Post by Lady Hammer on Apr 20, 2007 19:27:46 GMT -5
VI. The Black Book Contract
The fog grew denser and denser, and became so chill, warm breath left the mouths in plumes of steam. So much so gooseflesh pricked Kedo’s skin. Maravandril had then begun fighting with Anna, trying to rip the sword from the thief’s hands when Phio’s turmoil caught their eyes. Apparitions from the fog encircled the watchman and looked down at him as he slowly went into a violent shock. Though she felt the urge to rush to him, something inside held Kedo back, and she bit her lip as the temperature further dropped. Other apparitions glared at her and came dangerously close upon her every step.
Phio soon went into a horrid seizure, his body left on the ground, shaking and twitching while his arms flailed from side to side, eyes rolled into the back of his head, and foamy saliva dripped from his lips. Watching closely, they could see him whisper words unheard, but they couldn’t help him. Scornfully, the apparitions neared.
Now holding the sword, Maravandril tugged on Kedo’s sleeve. She saw that the elf was staring into the suddenly mobile paintings that hung in their frames along the gallery walls. Maravandril’s emerald eyes were transfixed on one in particular. 12 stone statues of 12 different people. Where they stood was a mystery. Some of them carried swords, some of them carried large packs of scrolls, but they all carried solemn faces as the darkness swallowed them. All of the watchwoman’s memories and thoughts and opinions of her city’s saviors vanished from her head at that point, as she couldn’t fathom the secrets that ARC lived between. She almost wanted to believe Anna and Maravandril. But she couldn’t.
Phio was still seizing as the scene in the picture suddenly changed. The thief rushed to his side and pried open his tightly clenched mouth, trying to keep him from swallowing his tongue as his trembling grew still worse. Looking sharply into Kedo’s eyes, she motioned to Maravandril, who was frozen in place.
The painting’s new scene depicted three unknown figures: one tall, perhaps a younger Centa; one short, possibly Phio; and what appeared to be the same white-haired maiden as before, only instead of sporting an elaborate elven gown, she was dressed in a dirty brown tunic and tight trousers. The three stood by a large, dark pond, fighting tiny, ruthless black shadows. Daemonlings. Kedo recognized them from her classes at the Watchmens’ Academy five years ago. Centa and Phio had taught the course personally. It definitely wasn’t a class that Kedo favored, being that the two had brought gently floating remnants of one from long ago, jarred “securely”.
The white-haired maiden stood from afar, having scurried atop a large boulder, shooting as many of the ferocious daemonlings as she could with green-tipped arrows, while the two men sliced through the rest. Phio was quite efficient with his sword, but when one glanced to the other man, Phio was forgotten entirely. Centa was brutal and gave no mercy with his slashes and stabs, and no hit would enervate his performance. When all of the tiny, black monsters had been vanquished, all that was left on the ground was a black book. Phio kneeled down to pick it up while Centa was still making sure every last thing he could slay was gone, and then the scene faded into the original painting.
Anna tore the sword from Maravandril’s transfixed grasp, and gripped it tightly once the pictures stilled, her head darting around in a silent paranoia, waiting for whatever else would happen. Her mind had all sorts of predictions, from something lunging out of a picture and attacking them, to the ARC building suddenly erupting into spontaneous flames. Suddenly, Maravandril stepped up to her and took a deep breath, standing taller than the others thought she could. Looming over the thief, she glared and held out her hand. Defensively, Anna stepped back and held the sword close, shaking her head. Then, finally fed up, Maravandril lunged forward and latched onto the weapon, fought Anna to the ground, and ripped it from her hands. The fog lifted.
“What the hell is going on…?” Kedo asked, then grasping her throat. “Hey! I can talk again!” Anna held back a hiss and walked to the nearest door.
“No. This place is too weird. I’m getting out of here!” she said. Kedo’s violet eyes widened.
“Anna, think of him!” she shouted, pointing to Phio, now slumbering fitfully in Bootmann’s arms. The thief scowled and looked to the watchman.
“He needs our help. ARC needs our help. Hell - all of Vaskio needs our help!” Kedo went on.
“Give me one reason why I should care.”
“Because,” Maravandril said, staring at the paintings, “You’ll be famous. You’ll save this place.” She said this hoping that it would strike some string in the thief’s mind.
Anna sighed. She knew the city needed her help, and somewhere inside of her, she knew it was worth more than the money and the fame. Slowly, she approached the feverish watchman in Bootmann’s arms and ran her hand softly over Phio’s forehead.
