Fissure

[Doc 42]

Survival of the luckiest.

They.... They came from nowhere.... hordes of them... they slaughtered us, We didn't stand a chance. It was no war. It was an extermination. Nothing can hurt them. Nothing can stop them. The living shadows... the yellow claws... their red eyes.... Us survivors live like ghosts right out of a zombie apocolypse movie. just these zombies aren't stopped by a simple shotgun to the chest.... Nor do these zombies shamble along... Wits and speed are the weapons of my rag tag band of militia. We are the last hope.

Davan commented "They came from nowhere? What the hell man? They came from the N50. Remember? Gigantic red Portal?" Marvin shruged putting down his pen, looking hurt. He protested "Well nowhere sounds alot more exotic than the n50... Imagine coming into a wrecked bunker finding signs of combat everywhere in the middle of a ruined city and stumbleing across a book which starts off with "They came out of the N50 and stormed us." That makes it sound like we are fighting off some sort've plague of traffic or something" Davan shruged, looking back down at his freinds manuscript. He commented "Also, you stole the second line from war of the worlds." Marvin tested "well.... What about my description of the shadow creatures?" Davan read back over the script and admitted "Its good.... but.... your rag tag band of milita? last hope? A) You aren't our leader.
B) there is what? 3 of us?
C) We spend half of our nights shitting our pants and pegging it from house to house
and D) Last hope? The last time we met another survivor we ended up chucking him out a window to use as a distraction, which worked very well I might add."

Marvin looked back at the script and then muttered "Ahhhh screw it...." He tore off the page and crumpled it up, leaning back in his chair and chucking it across the burnt out room towards a barrel serving as their rubbish bin.
Davan walked around the desk over to the window, peering out to the empty suburban streets.... Litter and leaves were scattered all around the sunny neighbourhood. If it wasn't for the burnt out houses all around them, one might think of the place as peacefull.... but within the cramped ashen house with its dank smell of life, Davan found no peace... The door opened behind them. Both of the men jumped. Socko walked in holding three shotguns under his arm. He raised an eyebrow at the reactions, the bum's ragged hair and untamed beard twitching. He grunted "Daytime you muppets.... Daytime...." He put the weapons down on a table and added "More incendiary shells... Should keep us going..."

Davan smiled and turned back to the window, running a hand through his dark hair. It was annoyingly long at the moment. Then again, it was pretty hard finding a barber at the end of the world. Why couldnt a hair dresser be a part of the group? He fumed silently. It was just himself, a blackbelt in karate, (what good is hand to hand combat when your enemies aren't even solid?) Marvin, an engineer, (No luck there, he can't do crap without his tools) and then Socko, a hobo. However, a Hobo who served with the special forces. Quite a nice addition to the team....

Davan scolded himself, thinking "Of course a hair dresser won't be with us. How the f*** would a hairdresser survive?"

When Darkness Falls

Davan stared into Socko's eyes, his gaze fixed on the gem like orbs infront of him... Daring him to make any sort of move of agression... The older mans face was stone stiff, his experiance showing in the lines etched around his face... Here was someone who would never break. Never step back and never hesitate.... He was what Marvin would refer to as "Hardcore." A bead of sweat ran down Davan's forehead... This moment was the fine line between utter despair and the realisation of his glorious dreams..... Socko pressed emotionlessly "Got any 4's?" Davan's eyes flicked downwards momentarily, equally emotionless. He answered "Go Fish." Defeated, Socko shouted out in fustration, slamming his fist down on the table, causeing it to shake violently, his cards toppleing out of his hands. Davan stood up punching into the air and shouting "Victory! Take that ya lousy bum!" He reached down and picked up the doughnut resting in the middle of the table. He had been dying for something with a little taste. He ate it in less than three bites, clapping his hands together to brush off the crumbs. It hadn't lasted long, but it had been completey worth it.

Socko stood up, sighing sadly and crossing the room over to the window. A small light hung from the roof, the only illumination they dared to keep alight at night.... Davan asked while licking his fingers "They're late tonight..." Socko answered, back to his normal state of indifference "Yeah... Its worrying... deviateing from routine is always a bad sign..." Davan walked over to his side, looking out the window.... watching the gleaming red eyes glide through the street below.... The night was deathly silent. The only sound being the occasional rustle of leaves... Then Socko pointed something out, not daring to speak. A short streak of red glideing toward the building they were in. A few more following it... Then the thumping of feet speeding up a stairwell. Marvin burst into the burnt out room and shouted, panting "They're here!!"

