RuneScape Forum Archive | ~The Dwellers~

Dark Enmity

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“What the hell is that?” Somebody had yelled. A couple of men had taken a step back. One had gripped a tool used for measuring soil acidity as a weapon. Aimeric was the only one that wasn’t afraid, but allured by the monster.

Roland was concerned. “It’s coming right out of the hole. We will need someone to see if it’s harmless.”

“I’ll do it,” Aimeric volunteered. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. Roland gave him a look of respect.

“Good luck, Aimeric.”

He stepped forwards past the well. His feet seemed to be much heavier than usual. The other men just watched in fascination as Aimeric walked toward the monster.

The monster was nothing they had ever seen before. It looked misty and almost not even there. It came down from the hole in a yellow beam, perfectly straight and focused. Aimeric looked down at the ground were the monster was hitting. He could see the cracks in the rock perfectly; better than he had ever noticed rock. It was like magic.

Aimeric was now started to tremble. He lifted a hand and stretched it into the monster. His hand pierced through its skin which felt like it was never there. Aimeric couldn’t feel any resistance. The monster had skin with even less resistance than water. The others were shocked when Aimeric’s hand was in there.

He closed a fist and drew his hand out. But when he opened it there was no yellow monster in his palm.

Slowly Aimeric wanted to try something. He took the glove off of his right hand so it was bare and vulnerable. He started stretching it back into the light.

“NO!" They were seeing what he was trying to do. It was totally psychotic.

“Wait.” Roland stretch out a hand to the men. “Let him try.” Roland, like Aimeric, was developing interest in the monster.

Aimeric stuck his hand through its skin. Like always there was no resistance, but he could feel warmth on his hand. Actual heat.

“Roland!” Aimeric said laughing. “You have to try this!”

26-Jun-2009 00:10:01 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:13:47 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Roland was perplexed until he stuck his bare hand as well into the monster. He could feel the warmth as well.

“This is amazing! This thing is harmless! You guys come and see!"

The other five were reluctant but eventually stuck there hands as well to feel its power.

“It’s like smoke,” Roland said. “You can’t touch it but its there. Only this has heat to it.”

“I guess we can’t take in back,” Aimeric said, disappointed.

“Well, you can collect smoke in a jar. Why don’t we try with this?” But they soon realized that unlike smoke they continued capture it in a jar.

They all just sat around it while Aimeric looked up into the hole. The monster seemed like a gigantic long snake, stretching itself in a straight line above.

“Well, they were telling the truth. This hole seems to stretch far to that surface they were talking about. Amazing.”

“You guys!” One of them was yelling when the monster was thinning out, like it was dissipating. After a few seconds it disappeared.

“It’s...gone...”

They waited in silence as they stood in a circle around nothing. Slowly, small yellow streams began to appear again.

“No...wait!” The streams were thickening. Soon the monster was back, in that huge beam of yellow.

“How?” Aimeric asked incredulously. “What is this?”

Roland gave a laugh. “I never believed it when I asked those four from the surface. One of them thought they knew what it was. They said that the closest word we have in our language for it is “anti-darkness”. They said in there language it was called “light”.

“Light,” Aimeric repeated. He liked light. It was so friendly. He never knew it could be so dangerous.

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“Light?” Thea asked with suspicion. She was just sinking into to her smoothie Aimeric had brought back to her. The nurse was just bringing the necessary forms for her to be released. “It’s called light?”

26-Jun-2009 00:10:02 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:13:58 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Yes, only it is incredible. You have to see it Thea! It’s like smoke or mist, you can’t really feel it, only it’s there. And it has warmth to it. It's yellow and you can see things clearly under it. It's just so hard to describe, I am not doing it justice.”

“Is it safe?” Thea looked cautious. She didn't like it, especially since nobody in the city knew what it was.

“Thea, for the umpteenth time, yes. Roland actual has a theory that it isn’t alive. And I am going to talk to Ivan about it. He probably will know lots.”

“You’re going to see that stranger that claims he’s from above?”