“… I know…”
“So you’ll help us then?” Kedo asked, holding her hands together in hope. Anna let out a deep breath and stared to the glossy red ceiling. She did need the money, though. The best reward, she thought, would be someplace warm to go to, rather than a cold, dingy alley with a shabby shelter built from crates.
“Alright.”
Then, Kedo unsheathed the bloody sword from the basement.
“Good. Aeslyn once told me there were floor plans upstairs. We should go look for them if we’re going to maneuver this place.” Everyone was silently contemplating that.
“Doesn’t that seem like… a strange thing to just up and tell you? Don’t you think?” the elf said.
But Kedo knew it wasn’t all that strange. As she led them through the upstairs of ARC, her mind flashed back to several dreams from perhaps months ago, perhaps weeks ago. She had lost track of time. For a few nights in a row, she had been having dreams where she was in a dark room, pulling down curtains, or dreams where she’d be kicking through doors to find dusty old rooms. She now thought she knew what the last part applied to. One day, she had invited Aeslyn to lunch with her at a new café, planning to discuss her dreams with her older sister. However, instead of listening to what Kedo had to say, the watchwoman ended up listening to Aeslyn gripe about the ARC men’s “stupid ideas”.
“They’re dumbasses, Kedo. Who the hell paints floor plans on the wall and hides it behind a bookcase? That’s just asking for all of this crap they always whine about,” she remembered her saying. “I’m serious. Wouldn’t it do just well to write ‘em down somewhere and hide them? Or do they have too much crap in that building of theirs to even find it afterwards?”
Aeslyn had gone on about many other things, too, further ridiculing the city’s saviors, never once really letting her sister have a word on anything. She didn’t mind, of course, as she figured Aeslyn’s needs to be just as important as hers. But, she still had never gotten the chance to tell anyone of her now considered prophetic dreams. Kedo sighed at the memory as she led the others to the next room. It was lined wall-to-wall with bookcases, packed full, except for one that had only a single book missing. Anna slowly approached the cases, perusing the titles on the spines.
“These are ridiculous,” she said. Maravandril concurred, putting her hands on her hips.
“None of these titles really belong here. Property Tax? Wonderments of the Southern Siopenne? Local Dwarven Gov’t… My Dragon Across the Street… Cooking for Dire Beasts… Training Trolls… Index of Winter Clothing…”
“What’s that book that’s missing?” Kedo asked, kneeling down in front of the suspicious bookcase.
“Well, if it wasn’t missing, maybe we’d know,” Anna said. Kedo ignored her.
“Look! I see something here! Something is behind this bookcase!” She started tearing books from the shelves, throwing them carelessly behind her, sweating in the anticipation of what everyone had probably already predicted. While Anna joined her, the elf wandered off down the hall.
“Mar, where do you think you’re going? Get back here and help us!” Anna yelled, looking at the elf over her shoulder incredulously.
“I saw something…”
They scoffed as she walked away, and continued to ransack the shelves. The next room over, most unique from the last, held nothing but a table in a dark room. The elf’s night vision adjusted, and her eyes fixed on a black book in the middle, just sitting there innocently. With second thoughts, Maravandril dared to near it, her curiosity drawing her in. The book had no title. Just a black cover and spine. She stared at it blankly, thinking back to the painting. What had happened to Phio when he picked the book up himself? The answer scared her, but if she wanted to save these men and this city, and if she wanted to gain her new title at home, she had no choice but to follow his actions. Quickly, she snatched it up.
And then, suddenly, she noticed something staring from the black abyss of the door across her to the next room. Two yellow eyes. She panicked and froze, her sweaty palms gripping as tight as they could around the book, her mind racing at actions she couldn’t decide on. No matter what, she wasn’t letting go of the book. She was going to make certain that if that’s what the creature in the darkness wanted, there’d be no way in hell that its hands would lay upon it. Noises sounded from downstairs just then, and the elf could hear Kedo and Anna gasp. But Maravandril locked eyes with the two staring back at her. They came closer, a black body forming around them.
“Guys…” the elf started, breathless. She looked at them in the other room over her shoulder. “Guys!” They looked at her with a matching startled face, especially when Kedo was handed the black book. The body neared. “Run!”
The others looked at what was in the room with Maravandril, and they ran without another thought, Bootmann lumbering behind.
The elf stayed put, however. Growing solid, the figure took the darkness from the corners to finish its form, and by the time it was complete, the room was no longer dim.
“You are literally a creature of darkness…” she whispered, trying to keep in her trembles. The figure suddenly grew tall and ominous, and that’s when the elf took her leave, running after Kedo, Anna, and Bootmann.
