having a seizure.

Then the whole body erupts in a grisly explosion of innards. Xavier and I dive behind the wall to avoid the blood and guts and then peer out after silence.

The body is now opened through the middle exposing the empty insides of the corpse. The organs usually occupying the space lie scattered around it. I choke on my own vomit and unable to hold it I spew my most recent meal on the grass beside us. Xavier has me up as soon as I'm done and hurries me down the pathway.

"I don't get it!" I yell. "What's going on?!"

Xavier, still running, points behind me. I turn my head back but run all the while.

The corpse is floating in the air behind us, a dark cloud of fog swirling around inside the jagged hole through the middle. Green eyes peer out from where the heart should be.

I swear foully, turn the lantern back forward and then say "How does it do that?!"

"What are you asking me for?! KEEP RUNNING!!" Xavier roars as his reply. "Oh s-" he starts, after turning his head forward to where we're running.

The entrance to the palace has been blocked off by a mountain of corpses. Among them I notice the shopkeeper, the woman murdered at the shop, various residents at the Inn and many more I don't recognise.

11-Apr-2008 12:52:28 - Last edited on 07-Jun-2008 12:34:10 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

"Now what?!" I scream, glancing back at the slowly moving fog-infested corpse. Xavier looks around, quickly but calmly. He snatches the lantern from me and then looks at all the other exits.

Blocked, in the same way as the entrance. We're trapped.

Xavier curses loudly, as he hands the lantern back to me. He sighs angrily and then turns to me.

"Looks as though there's one option," He says and I dread his next word.

"Fight."

"Are you mad?!" I scream and look back to see how close the fog is. It's within four arms lengths, almost close enough to attack. "Have you seen what this thing can do!?"

"No, but now is a good time to find out!" He retorts, drawing his dragon two hander. "You cut a path through the corpses, I'll hold it off!"

I stare at him, dumbfounded, but he stares back angrily.

"NOW!!"

I snap into action, seeing no other options available as Xavier did. I draw my scythe and start hacking through the gruesome blockade. I sever heads and limbs, cutting through the bodies of the dead so that I may avoid joining them.

There's a roar behind me, I turn to see what it is.

The fog had been approaching as slowly as before and must not have expected us to fight. Xavier has swung his two handed sword up at a blindingly fast speed and cut horizontally, clean through the abdomen sending what little blood left in the body over his face and sword.

The corpse drops to the ground, the fog in the lower half rises out and then into the upper half. Xavier doesn't let his guard down however, he steps back and keeps his eyes trained on the top half of the corpse.

I go back to slicing through the pile, but keep my head turned back in case Xavier needs help.

The top half of the corpse jerks violently much like it had before. Suddenly it raises a torn and now black arm and places it on the ground. It uses the hand the lever itself up and then has the other arm do the same.

The corpse now holds itself up with two hands, head bowed down & black skin beginning to bubble.

11-Apr-2008 12:52:36 - Last edited on 25-Apr-2008 11:53:29 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Then it raises it's head and moans loudly. The corpse has been stripped of all it's hair, teeth then rotting at an unnatural rate and falling out. It then looks at us, eyebrows creased in an infuriated fashion.

The eyes are inhumanely pale green.

Xavier roars and brings his sword down on the ground where the possessed half of the body half stood, only to have it smash into the ground and send chunks of concrete flying.

The Fog has quickly darted out of the way despite it's lack of legs and catapulted itself onto the fence. It screams horribly and then makes attempts to latch itself onto Xavier's face. But Xavier quickly sees this and swats the corpse aside with the flat edge of his blade.

It lands hard on the ground, snapping an arm off. However, this seems to have no effect at all, for The Fog crawls back towards Xavier and over the fence at a speed no human could match. Xavier kicks the possessed corpse in the face but instead of sending it flying, it bites hard on Xavier's foot, blade-like teeth sprouting instantly from the dead gums.

"Xavier!" I yell, temporarily stopping my work on the pile and starting towards him.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!" He bellows. The Fog starts to bite harder and Xavier swings his sword towards it, lifting his foot onto the fence to balance himself. Instead of decapitating the wretched creature, it reaches out and grabs Xavier's right hand, stopping his sword in midair.