“Yeah, I will see him next time I am scheduled to meet Ned Oddy. And I don’t think he’s claiming. I saw the hole. It went straight up for what looked like forever.”

“It just sounds so unbelievable.”

“You’re right,” Aimeric said sarcastically. “About as unbelievable as a ten-year-old controlling the future.”

Thea rolled her eyes at him. She was genuinely better. Her eyes were rejuvenated, her skin glowed again. Everything except for the bald spot on her head. They said she would be fine. The operation to replace the shattered skull with some kind of super strong material was successful. Thea was as good as new.

They filled out the forms and checked out at the front desk. Aimeric and Thea walked all the way home without any detours. Thea knew why. Aimeric had been waiting for a long time.

“Oliver, we’re home!” Aimeric shouted in the house. Oliver came bounding down the steps two at a time and stared with awe at both of them.

“Thea!” He bolted and wrapped his arms around her legs. She picked him up and gave him a huge kiss on the forehead.

“I’ve missed you!” Thea said. Oliver grabbed Thea’s hand and pulled her out of the entrance.

“Aim says we would get to do a project when you came home!”

“Did he now?" Thea said with speculation. Aimeric shrugged.

“I thought it would be fun to do a little project. Just the three of us.” The way he said that made Thea think.

“Where’s Celeste?”

26-Jun-2009 00:10:07 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:15:09 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“She knew you were coming home today and went out to the bazaar. I think she wanted to get you something.”

“Oh. Great.” There was a bit of guilt in Thea’s voice when she said that. She knew Celeste wasn’t the fondest of her.

Aimeric opened a drawer and pulled out a box. Inside was crayons—red, yellow, orange, green and everyone other color. He laid out three sheets of paper on the kitchen table. Oliver didn't know what they would be doing until now.

“We’re going to be drawing! That is awesome!” before Oliver ran up Aimeric stopped him. He had been planning this very carefully.

“Yes Oliver. All three of us are going to draw. At work we never seem to know what time it is. So I thought it would be really funny if we could each draw a clock that says it’s midnight.”

One of the biggest things Aimeric had contemplated was what he would want Oliver to change. He didn't want it to be huge. It was seven right now. He thought it wouldn’t be that bad if Oliver made time skip five hours. And if it didn't work, well then that would make Aimeric feel even better.

“That does sound funny!” Oliver said with a high excited voice. He raced to the table and started picking up the crayons, scrawling them onto the paper.

And so the three began to draw. Aimeric kept trying to look at Oliver’s clock but whenever he did Oliver just said with a large grin, “It’s a surprise.”

“Well, I am done,” Aimeric said with satisfaction. He had drawn a wristwatch exactly like the one he owned. Thea looked over at his picture and snickered.

“I am done to,” Thea said with a giggle. She had made a perfect grandfather clock, complete with the pendulum and everything. “Yours looks nice to,” she added with another laugh. Aimeric grumbled then looked at Oliver.

“Okay kid, your turn. Let’s see your clock.”

Oliver smiled. “Are you ready? One...two...three!” He lifted his paper into the air and Thea and Aimeric looked at it with a mixture of interest and horror.

26-Jun-2009 00:10:08 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:16:14 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Oliver...” Aimeric said in a faint, hoarse voice. His mouth felt like it wasn’t working. “We said we would all draw clocks.”

Aimeric was still staring at it spellbound. Oliver had drawn his picture so perfectly. When he gave his first picture to Thea it looked like it had been drawn by a ten-year-old. But this one was better illustrated than Aimeric’s.

“Oliver...that isn’t a clock...” A look of confusion appeared on Oliver’s face until he looked at his picture.

“Oh, I forgot. I didn't really want to draw a clock. I felt more in the mood to draw this. I hope you like it.”

Oliver placed the paper in Aimeric’s wavering hands. Oliver seemed unfazed by all of this. Aimeric and Thea were feeling the horror sink the more time passed.

"It’s a chandelier,” Oliver said with a grin. “A flying chandelier.”