The fog grew denser and denser, and became so chill, warm breath left the mouths in plumes of steam. So much so gooseflesh pricked Kedo’s skin. Maravandril had then begun fighting with Anna, trying to rip the sword from the thief’s hands when Phio’s turmoil caught their eyes. Apparitions from the fog encircled the watchman and looked down at him as he slowly went into a violent shock. Though she felt the urge to rush to him, something inside held Kedo back, and she bit her lip as the temperature further dropped. Other apparitions glared at her and came dangerously close upon her every step.
Phio soon went into a horrid seizure, his body left on the ground, shaking and twitching while his arms flailed from side to side, eyes rolled into the back of his head, and foamy saliva dripped from his lips. Watching closely, they could see him whisper words unheard, but they couldn’t help him. Scornfully, the apparitions neared.
Now holding the sword, Maravandril tugged on Kedo’s sleeve. She saw that the elf was staring into the suddenly mobile paintings that hung in their frames along the gallery walls. Maravandril’s emerald eyes were transfixed on one in particular. 12 stone statues of 12 different people. Where they stood was a mystery. Some of them carried swords, some of them carried large packs of scrolls, but they all carried solemn faces as the darkness swallowed them. All of the watchwoman’s memories and thoughts and opinions of her city’s saviors vanished from her head at that point, as she couldn’t fathom the secrets that ARC lived between. She almost wanted to believe Anna and Maravandril. But she couldn’t.
Phio was still seizing as the scene in the picture suddenly changed. The thief rushed to his side and pried open his tightly clenched mouth, trying to keep him from swallowing his tongue as his trembling grew still worse. Looking sharply into Kedo’s eyes, she motioned to Maravandril, who was frozen in place.
The painting’s new scene depicted three unknown figures: one tall, perhaps a younger Centa; one short, possibly Phio; and what appeared to be the same white-haired maiden as before, only instead of sporting an elaborate elven gown, she was dressed in a dirty brown tunic and tight trousers. The three stood by a large, dark pond, fighting tiny, ruthless black shadows. Daemonlings. Kedo recognized them from her classes at the Watchmens’ Academy five years ago. Centa and Phio had taught the course personally. It definitely wasn’t a class that Kedo favored, being that the two had brought gently floating remnants of one from long ago, jarred “securely”.
The white-haired maiden stood from afar, having scurried atop a large boulder, shooting as many of the ferocious daemonlings as she could with green-tipped arrows, while the two men sliced through the rest. Phio was quite efficient with his sword, but when one glanced to the other man, Phio was forgotten entirely. Centa was brutal and gave no mercy with his slashes and stabs, and no hit would enervate his performance. When all of the tiny, black monsters had been vanquished, all that was left on the ground was a black book. Phio kneeled down to pick it up while Centa was still making sure every last thing he could slay was gone, and then the scene faded into the original painting.
Anna tore the sword from Maravandril’s transfixed grasp, and gripped it tightly once the pictures stilled, her head darting around in a silent paranoia, waiting for whatever else would happen. Her mind had all sorts of predictions, from something lunging out of a picture and attacking them, to the ARC building suddenly erupting into spontaneous flames. Suddenly, Maravandril stepped up to her and took a deep breath, standing taller than the others thought she could. Looming over the thief, she glared and held out her hand. Defensively, Anna stepped back and held the sword close, shaking her head. Then, finally fed up, Maravandril lunged forward and latched onto the weapon, fought Anna to the ground, and ripped it from her hands. The fog lifted.
“What the hell is going on…?” Kedo asked, then grasping her throat. “Hey! I can talk again!” Anna held back a hiss and walked to the nearest door.
“No. This place is too weird. I’m getting out of here!” she said. Kedo’s violet eyes widened.
“Anna, think of him!” she shouted, pointing to Phio, now slumbering fitfully in Bootmann’s arms. The thief scowled and looked to the watchman.
“He needs our help. ARC needs our help. Hell - all of Vaskio needs our help!” Kedo went on.
“Give me one reason why I should care.”
“Because,” Maravandril said, staring at the paintings, “You’ll be famous. You’ll save this place.” She said this hoping that it would strike some string in the thief’s mind.
Anna sighed. She knew the city needed her help, and somewhere inside of her, she knew it was worth more than the money and the fame. Slowly, she approached the feverish watchman in Bootmann’s arms and ran her hand softly over Phio’s forehead.