Socko nodded and walked over to the table, picking up the shotguns and throwing one to each of his freinds. He took a grenade out of his pocket and pulled the pin out, chucking it over his shoulder. Davan reached up and pulled down the light attached to the roof. Marvin kicked the blackened window frame, the wood shattering easily and falling to the street below. He got up onto the ledge and leapt out, dropping down into the darkness below.. A soft thud indicateing he had hit his mark. Davan went next, as he stood up onto the ledge, he heard the rapidly approaching footfalls, frenzied hisses punctuateing them. He leaped off into the darkness feeling like he was weightless in the pitch black night air. With a painful thud, he landed onto the trampoline that filled the back of their jeep. The blankets beneath it stopped him from bouncing into the air. He got off the trampoline and crouched down at the back of the jeep. Socko thudded onto the trampoline behind him and then hopped off the jeep going over to the side door. Davan pushed the colapseing trampoline back to give himself more space... Then a huge bang echoed throughout the silent street, white light bursting out the open windows above as the flash grenade exploded. Gutteral roars and growls errupted behind them along with the thumping of feet. A flood of red eyes swarmed towards them, a black form leaping into the air, landing onto the jeeps roof before leaping up into the dark sky, scrambleing through the window. Marvin turned on the jeeps engine and took off immeidiately, the wheels spinning with an echoing screech. The flood of red eyes poured out of the building after them. Davan took aim and pulled the trigger, sparks bursting out the barrel of the shotgun. After a short pause a huge flash and burst of flames poped up behind them, illuminateing the creatures pursueing them. Yellow clawed red eyed dark furred monsters.... Like crosses between bats and gorrillas... The flood pounced onto the source of the light, blocking it out entirely, the shadowy creatures dissappearing into the night. Socko leaned out the passanger seats window, rideing shotgun. the barrel of his gun spat out a tongue of sparks, a bright flash of flame lighting up a basketball court. It was smothered over too.... Davan and Socko were exploiting the only known method of combating the creatures. Light. Its not that they didn't like it. Quite the opposite infact. They loved light. thats why they weren't a problem in day time. They were out literally sunbatheing. There was most likely a more sinsiter purpose to this but thats what it looked like to Davan. They also assocsiated light with prey, so at night the creatures would swarm in on it thinking it was a target.... If there wasn't any light, they defualted to sense of smell. There was a loud thump and the jeep shook, a black form screeching as it flew past them, splattering across the road. More thumps and similar creatures flew over them. That was the other weapon they employed. No matter how much physics any monster disobeyed, it wasn't going to stand up to a speeding jeep and stay on its feet. Davan fired again, this time the flash barely distracting the now visible horde following them... His eyes widened. He had never seen so many at one time... The jeep skidded around a corner, Marvin activateing the headlights out of desperation, more gutteral roars rising into the air around them. The shadow creatures exploded around the bend behind them like a tidal wave of darkness. One of them leapt towards Davan, sprinting ahead of the pack in a burst of speed. He fell backwards and thudded onto the metal floor, as the monster scrambled up the edge, He kicked back, his foot breaking the lock on the ramp, the back paneling on the jeep falling back and throwing off the shadow creature with it. Even if he couldn't attack it directly, attacking the environment around it was the next best thing.

He checked his wrist watch. It was early. They had managed to pass most of the night without conflict. He continued to fire off shells in reletive calmness. The real stress was on Marvin, who had to drive.... The creatures couldn't keep up with the jeep and aslong as they didn't stop moving they were fine.... It was dreafully anti climatic... After the intial excitement, the seemingly dire situation just became boring....

When the night begun to brighten up, the tide of creatures behind them became little more than a trickle. About 7 angry beasts sprinting after them like no tomorrow. Davan and Socko were sitting on the trampoline, legs hanging off the back of the jeep. They were taking bets on which of the 7 would last the longest. They both picked 3 different shadow creatures, the other being defaulted to Marvin. This kept the game interesting as the bet now rid on the heads of more than just one of them. Less risk involved, but kept things going for longer...

Eventually Socko won, all three of Davan's choices suddenly giving up randomly and sweeping away into nearby buildings. Socko's remaining choices eventually stopped following them when they passed a bunch of half eaten corpses. That was the reality of it. While Davan Marvin and Socko had a relaxed life style interspersed with short sprints of excitement, all around them was death and destruction. Bodies littering the streets. Road blocks where the police had attempted to maintain a defensive, nothing left of the defenders but blood staining the vehicles paint work... decimated buildings showing the scars of the militaries failed attempts at fighting the flood of shadows.

Smoke rose in the distance, parts of the city in the distance burning as it had burnt for more than 3 weeks. Marvin eventually stopped the jeep, exhausted, outside a large school. The bigger the building the better. The longer they had to get from their camp to the car. Marvin drove right into the playground and parked near the wall by a bunch of windows. later they would position it correctly when they had found a good escape route. For now, they had to set up, find food, rest and then wait for it to start all over again... Wait till the darkness falls...