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Aimeric felt like somebody had opened his mouth and tore off his tongue, leaving him to drink his own blood. He thought he was dead. Yet he still had enough strength to say, “Why, Oliver?”

“Because, silly. Things always are better when they fly. That’s a rule you know.”

He didn't agree with that rule one bit. He wished the chandelier didn't fly. And what was worse, it was HIS chandelier. The exact chandelier, crystal for crystal. The arcing metal was exactly the same. ‘How could Oliver have drawn this without going out to look at the chandelier every five seconds?’ he thought.

Oliver put his finger on the paper. “I also drew somebody watching the chandelier fly. Just so people could see his how amazing it would be.”

Aimeric never saw that. It made his heart pound even harder. That hair...those eyes...was that Celeste in the picture?

And what scared him the most was the way the hanging crystals were pointed. It wasn’t to the left or right, the opposite of the direction they were flying. They were pointed straight up.

26-Jun-2009 00:10:15 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:16:47 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

‘That would mean the direction the chandelier was flying in was—,’

“Honey, I am back?’ cried a chirping voice from the foyer.

There was a crash. Celeste let out a high-pitched scream. At once his senses felt like they were on fire and he sprinted to the entrance.

“Celeste!” He grabbed her around the waist and hugged her, checking for any cuts.

“I am o-okay. J-just a l-little s-s-shaken up.” Her eyes were staring at the wreckage. "I need to l-lie d-down. Can you take care of this?”

“Yes,” Aimeric said, as horrified as Celeste was. She just kept nodding all the way up the stairs into her bedroom where she fainted immediately.

Thea’s jaw was hanging open. “Oh...my...God...”

It looked like a war scene. The chandelier had flown alright. For about two seconds before it crashed to the earth. The metal was twisted and warped; crystals were shattered and spread across as far as twenty feet from the disaster. Aimeric didn't even want to think what would happen if Celeste was under it.

“Wow, what happened?” Oliver asked bewildered. He couldn’t see the coincidence it had with his drawing.

“Oliver, can you go to bed please?”

“Sure,” he said and bounded back up the stairs where he would sleep dreaming of flying chandeliers.

“Thea, help me gather this all into one place.” She nodded and began to collect the shards of glass.

"I just can’t believe it,” Aimeric said after they had placed all the shrapnel into a garbage bag. “I though it would be fine...”

Thea looked at him with frightened eyes. “We aren’t testing that boy. Not anymore. You and I saw what we needed to. We know it’s true. Please, don’t make him do it anymore.”

Aimeric looked at her with hurt eyes. And he made another promise. It was the exact same kind of promise he made to Oliver when he promised that Ned would never hurt him. It was the kind of promise that God loved to see mankind break.

“I won’t."

26-Jun-2009 00:11:19 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:17:53 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

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Lester sat in the cell, curled up in a ball. It had been two long since the earthquake and it was getting to him. He sat in the corner staring out of the windows, expecting to see something.

Lester was married to his wonderful wife Vivien and had two children, Robin and Alex. He lived a normal life like every other person. Besides Lester’s superstitions people would look at him as a normal person.

Every night he would tuck in his two children; have a last glass of water. He would change into his pajamas and brush his teeth. Once he was in bed he would do his daily routine of checking the nightlight.

When Lester was six years old the dark terrified him. He always had to keep his bedroom closet closed because it was obvious that was were the green scaled monster what come out of and tear you apart, relishing your screams. Lester knew that monster couldn’t come through closed doors, that was another rule. But they also lurked under beds. Lester was always careful not to let an arm or leg hang over the bed, in case the monsters would snatch it and pull him under. Unfortunately those safety precautions weren’t enough. He needed a nightlight.

So when he started crying to his parents about the dark they decided to get him one. It was just a small round light that plugged into an outlet beside his bed. It was no bigger than his fist, but it made him feel better. The light would scare the monsters under the bed, and keep them from crawling up.

Two years later, when he was eight, he rolled over on his side to check the light, but there was none. He just saw darkness. Lester was too terrified to even step out of bed. His parents had heard his screams and ran over; turning on the room lights to see that he had peed himself.