Xavier struggles to finish the job but the supernatural power The Fog seems to wield is too powerful for Xavier to match. The fog-infested corpse then starts to dig it's now magically sharpened and lengthened nails into Xavier's hand.

Xavier cries out in anger and pain and tears his left hand away from his sword. He quickly reaches for his white sword, grasping it firmly in his left hand after finding it.

The Fog, apparently, doesn't know Xavier is just as skilled with his left hand as he is with his right.

11-Apr-2008 12:53:52 - Last edited on 21-Apr-2008 13:57:51 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

With a cry of absolute fury, Xavier lifts the heavy sword with one hand and swings it with extreme force at the corpse's head.

The blow connects, the once elegant and beautiful white sword being stained with what seems to be the last of the monsterous, infected corpse's blood as it glides through the air, slicing the head clean off it's shoulders.

Xavier pulls his hand away, both swords now held in each hand despite their weight. The body of the corpse topples away and falls to the ground, the thick, black fog that inhabited it drifting into the head that is still latched onto Xavier's right hand.

The head growls angrily and bites even deeper, Xavier's blood gushing onto the floor from his hand. Despite the immense loss of blood to his hand however, Xavier places his swords back into their sheathes, screams with anger and lifts his hand into up as high as he can reach.

Then he brings it back down, aiming it with such precision that it slams the head of the infected corpse onto the fence. It tears a sizeable portion of Xavier's hand off but also impales the head on a picket, the dull green of the eyes fading back to that of a dead human, the teeth blackening and falling out.

I notice the skin of the corpse's torso has returned to normal as is the head's. I know however, that this isn't over.

Clutching his wounded hand, Xavier runs over to me.

"Hurry! It is surely not dead!" He says, whilst lifting away corpses with his remaining hand. I roar, then slash repeatedly with my scythe quickly clearing away the piles of the dead. Soon enough, a gap is created amidst the bodies.

Xavier and I slip through, just as we hear a sharp whistling from behind us. We're inside, the light from the lantern as our guide. We hurry upstairs, and then dive into one of the rooms.

"Put the flame out." Xavier whispers. I blow softly on the small flame.

We're plunged into darkness.

11-Apr-2008 12:53:53 - Last edited on 21-Apr-2008 12:55:50 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Chapter XVII~

Two minutes of silence pass. Before I know it, three minutes.

I'm counting in my head, eyes jammed shut for fear of The Fog returning to slaughter Xavier and I. We're under a table on the second floor of the castle, the door closed behind us. Neither of us make any sound, even our terrified breaths are silent with fear.

Four minutes.

All is still quiet, no whistling or scuffling. But we saw how The Fog could silently levitate after possessing a human corpse. There's no telling when or how it could strike.

Six minutes.

We hear something go past us. The sound of footsteps, quick but quiet along the wooden castle floors. We lie perfectly still, hoping to the gods we aren't noticed.

Nine minutes.

We don't hear the sound again, leading us to believe The Fog may have left. But we still don't move. Partly because we're tired and need a rest.

Partly because we're absolutely terrified we're wrong.

Fourteen minutes.

Something shuffles behind me, then brushes my wrist. I quietly yelp and jump back but then hear Xavier whisper.

"Just me..." He groans.

I sigh and put my right hand on my left, then pull it back up to find it encased in thick liquid: blood. I remember Xavier's hand was severely wounded during the fight. The fact that he still has a hand is startling.

Nineteen minutes.

There's a loud crash outside and I gasp, heartbeat racing and thinking it to be the end. My breathing increases, I start shivering madly. The door creaks open and...

A voice. A soft, young voice.

"Hello...?" The voice whispers, the room filling with the delicate light of a candle. The voice is wonderfully familiar.

"Lily!" I gasp, crawling out from under the table and embracing her. Xavier follows, but instead of standing lies on the floor, wounded leg stretched out in front of him.

I break from Lily and turn back to Xavier to properly look at the damage.