Then gets up again

Davan pulled back his arms once more, squinting his eyes and then twisting his body like a spring, hammering the but of the shotgun against the door. It shook violently, a few splinters breaking off. he pulled back once more, setting his sights on the small dent he had been making. With all his might, he hammered the stock off the door once more, this time a deafening crack smashing through the air as the door swung inward.

He sighed, stretching, glancing around the silent corridor. a bullitin board to his side telling of auditions for the school play. The building had been abbandoned mid-life. That last day of school preserved in a time capsule....

He pushed the swaying door open and walked into the room... It was a spacious office... It should do perfectly he stifiled an exhausted yawn and took out his hand held radio. He said through the mouthpeice "Davan here, found a good room down the east wing, over looking the back entrance aswell. over" Socko responded "Nice one, I'll be up there in a minute... over and out"

It was a nice place. Most likely a vice principle or someone of equal position. A few potted plants, requireing water, a nice oak desk in the center of the room with a computer ontop of it. A filing cabnit on the far right...

Then Marvin called in across the radio "Got company, 7 of them on the Gym roof!"

Within seconds Davan had grabbed his stuff, shouldered his way through the door and was already running down the hall way. He could hear foot steps coming closer. Most likely Marvin. He shouted "Marvin?" His freind shot past the corridor waving him on while calling "This way!"

Davan followed him, pounding along the grey corridors. Socko's voice crackled into life through the radios "3 of them coming through the entrance, following our scents! Don't take your previous routes!" Marvin skidded to a stop, looking around fearfully. This was the same corridor they had entered through. they needed another escaperoute.

Davan thought quickly, but it wasn't quick enough. Once the shadow creatures were onto the trail, they moved like demons. No rest no thought, just pure instinct. Pounding footsteps echoed on the tiles coming towards them, from the distance they could make out Socko on his way towards them. He was waving foreward, gestureing for them to run that way. Then it struck him, the Cafeterria! There was a fire exit in there!. He span on the balls of his feet, breaking into a sprint and rounding the corner in the opposite way to which he arrived. He heard a frenzied gutteral howl coming from behind, Marvin shouting "Here they come! Get ready to split!!!" Davan skidded around the next bend, sprinting foreward and kicking the double doors open. He ran into the messy room, food and chairs everywhere. He jumped up, landing nimbly onto a table, leaping onto the next one, makeing his way towards the fire exit. A loud bang from behind sounded as Socko fired off a shell. Suddenly the fire exit burst open

Two hunched over dark furred shadow creatures stalking in, red eyes gleaming in the dark, yellow claws gleaming. Davan just managed to stop himself, nearly falling off the table. Marvin leapt off the table, Socko on the other hand, hadn't been paying attention and did fall, his foot getting caught in the back board of a chair. He fell down, his leg twisting around, a sickening crack punctuateing the mans scream. Davan pulled up his shotgun. Bang. A crackle of flames poping up over the creatures approaching from the fire exit. A second bang. Marvin offloading a shell into the creatures approaching from the main entrance. Socko floating into his mind as breifly as a sneeze, Davan leapt off the table, sprinting towards the rooms third and last free door, leading outside. Marvin following. He shoulded through the doors and looked back just long enough to see Socko firing a shell right into a shadow creatures head. The pellets seemed to be soaked into its body and then get thrown out its back... The creatures decended on the downed man, his screams drowned out by the alien cries of more of the beasts. Marvin and Davan didn't waste any more time. To their left, 2 of the creatures were sprinting towards them, much faster than they were. to their right, windows were shattering as a flood of creatures poured out of the school. Right ahead of them, the Gym, with its supposedly Shadow monster infested roof. How they hadn't found such a horde of these things earlier, he didn't know. the school had seemed clear at first. The one thing he did realise was that his luck had run out. Marvin, faster than him, reached the door first, having discarded the shotgun. Only then did Davan realise how pointless the weapon was. The flames caused by it wouldn't distract them, there was plenty of light around. Davan just managed to make it the door and slam it shut behind him to get into the gym. As davan desperately turned, the doors burst open, slamming into him. He was thrown foreward, seeing Marvin infront of him diving down aswell. Everything seemed to be in slow motion... Marvin was slideing under gymnastics stand, he was about to roll under it aswell from the fall. then there was this strange blue light... it was coming towards him... Suddenly everything sped up once more. He felt his head crack off the back of the gymnastics stand, having fallen under, one of the shadow creatures was behind him in mid air coming down rapidly. Then the blue light surged through the liquid creature. Wait. Not through it. The blue light seemed to burst into it, blueish flames issueing up around the black monster. Once again speed seemed to warble in and out of realistic speeds. Then the creature's top half exploded in a shower of blue flames. Its legs falling with a splash onto the floor. The creature behind it charging towards them, a red crescent shape zipping over their heads and hitting the creature vertically in the chest. The monster was sliced in half, both sides toppleing away. The next creature to enter the room skidded in its haste to stop, roaring out to its comrades. It was silenced as red crystaline substance smashed into its back, blowing the creature into bits, the walls of the gym being blown out by the force of the blast, which had thankfully been directed foreward. Another creature sprinted through, leaping over the gymnastic stand, screeching a battle cry. A large splattering sound followed by black liquid splashing onto the floor infront of them confirmed it hadn't lasted long... Marvin and Davan were as silent as the dead, stareing at each other, shock and fear in their eyes.... davan had never seen one of the creatures being killed before.... A haunting echoy human voice filled the room "Uhhh, this mighten be the best time... But about what I said earlier.... I take it back...." A second voice, this one soft, female, unrecogniseable acent. "Thanks... that really means alot to me...." The other voice again "great.... but lets keep this touching moment for later shall we?"

