Darken Fate: Becoming by shidi |  |
Haunted Woods, Month of Collecting, Year 3
Mist hung heavy like a gray mantle cloak draping the
wood in ominous shrouds. The moon was full, and high in the sky, her face bone
pale and lending only slight illumination to the highest layers of the fog.
Not a single shred of light penetrated the veil, leaving the figure as he preferred,
in darkness. All evening, I had been stalking him, three steps behind, here
a pause as he listened sharply for some sound - perhaps from my careless foot,
perhaps imagined.
His brown ears swiveled sharply, his keen and feral
senses seeking some hint of presence, some essence of mortality that he lacked
and would instantly attune to. I held my breath tight in my chest, wrapping
the folds of my cloak closer around myself as if it could shield me from his
scrutiny. I clutched my Wand of the Light Faerie firmly within my left paw,
just below the folds of my cloak, ready to display when I had need of the protective
powers it would grant me.
Darkness was no match for me, or so I thought, fully
confident in my knowledge of the preternatural. I had read the ancient tomes,
so old and dusty that Neopia had forgotten their names, found only in the most
learned of sages' possession. I had studied with the Wizard, far beyond the
days of my youth and frivolous past, emerging from the tower as a young Grarrl
ready for adventure. Within a year, I had a reputation to uphold - that of Gaelan
Legarro, Preternaturalist - Sage of the Supernatural.
With that reputation in mind, and a hefty amount
of NP in my purse from a mysterious benefactor, I had set out for the Haunted
Woods in search of the creature that called himself Count von Roo. Legends dating
from as far back as 200 BN told of his reign of terror over Neopia. Even evil
has limitations, however, and the Count had grown tired of his travels. Settling
into an abandoned castle on an island known now as Roo, he embraced the solace
of the earth, letting the cold ground claim him in a deep slumber for many years.
He awakened.
Without opposition, his reign of terror would begin
anew. Naturally, the burden of his disposal had fallen squarely upon my broad
shoulders. For hours now, I had trailed my charge - my trained instincts waiting
only to seize the perfect moment, the apex of our little game of chase, in which
I would reveal my light and penetrate this darken night to strike true at the
heart of my sworn foe. In theory, this was a wonderful plan. The practice of
said plan left much to be desired, as the crisp, leafy underbrush was very difficult
for a pet of my stature to navigate silently. The vampire had no such quarrel
with the elements; he glided through the foliage soundlessly, and with barest
trace of his passing.
I should have, in retrospect, been more cautious
and aware. The malevolence that radiated from this being in tangible waves was
a warning, one which I did not heed. Von Roo paused again, an instant, perhaps,
before I hastily did the same, stilling even the rustle of my cloak with a quick
right paw. Not fast enough. This time, he had heard, and turned a swift circle,
movement so fast that even my keen eyes caught it as little more than a blur
of brown against the gray backdrop of the elements.
"Good evening," von Roo said, almost congenially,
though an undercurrent of malice lay just beneath the smoothness of his words.
He drew out each syllable languidly, accustomed to having time and fortune on
his side. The Count's eyes glowed red, two burning embers in the darkness that
seemed to sear through my skin, sapping at my very soul.
I gasped then, and drew forth the wand, illuminating
the night in a blinding flash of purity. Trying to keep the tremor from my voice,
I raised the glowing wand and pointed it directly at the vampire's chest. "Faeries
guide that this light strike true - destroy the foul creature that is von Roo!"
A powerful beam shot forth from my wand, purity and faerie blessing powerful
enough to shatter the most vile of darkness. The beam struck true, right into
the trunk of the tree behind where von Roo had been standing a moment beforehand.
Stunned, I stared in disbelief at the empty space. This was to be my undoing,
my fatal flaw, my moment of inaction that I would replay over and over again
in my head, wondering how things might have been different if I had performed
one of a thousand scenarios hindsight granted me.
"Muhahahahaha!" The sound of von Roo's laughter was
all around me, enveloping me in a calliope of dissonance from which there was
no escape. I sunk to my knees, dropping the wand, shrieking in pain and horror
at the terrible, maddening sound. A steely paw clamped down upon my shoulder,
and another drew back my neck firmly. I cried out in terrible agony as he sunk
into me, fangs piercing with a white-hot pain, like twin Cobrall daggers tearing
into my flesh. I could feel my vitality slipping away as he drained, a red haze
clouding my vision as I slumped forward, too limp to give much of a struggle.