“… I know…”
“So you’ll help us then?” Kedo asked, holding her hands together in hope. Anna let out a deep breath and stared to the glossy red ceiling. She did need the money, though. The best reward, she thought, would be someplace warm to go to, rather than a cold, dingy alley with a shabby shelter built from crates.
“Alright.”
Then, Kedo unsheathed the bloody sword from the basement.
“Good. Aeslyn once told me there were floor plans upstairs. We should go look for them if we’re going to maneuver this place.” Everyone was silently contemplating that.
“Doesn’t that seem like… a strange thing to just up and tell you? Don’t you think?” the elf said.
But Kedo knew it wasn’t all that strange. As she led them through the upstairs of ARC, her mind flashed back to several dreams from perhaps months ago, perhaps weeks ago. She had lost track of time. For a few nights in a row, she had been having dreams where she was in a dark room, pulling down curtains, or dreams where she’d be kicking through doors to find dusty old rooms. She now thought she knew what the last part applied to. One day, she had invited Aeslyn to lunch with her at a new café, planning to discuss her dreams with her older sister. However, instead of listening to what Kedo had to say, the watchwoman ended up listening to Aeslyn gripe about the ARC men’s “stupid ideas”.
“They’re dumbasses, Kedo. Who the hell paints floor plans on the wall and hides it behind a bookcase? That’s just asking for all of this crap they always whine about,” she remembered her saying. “I’m serious. Wouldn’t it do just well to write ‘em down somewhere and hide them? Or do they have too much crap in that building of theirs to even find it afterwards?”
Aeslyn had gone on about many other things, too, further ridiculing the city’s saviors, never once really letting her sister have a word on anything. She didn’t mind, of course, as she figured Aeslyn’s needs to be just as important as hers. But, she still had never gotten the chance to tell anyone of her now considered prophetic dreams. Kedo sighed at the memory as she led the others to the next room. It was lined wall-to-wall with bookcases, packed full, except for one that had only a single book missing. Anna slowly approached the cases, perusing the titles on the spines.
“These are ridiculous,” she said. Maravandril concurred, putting her hands on her hips.
“None of these titles really belong here. Property Tax? Wonderments of the Southern Siopenne? Local Dwarven Gov’t… My Dragon Across the Street… Cooking for Dire Beasts… Training Trolls… Index of Winter Clothing…”
“What’s that book that’s missing?” Kedo asked, kneeling down in front of the suspicious bookcase.
“Well, if it wasn’t missing, maybe we’d know,” Anna said. Kedo ignored her.
“Look! I see something here! Something is behind this bookcase!” She started tearing books from the shelves, throwing them carelessly behind her, sweating in the anticipation of what everyone had probably already predicted. While Anna joined her, the elf wandered off down the hall.
“Mar, where do you think you’re going? Get back here and help us!” Anna yelled, looking at the elf over her shoulder incredulously.
“I saw something…”
They scoffed as she walked away, and continued to ransack the shelves. The next room over, most unique from the last, held nothing but a table in a dark room. The elf’s night vision adjusted, and her eyes fixed on a black book in the middle, just sitting there innocently. With second thoughts, Maravandril dared to near it, her curiosity drawing her in. The book had no title. Just a black cover and spine. She stared at it blankly, thinking back to the painting. What had happened to Phio when he picked the book up himself? The answer scared her, but if she wanted to save these men and this city, and if she wanted to gain her new title at home, she had no choice but to follow his actions. Quickly, she snatched it up.
And then, suddenly, she noticed something staring from the black abyss of the door across her to the next room. Two yellow eyes. She panicked and froze, her sweaty palms gripping as tight as they could around the book, her mind racing at actions she couldn’t decide on. No matter what, she wasn’t letting go of the book. She was going to make certain that if that’s what the creature in the darkness wanted, there’d be no way in hell that its hands would lay upon it. Noises sounded from downstairs just then, and the elf could hear Kedo and Anna gasp. But Maravandril locked eyes with the two staring back at her. They came closer, a black body forming around them.
“Guys…” the elf started, breathless. She looked at them in the other room over her shoulder. “Guys!” They looked at her with a matching startled face, especially when Kedo was handed the black book. The body neared. “Run!”
The others looked at what was in the room with Maravandril, and they ran without another thought, Bootmann lumbering behind.
The elf stayed put, however. Growing solid, the figure took the darkness from the corners to finish its form, and by the time it was complete, the room was no longer dim.
“You are literally a creature of darkness…” she whispered, trying to keep in her trembles. The figure suddenly grew tall and ominous, and that’s when the elf took her leave, running after Kedo, Anna, and Bootmann.