Davan's head turned to the hole in the gym's wall, the speed paining his neck. A literal wall of the monsters was flooding towards them... Just as the snarling pack crossed the threshhold, a bright red sheet fell down between them, bright white currents of white seemed to move like lightning flowing around the red sheet. It was so... bright... It forced Davan to close his eyes, but he remembered where he had seen that material before. The N50. The giant portal which had started it all.....

The laws of physics. Ancient powers and A change of scenery

Davan was floating.... His senses completely distraught. A roaring wind filled his ears, his eyes, when open, giving him terrifying images. From underneath the Gymnastics stand he couldn't see anything of what was around him, save the black darkness below and the red pulsing walls around him.... It was like some sort've tunnel... He pushed the thought out of his head. The mere notion of an inter dimensional portal sucking him out of the gym upset his stomach.

He turned his attention to trying to find Marvin. It would be easier if he could turn around.... He looked down, seeing his clothes rippleing in the wind, his limbs outstretched.... A deafening boom suddenly ripped through his ears. He clapped his hands to the sides of his head, trying to drown out the noise, unable to hear anything but a ringing sound..... slowly, the sound of rushing wind replaced it.... As he took his hands away, he noticed himself turning slightly.... It seemed he could control his orintation much like a sky diver would... He moved his arms and legs, awkwardly, as it was like trying to swim on land, but he still managed to twist himself around some what so he could see where Marvin was. His freind looked unconcious, frequently rising up and bashing off the gymnastics stand before falling back down to his level and rising into it yet again....

He was suprisingly calm about what was going on... Things just didn't seem all that bad... He gripped onto the side of the stand and managed to pull himself up to glance over the top, no sign of the mysterious people who he guessed were responsible for all this... no one was in sight... He managed to pull himself up onto the gymnastic stand, the wind pushing him down onto it into a sitting position... He sighed, looking up, shielding his face with his hand, above he could see light, or at least something white anyway... the red walls of what he could only describe as lightning continued to flash past, pulses of white inter mixed with them....

Suddenly a voice sounded out "Oh holy sh**!! What the f***?!" Davan leaned over, looking below the stand to see Marvin flailing around screaming random curses at the top of his voice. Davan shouted "Calm down!" Marvin yelled out "Calm down!? What the hell is going on?! How the hell can I be calm!?"

Davan thought for a moment. He did have a point. What the hell WAS going on? He thought of the best way to explain it. He almost said that they were in a portal of some kind, but he pushed the idea out of his head once again.

Davan shruged and replied "I dunno, but its better than flailing around like a fish out of water" Marvin paused, mid motion and then went limp, saying "Good point..." This place seemed to have a strange calming effect... While usually Davan would have paniced, he was thinking completely logically....

Marvin reached around, pulling himself up onto the gymnastics stand, seemingly less effected by the wind than Davan was...

Davan voiced the thought currently running through his head "Socko's dead, man...." Marvin's face fell, apparently only thinking about it now.... Marvin said sadly "Yeah.... Forgot about that....." After a short silence, he added "You know, I always thought you would be the one to bite the dust, not Socko...."

Davan looked over at him thoughtfully and replied "Hey Marvin, I hate you, you know that?" Marvin only nodded in reply...
The two freinds sat in silence, minutes passing by without movement or words from either... Eventually, Marvin broke the silence "Its like some kind've tunnel isn't it? Like a portal?" Davan turned around ready to tell him exactly why it wasn't like a portal. No words came out, his mouth agape as he stared up at Marvin, who was casually rising into the air. Before either of them could speak to one another, Marvin accelerated upwards, rocketing upwards towards the light.