Warmth spread through my body, a delicious numbness that blurred the edges of
my consciousness to a vague mist.
Floating above myself, a part of the clouds and the
night far more than the earthbound creature that was suffering such fate, I
impassively viewed his savagery, a dark art akin to beauty. The preternatural
grace with which he fed would have made a wonderful entry in my journal of observations.
Too bad, it seemed , that I would not live to record it. Von Roo finished his
meal, snaking out his tongue to catch the last flecks of blood that had escaped
onto his snout. He bent over my body, furling his cape in a dramatic flourish
as he appraised the damage done. For a long moment that seemed hours, he stayed
bent over me, as my mind floated above-then with a swiftness that rivaled his
earlier speed, he was gone, and I was alone and inside myself again, becoming
slowly aware. Had I died?
Taste was the first sense to recover, a bitter taste,
acrid and sanguine on the tip of my tongue and lurking coppery around the corners
of my mouth. Next came sight, with colours flooding in to the night, bright
and beautiful, as if the darkness had never been. Never had I seen such beauty
of shade, such intensity. If I had been an artist, I would have wept for joy.
Sensation came next, the feeling of the ground hard and cold against my skin,
the terrible wracking pain as I retched onto said ground, disgorging the contents
of my last meal. All of this, however, was as silent as a ghost - for sound
was the last to return, waiting, mercifully, throughout my throes of agony,
until I lay spent on the grass, staring up at the stars which I could miraculously
perceive through the veil of cloud. Sound roared back into being then, terrifying
in its intensity, amplified and with things audible that I had never heard before
- the chirp of a cricket, the breath of an owl - both as close to me as if they
were right against my ear. Yet, I realised with fear and loathing, I could no
longer hear the rhythm of my heart, or the shallow rasp of my breathing. In
fact, both had ceased entirely. I glanced down at my skin in the moonlight,
and shivered to find it pallid with a sickly green hue. A terrible thirst was
building within me, a thirst that could only be slaked by the vitality I now
lacked. Stumbling to my feet, I heard a sickening crack. There, beneath my right
paw, in splintered pieces, was the Wand of the Light Faerie, still glowing faintly.
Faeries would not bless me now... I walked away from the light, and did not
look back.
Gaelan's Castle (Office), Month of Collecting, Year 4 (Present Day)
"I tell you these things, my dear one, so that
you will understand. What I was, and what I have become. It is imperative that
you speak of this to no one-I would not have the citizens of Neopia running
in terror from my very presence. For one full year, I have walked the face of
our known world, lost in the terrible depths of dark deeds and darker dreams.
But now, a shard of mortality within me has awakened - a small glimmer of light
left within, that I hold onto like my only hope, for it may well be. I do not
know how long this moment of clarity will last-do not tremble, we have known
each other far too long for it to come to that. I would do you no harm now,
no more than ever I have been capable of causing you the slightest displeasure.
You must be my eyes and ears, during the daytime, when I slumber in the forgiving
earth, who holds no judgement, even for one such as myself. All are equal in
the grave, my child.
Seek for me, as best you know how, souls in need
of my particular brand of investigation. I shall be redeemed, if not through
my honour, then by my intent. And through it all, through all the terrible wonders,
and the dark majesty of my curse... it shall be thoughts of you that keep me
sane. Knowing that there is still beauty kissed by daylight... that the sun
will rise, and warm your face, upturned... will keep me focused on my mission,
and grant me benediction, that I might feel worthy of finding a cure. For now,
however, you must leave this place... for the hour grows late, and the hunger,
strong. Have I ever told you how lovely and slender the line of your neck is,
how the beat of you pulse is like music.... Go! Now!"
As She fled from me, slamming the door in
her haste, I sunk my head heavily onto the desk, fighting the urge to pursue.
My hands balled into fists as I recalled her face, contorted in a hapless mixture
of fear and pity... I could not, for the former life of me, decide which of
the two was worse....
The End |