26-Jun-2009 00:11:25 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:18:12 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Lester had to sleep with his parents in their bed for about a week. After that the fear of darkness just melted away, almost instantly. It felt strange for Lester not to be afraid of something.

His parents died when he was twenty-five from an automobile accident and he had inherited the home. Five years after that he got married. Three years later Robin was born.

The most unusual thing was the nightlight was always in the outlet through all those years. Lester had never bothered to take it out. He never knew why, but he thought he had a special bond with it, even though it was just a piece of broken plastic.

When Vivien came to his home once she commented on it. He just shrugged and said it was a childhood memory. They never argued about it.

About the time they had Alex something unexplained happened. Lots of mysterious things happen in a person’s life but that was one Lester could remember vividly. He had looked over one night and saw that little junk of plastic flicker, on and off.

Lester wasn’t wondering how a light could be broken for over twenty-five years and then magically come to life. He didn't wonder because all those memories of being afraid of the dark were flooding back into his brain. About the monsters in the closet and under the bed, ready to take you away and torture you with their sharp teeth and claws.

The nightlight never flickered, but Lester’s fear had reawakened. He had bought a new nightlight, more powerful than the first. Vivien was worried about him at first but shrugged it off as a mid-life crisis.

Every night he would have a small junk of plastic give that sanctuary of light. But for that past few days it had been nothing but darkness for Lester.

“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird,” Lester whispered to himself. “And if that Mockingbird don’t sing, Mama’s gonna buy...gonna buy...”

26-Jun-2009 00:13:11 - Last edited on 29-Jun-2009 23:18:36 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

He looked over to his side expecting to see a shining nightlight to be his salvation. To see himself lying in a warm bed with cuddled with his wife Vivien. There was a nightlight, shining faintly, but only in his mind.

In the hours to come the nightlight would slowly fade away, disappear like the imaginary hallucination it was for Lester. He would be bombarded by a sense of drowning fear, fear that when you can’t escape, it will begin to break you down.

Lester started singing to himself throughout the night, louder and louder. He soiled himself as well, just as he had when his nightlight stopped when he was eight.

By the time it was morning, Lester was screaming and clawing at his skin. Only his fingers were the monster claws, finally getting him.

He had one last thought before his insanity took over. It was actually more of an image: The ceramic bear glued to his childhood nightlight. Frozen smile. Painted eyes staring. And then the eyes turned into holes and darkness rushed out of them.

Lots and lots of darkness.

26-Jun-2009 00:13:16 - Last edited on 30-Jun-2009 22:32:49 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

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Roland was sitting in front of a long table on a wooden platform. Behind that table were twenty chairs with one person in each of them. They were all holding up the same piece of paper, inspecting it down to the last microscopic detail.

“You should know we are expecting progress in the near future...” Roland said but then trailed off when one of the elders held up a hand.

So he waited. He waited as impatiently as a fifteen-year-old boy, standing in front of an employer, anxious for a job. Roland was surprise he didn't have a heart-attack from all that suspense, considering his age.

The elder in the middle put down the paper. He looked at Roland with a sympathetic smile. It turned into concern when he relooked at the paper. “I just don’t think we can do it, Roland.”

“I understand the results have been a little scarce,” Roland said with unevenness in his voice. They were filling the tank and ready to let Roland drown in it.

“Scarce?” said another elder sarcastically. “So far as we know, there haven’t been any at all. Your tools haven’t determined if this thing is dead or alive, you can’t collect it, and really we, there isn’t anything that special about it.”

Roland was definitely drowning. “We have determined that vision is thirty-three percent improved when looking into the light.”

“Improved vision?” another scoffed. “I can see you perfectly fine right here Roland and you look like you’re sweating pigs.”

“Agreed,” one female said from the other table. “This light doesn’t appear that it will help us in our lives. It’s a dead cause."

26-Jun-2009 00:13:21 - Last edited on 12-Jul-2009 02:42:34 by Dark Enmity

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