Now that he was actually allowing himself to think about it, the idea of a portal sounded more and more logical. Their mysterious rescuers had made a portal to escape the shadow creatures.... Then the gymnastics stand begun sinking downwards, no, he began rising up. he looked up into the light. Then, suddenly, he was ripped upwards, blinded as he went....


Next thing he knew, Davan was lying on his back, stareing up at bright blue sky.... He turned his head to the side, vision blurred, seeing grass tinted red... a howling wind nearby sounding as if it was outside.... There was a strange poping sound and then the grass lost its red tint, turning to a cheerful green... He turned his head the other way, noticeing Marvin lying some distance away, unconcious....

he sat up groggily, blinking.... He felt like falling back down at what he saw.... A huge blue scaled dragon... its head turned away. As stupid as it was, Davan screamed out in shock. The dragon twisted its head around, startled, stareing down at him. Suddenly it flinched away, roaring in shock aswell, both of them screaming their heads off in terror.


Explanations

Suddenly the dragon lunged towards him, Davan falling back in fear, the dragons eyes flashing a dark blue, glowing brightly. It opened its maw, shouting in a monstrous growl "Who are you?! Why are you here?!"
Davan stammered out, his knowledge of dragons telling him to try stall it "I-I.. Davan... I-I d-dunno!" The dragon suddenly swiped out, catching him up in a large paw, rearing up and snarling "How were you brought to me?! Where do you come from?!" Davan winced, manageing to bring one hand up to shield his face while pleading "S-some red... tunnel! please! Don't kill me! I really live at the human side! I didn't mean to come here" The monster holding him paused for a moment and then hissed "Oh...." It seemed locked in thought for a moment, closing its eyes before opening them and hissing "Ohhhh.... I see..... So... I'm guessing you and sleeping beauty thought it wise just to piggy back after me, didn't you?"

Davan did his best to struggle, but it was useless squirming against the strong fingers, the hook like claws pressing against his right side, threatening to cut him to peices. He begun "N-no! It was a-" The dragon cut him off "Thought you could catch me in the act? Thought you could get me off guard, maybe call in your comrades... Maybe you should have looked before you leapt..." Davan shook his head shouting "No no no! We are survivors! From City-32! I don't know what you are talking about!" The dragon let out a gutteral snarl and then swung. The next thing Davan knew was a feeling of weightlessness before hammering into the hard ground rolling a few feet before coming to a stop, battered and bruised...

The sky above them was now dark and foreboding, the grass felt wet... The dragon's glowing eyes shineing against the black sky, boreing into him. Suddenly it thundered "Humph... Your story checks out.. human..."

Davan managed to whimper "Y-you won't kill me?" It was an ironic statement considering the amount of bones he must have broken when hitting the ground. The dragon fell down onto all fours, to davans horror plucking up marvin from the ground with one clawed paw. Marvin begun to stir and then the Dragon started shakeing him up and down untill he was screaming, obviously awake. It dropped him, letting him collapse onto the ground... It looked back over at Davan, prowling towards him. It hissed "I Might not... but thats not to say my actions wont indirectly cause your death...."

It came to a halt, rearing up once more, its impressive size towering into the air. blueish dull scales across its back, a white underbelly... Strange pointed ears sticking back from its triangular head, a mane of sky blue hair running down its neck. It boomed "I want your name, and who you are, make it quick." Davan tried to sit up, pushing himself up with his right arm, his left one not reacting to his attempts.. He whimpered "My name is Davan... Davan Freet... I-I am ,was, a PE teacher at the national school of positive thinking.... I lived in City-32... recently... creatures attacked the city along with god knows how many others.... My freind, Marvin, and I.... we were in the gym when we heard two people talking.... then suddenly we were in this giant tunnel... flying...."

After some silence, the Dragon hissed, but it wasn't as sinister as before, more... curious... "Why have you not asked what I am yet?"

It was a strange thing to be asked, but Davan went along with it "uh... Because... you are a dragon... I have seen pictures and videos of your kind... the glowing eyes bit isn't all that rare either..."

The dragon fell down onto all fours, causing the ground to shake, growling "How.... interesting... Well mister Freet... you are a rare one... esspeicially after the whole sun fiend invasion... " it thought for a while once more and then said "So your world contains dragons aswell?" Davan blinked in confusion.. and then asked, immeidiately wishing he hadn't "my world?" He answered his own question, stareing as the dragons maw curved into a smirk "This... is... a different.... world? Like..." He felt he was going to fall, but then realised he was already lying down... his mind being turned upside down and all around....

The monstrous dragon hissed "accept it... Davan... better now than never..."

davan was breathing fast, glancing around, terrified. He stammered "A-and you?" The dragone reared up once more, standing onto its back legs, its wings spreading out to their 16 meter breath. It hissed slyly " Just call me Darkwing for now... freind"


The Longest Hour

When Davan awoke, all was dark.... It was cold... It was wet... Blinking, he could see a orangey shadow crackleing not to far away... a fire.... Fire ment warmth. The tired man placed his hands on the damp ground and pushed himself up, not remembering falling asleep....