11-Apr-2008 13:01:43 - Last edited on 22-Apr-2008 10:50:40 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The entire shin-plate of the armour of his left foot has been torn off. The bite marks are deep and still bleeding freely, Xavier's blood soaking the spot where he sat before. He has his wounded hand resting on his knee, uncaring as to the mess he's making of his usually pristine clean armour.

His fingers, despite what has happened are all intact, albeit red and blistered. His palm and a large portion of his wrist however, are missing chunks of flesh, his bones showing through. His blood gushes out onto the knee and shin of his platelegs, staining them red.

"Oh good gods of Runescape!" Lily exclaims, darting over to Xavier and pulling a first aid kit from her pack. "What happened?"

She sets the candle down on the table we'd been hiding under as I explain, Xavier too tired and/or wounded to talk. Lily administers the finest first aid she can as I talk, wrapping bandages around Xavier's arm, using creams and balms in order to stop the bleeding and help with flesh regrowth.

I talk quietly, so as not to attract any unwanted attention. We all know that The Fog is still out there somewhere, waiting for us (It's mortal enemies) to show. Xavier is quiet except for the occasional grunt when Lily applies a cream or wraps a bandage too tightly.

Lily finishes momentarily and then focuses all of her attention on listening to my recollection of the events past.

As I finish, she stares at the ground, head bowed in silence.

"What in hell's name is going on here?" Xavier murmurs for the first time since his scuffle outside. "What kind of monster are we dealing with here?"

"If you don't know then neither of us do." I remark softly. "Whatever this creature is it's unlike any Runescape has ever seen before."

"There must be a way to kill it!"

"Of course, we just need to find it's weakness."

"How can you talk of fighting it?" Lily interjects softly. "We should be running, calling the armies and getting them to fight it."

11-Apr-2008 13:01:44 - Last edited on 09-Oct-2009 01:37:47 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

"We can't escape though, didn't you hear?" Xavier says. "We're alone, we have no one to help us. We have to kill it ourselves."

"We're not all heroes Xavier." I say softly realising what Lily means.

Xavier grunts and looks off into space, most likely thinking of our next move as evident by his uninjured hand going to flick around his hair.

Lily lies down on a bed in the room and stares blankly at the ceiling.

"Lily," I begin. She turns her head slightly and begins to listen. "What happened to you after we split up?"

Lily sighs unhappily (I'd noticed, that since the start of this nightmare she hadn't smiled once.) and begins to explain.

"Well..."

Once separated, Lily had quenched her flame, thinking as I did that it might attract The Fog. She ran towards where she though the bank was but came to the edge of the city. She went to go for help, but found it to be sealed off also like I did.

So instead she went to the bank to hide there only to find something terrible had happened.

"Everyone was dead..." She sobs as I come closer to listen. "All of them butchered in the most horrible ways imaginable...Some had...bones torn out of them, as if from the inside...Some had brains all over..."

She breaks into tears and ceases describing the gore witnessed at the bank.

"Then I heard something outside, someone being chased." She continues. "I knew it couldn't be anyone but you so I went out to see if you needed help...I saw it...Lobbing organs at you...Then I saw you climb up the wall and disappear...Then it followed..."

11-Apr-2008 13:01:50 - Last edited on 17-Nov-2008 05:59:51 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

She's sobbing heavily and then holds out her arm. There's a bandage, once white now crimson in colour wrapped around her forearm.

"I went up after it to see if you were ok...But you weren't there and The Fog was...It turned and threw something at me...It hit me in the arm hard and cut it open on the corner of the wall behind me...I ran and ran then ended up here..."

She's stopped crying and sits up on the bed.

"I hid in a room like you guys did and then heard you come up. I waited a bit then came out to look for you."

"What was that crash we heard?" I ask. She blushes with embarrassment.

"I thought it would be a good idea to not use a spell so used a candle instead..." She replies, nodding at the candle on the table. "...But I couldn't see where I was going and tripped on a suit of armour."

I stifle a small laugh and sit down on the floor. Lily lies back down. Xavier then speaks up softly.