A delighted voice chimed "Your awake! Thank god, I was getting worried, man..."

Davan felt a weight lift off him.... He replied grattifyingly "Marvin... Oh jesus... What time is it and where the hell are we... I feel like I've been in a plane crash"

Marvin piped up in a cheeerful tone "Its seventy-six past thirty-four in the first morning"
It took a few moments for the bewildering news to register. Davan pulled himself up into a sitting position and looked over towards Marvin. His freind was rocking back and forth on a log next to the fire with a delighted look on his face.... Typical Marvin, always being annoying at the wrong times. Davan sighed "I see... Now what is the real time and you still havn't answered where we are..."

Marvin happily replied "I already told you what time it is and we are at home! Don't you recognise it?"

Davan looked around, paying attention to their environment for the first time. Sadly, he recognised what he saw, but not from his home, but from the day before instead. Where that massive Dragon had interogated him. He had hoped it had been a dream, that he was off camping in his own world.... Now that he had had time to sleep on it, the idea of being on a different planet to Earth had finally gained sustanence, helped by the fact that he noticed an eye on one of the plants nearby him, which was stareing at him curiously, occasionally giving the fire fearful glances.

Davan decided to tackle things one mystery at a time. He asked "Marvin... Where are you getting the time from?" Marvin gleefully unlatched his wrist watch and chucked it over, saying "From my watch of course! here! You can have it. You seem alot more confused about it than I do."

Davan turned the watch over, reading the dial. He chuckled and said "Marvin, this thing reads twenty past twelve"

Marvin seemed to light up and wagged a finger at him, saying "Ahhhhhh but you havn't factored in the second sun!"

This was simply too much, Davan turned away and laid back down on the wet grass, decideing to try make sense of what Marvin was saying later. He figiured that he was too tired to understand what his freind ment. Yes, that was the most likely cause.

A few hours later, Davan was wide awake, but still just as confused... The fire was still going and the sun was rising over the horizon... They were in a deserted meadow at the base of a large mountain, a small hill on the other side...

He stood up, brushing the grass off his tattered pants and stretched.
Then something smashed into his shoulder and he was send spinning to the ground. For a second he couldnt feel a thing, then the pain ripped through his body like an earthquake... warm goey liquid spilling down his shirt. Pounding hooves approaching. Harsh shouts peircing his ears. Marvin's nonsensical rammbleings about longitute and shadows. Ambush, under attack, war, what ever you wanted to call it, he had to react. He let out a pained shout of effort, gripping the ground and pushing himself up onto his feet. His vision was blurry but he could still make out Marvin sitting crossslegged looking up at someone. Then a wooden stock crashed over his head and he ploped back onto the ground almost comicly.

He fell onto his knees, panting with exhaustion... Looking up at a bearded man dressed in dark blue robe like clothes holding... holding a crossbow over his shoulder. He had a puzzled look on his face and then he growled out in a foreign accent "This one's still alive... Should I shoot him again?"
Without thinking, Davan croaked "No! Don't... shoot me again...." Only now did he realise a metal bolt protruding from his shoulder, covered in blood... His blood.
A different voice... further away "ha ha! This one's tough... Keep him... we can make room for two...."

he turned to face the newcomer, struggleing to his feet, seeing another bearded man in a similar garb, grinning like a mad man. Then something smashed over the back of his head.

How To Survive in a strange alien world:
Step 1: Speak english

Davan came too with a splitting head ache and maddening pain in his shoulder. The first thing he conciously did was check his shoulder. The bolt was gone, replaced by bloody bandages. Crap... His shirt was gone too... He hastily looked down, over joyed to see that he was still wearing his pants (however his shoes were also AWOL..)
His hands were bound behind his back, rope binding his ankles together aswell, but his mouth was un-gagged. He decided to immeidiately abuse this freedom and shouted "My goddamn head... ugh Who the hell are you? He quite rightly assumed that he was currently stareing at the back of his captor. The man gruffly replied "Shut up you cry-baby"

Well he had contact, that was an achievement... He hissed "Look, crazy kidnapping dude... I've had one hell of a f**ked up day, so just start talking..." His captor laughed heartily and replied "Ha! YOU'VE had a bad day? It cant be any worse than mine so I dont see why I should..."
Davan snapped back "Well go ahead, tell me all about it so I can laugh at you..."
The man instantly jumped into an epic rant about his day... "First, I wake up happily to find my tent completely empty, nothing but my sleeping bag and a note! whats on the note? A message from my wife saying she's left for one of those bas***d yemmies! Then, instead of hunting her traitorous behind down, I am pulled off to go hunting god damn Biericks! Did you hear me? Biericks! With a fricken crossbow!" The rant went on and on, from minor annoyances like the string randomly breaking on his bow to more major catastrophes such as finding a worm in his lunch, something called bu-bu soup...

It was easy enough to put together. Either Davan was in the wierdest most backward country on earth, or he had been catapulted into another dimension where everyone handily enough, spoke english. It would explain why Marvin was yapping on about two suns.... And what that dragon was talking about... Darkwing he called himself... He was distracted from his thoughts by his captor finishing his story "... And then, we finally pick the idiots up and then find I have to help carry one of the pricks, and he smells like Bierick sh**!" No question about who that was referring to... Still, Davan needed to keep his attention and learn more about this place. He growled "Ha! Sounds like a pleasurable day to me... Imagine waking up to another afternoon in the post appocolyptic crap hole that is your home. You've spent the entire night running from damned ghosts. Then said ghosts find you, tear your freind to bloody shreds but before they kill you, some smart *** dragon plucks you out of the space time contium and spews you out onto an even bigger crap hole full of slave traders who smell like camel turds!"

The Slaver let out another hearty laugh and said "Sounds like the only thing wrong with your day is a hangover... Ghosts? Dragons? Camels? 3 questions, what in gods name would a ghost be doing around here in the middle of burnia? What the heck is a Dragon and last but not least, what the bloody f**k is a Camel?" Davan was completely taken a-back. Sure, not knowing what a camel was. he could understand that, not many did back at home. Burnia? Ok, he is in an alternate dimension, wierd placenames are to be expected. But not knowing what a dragon was? He said, exasperated "You don't know what a dragon is?! What kind've childhood did you have?" Every kid knew what a dragon was. They were officially the coolest things going from ages 8-12, and then they only lost their appeal from the amount of deaths caused by them. You ask any little boy or girl what they want to do when they grow up and the answer is almost always "Travel south and study/train/play with Dragons"

The idea of a childhood without dragons was like being a teenager without rock music.... After a short silence, Davan said "Where is my freind?" The slaver's cheery mood dissappeared and he grunted "gona Frisk me for info eh? Not gona happen pal! now shut it!" He didn't bother to try again after that, instead trying to spot another riders around him while trying to figuire out what in gods name they were riding. he couldnt see a thing because of the sun shining in his eyes. He wasn't able to sheild them either without his hands, but then a shadow blocked it out, a soothing coolness softening onto his face. His eyes adjusted and he saw the cause of the shade. A winged lizard like figuire gliding through the air before dissappearing behind a cloud a few seconds later...

Step 2: Remain conscious at all times


Predictably enough, Davan found himself and Marvin lying at the bottom of a dusty pit by the end of the day, hazy sunlight filtering through the mesh of iron bars above.

Davan looked up again, as if expecting to see the bars opening. No such luck… A scream echoed through the air and a man fell back onto it with loud clank, blocking out the light. Davan shielded his eyes from the falling dust, hearing the man jump to his feet and run on… The slavers were fighting something outside… He didn’t know what it was, they kept on shouting “Bierick!” Distant roars punctuating their distress. He was hoping that they called Dragons Bierick’s... That might mean Darkwing was coming to try help him out… he had no reason to, but it was possible… Dragons worked in mysterious ways… Sure, back when he was a child, a purple dragon escaped onto the streets of London, everyone was terrified… then it ended up saving the lives of the very policemen trying to kill it before flying away casually… one minute its was tearing down bus stations and burning trees, next thing its going all Lassie and saving people.

A pained roar ripped through the air, taking him from his thoughts. Dust drifted down from the roof, unsettled by the ferocity of the roar…. Cheering broke rose into the air outside. Davan cursed, hitting his head off the mucky wall in frustration. It seemed the slavers had won.

Marvin added helpfully “Stay positive dude! I’ve got a good feeling about this!”
Davan didn’t need to look up; he could already imagine the stupid grin on his friends face…

A large stick swung through an unnoticed gap in the mesh, smacking violently into the side of Marvin’s head, sending him toppling over like some comic book character. Davan cursed again, knowing what was about to happen. He wasn’t going to let it. He instantly leaned to the side, narrowly avoiding the branch. He rolled onto his back, grabbing a handful of dirt and flung it up at his attacker. The slaver, clad mostly in rags, stumbled back, scratching at his eyes in irritation and pain. The stick he held clattered noisily onto the pit floor, Davan instantly grabbing it and holding it up threateningly. He heard angered curses rattling on outside, but nobody came back to try knock him out… A few moments later he heard a rusty click as someone unlocked the grate, the iron bars overhead sliding back slowly and noisily… Davan got to his feet, still brandishing the stick, intent on fighting off anyone trying to knock him out. 3 crossbow-armed figures stepped into view at the edge of the pit, silhouetted against the sky behind them. Without thinking, Davan dropped the stick and held up his hands above his head, the universal gesture for “I’m not holding an enormous gun. Please don’t shoot me.” They shot him.