"I think we all need a rest. We need our strength at it's peak and our wits sharp if we're to get through this.

With that, he lies back and shuts his eyes. Starts snoring not long after.

11-Apr-2008 13:01:54 - Last edited on 22-Apr-2008 11:46:20 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~Chapter XVIII~

The candle burnt out some time ago. I feel strangely at ease, just the sight of my two friends sleeping peacefully. Xavier, propped up against, wounded leg stretched out in front of him and the other folded up against his body. He snores loudly, but not loud enough to be noticed.

Lily is lying sideways on the bed, hands pressed together beneath her head in an effort to replicate a pillow. She doesn't snore, but takes quiet breaths every few seconds. She's all curled up, her knees touching her chest and head bowed down to the same spot. After a few minutes of quietly looking, she shifts uncomfortably and buries her head deeper and then wraps her arms around her legs, hugging them closer to herself.

Even asleep, she looks and sounds utterly terrified.

Predictably, I can't sleep. The fear of a horrifying nightmare, or even the sinister Fog returning to make sure I never sleep again.

I sit awake, scythe leaning against the wall along with Xavier and Lily's weapons, waiting for the night to pass.

As I wait, I consider what to do next.

Run? Fight? Continue hiding? Look for other survivors? Xavier's recent quote sounds in my head as I say the last one. "United we stand, divided we fall."

If there were other people still alive then maybe they could help us. Maybe...

I start to hear something. A soft humming noise. It grows, louder and louder. Before long I'm clutching my ears in pain, falling over onto the ground with a loud thud. The sound jolts Lily awake, Xavier being too deeply asleep to hear it.

"Noah, what's-" She starts drearily only to be cut off by a loud grunt from me. I try to get back up only to fall back, hands clutched even harder at my aching head. I feel blood leaking from my ears and dribbling down my arms and scream furiously.

"Noah!" Lily cries rushing to my aid. Xavier sleeps on, despite my scream.

"What's wrong, what's wrong?!" She shrieks, pulling out her first aid kit.

"Head...Sound...Pain! aarrgghh!!" I grunt.

11-Apr-2008 13:02:01 - Last edited on 24-Apr-2008 09:33:13 by Infinity A8

Infinity A8

Posts: 10,192 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Suddenly, my vision is obstructed. Something has fallen over my eyes and blinded me with a red haze. A confused moment to figure out what it is before Lily screams it out for me.

My eyes are weeping blood.

"Xavier! Xavier WAKE UP!!" Lily yells at our sleeping friend. He immediately breaks out of his sleep and looks around tiredly. I howl madly to attract his attention.

"What's going on?!" He roars, coming over to my aid.

"I don't know! He just started screaming a-and bleeding..."

I whip my head up, hands clawing at my ears in an attempt to rip them off and scream. I jam my eyes shut but the blood seeps out regardless. It starts leaking out of my mouth and nose and unable to stand it any longer I stand.

I thrash about the room, Lily jumping back in fear under the table. Xavier stands up and tries to stop me.

"Noah! Calm down!" He bellows. In response, I slam into him side on and then rebound off into the wall. I hear a sharp snapping noise but am unable to determine what it is in my fit of pain.

Xavier is back up and wrestling with me, trying to get me onto the ground. The pain takes over and continues my furious attacks. I kick, punch and smash into everything wildly, the pain too much to bear and wanting anything to get it to leave.

Xavier then gets both my hands behind my back and knees me in the back. I go down, the pain now in my spine nothing compared to that of my head. As hit the floor, Xavier quickly keeps his hands around my wrists and his knee on my back as to prevent my moving. For a while there's nothing but my shrieks of pain and the sound of my own blood spilling onto the floor.

Then there's chuckling. A voice somewhere deep in my head. A voice that i've heard before.

Like before, it doesn't speak physically and I can't hear a thing besides my own screams but regardless the words form in my head soundlessly.

"Why do you still live? Don't be afraid, seek death's comforting embrace."

11-Apr-2008 13:02:02 - Last edited on 25-Apr-2008 08:38:44 by Infinity A8

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