The slavers hauled him out of the hole, his vision blurry. He could feel blood rolling down his lips… One of the bolts must have gone through his lung… Still, he could make out his surroundings fairly well. The camp looked like a permanent outpost, maybe a stepping-stone onto different areas… large wooden walls and towers… Animal hide huts… that sort of thing. All very typical now that he thought about it…
Pain throbbed dully through his entire body; he was completely limp, unable to move yet completely aware of what was happening to him. The tough grip on his shoulder’s disappeared and he fell face down into the dirt, his head cracking loudly, though the pain was a mere dull thump. A heavily accented voice grunted from above “Such a waste… this one looked strong… moved quickly too.”
Another, more civilised voice “But the other lives and is in-“
He was swiftly cut off “Nay, he is but a shell. The intelligence of a duck resides in that buffoon’s skull”
There was a pause before the other replied, changing the topic “What about the Bierick, master? It still lives.”

For a moment, Davan’s ears stung, a sharp disembodied ringing blocking out everything else…

“Ha! Bierick? No… just a winged lizard… But you’re right… Some may be fooled by its appearance… No doubt, it’s unique and would fetch a high price.”
The other continued, seemingly pleased at cheering his master up “Excellent! Shall I feed this embarrassment to it? Two birds with one stone, no?”
Good natured laughter rang out, punctuating the Master’s next words “Yes, do so Shir’el… Keep the other alive for now though”

It is obvious whom Shir’el was talking about. They were going to feed Davan to whomever, or more whatever this thing was. Something seized his wrist and Davan could only guess he was being pulled, almost all feeling had left his legs. Moments later he was falling once more.

A crack penetrated the air as the limp corpse hit the ground, Davan’s arm bent awkwardly to the side… His vision began to fade, the last thing he saw being bluish wall of scales…

Step 3: Exit through the same way you came in

Numerous thoughts floated through Davan’s mind… mostly on the subject of death what it meant to him and in what form it had come. A morbid tune seemed to echo in the back of his mind. The catchy beat providing a sole source of entertainment in a world of infinite dark. It was odd; he had never heard the song before, yet it seemed to be perfectly implanted within his memory…

Suddenly the darkness seemed to swirl away, rocketing into colour at breakneck speed. Within moments a blurry picture appeared and instantly sharpened into perfect vision. Davan froze in place, unable to take his eyes off the monstrous triangular head above him, glowing yellow eyes staring down at him, white fangs poking out from under its lips… Darkwing…. The dragon spoke, a silent hissing tone, yet at the same time it seemed surreal, as if the sound existed in an entirely different time all together and he was merely eavesdropping.

“Davan… Wake up.”
Blinking, he croaked back “Darkwing… they got you too… Oh God…”
He looked left and right, seeing that he was in a much larger pit this time round, a large wooden cage above with a stairs on the outside. Sharp voices penetrated the cool air, an alien night sky silhouetting the dragon’s head.
“Yeah well, that’s what I get for checking up on you.”
Davan closed his eyes, exhaling. He tried to stand up, but a heavy clawed paw pressed into his chest, pushing him down. He gasped in surprise at the touch, pain racking through his chest.
The hissing voice whispered once again, echoing surreally “Stop. You’re technically still dead. I wouldn’t recommend sitting for a while.”
Davan’s eyes flew wide open. He exclaimed “What do you mean ‘technically still dead?!”
Darkwing’s eyes flicked up, boring into Davan’s own. The dragon hissed again, perfectly calm “Well for the last few hours you’ve been dead… and judging by your pulse, or more the absence of it, technically you still are.”
Davan couldn’t help his voice raising. He shouted “Then how the hell am I talking to you right now?”
Darkwing returned his concentration to Davan’s chest, what exactly he was looking at hidden behind his colossal paw.
“I don’t know, maybe your dead but just don’t know it.”

Before Davan could retort, another jab of pain seared through his chest. He gasped, his hand reflexively reaching up and clasping his chest. Dark wing lifted his paw up with a sickly squelching sound, 3 blood covered bolts held between his clawed fingers
Darkwing continued in his interested hissing voice
“Well its irrelevant now. You’re breathing again so as far as reality is concerned, you’re alive, and from your vehement refusal to accept being dead, I think you will be fine without further convincing. You may now sit up.”

Davan sat up, for the first time realising there were more chaotic shouts in the air of the Slaver’s camp. There was still blood on his chest, and likely three holes where the bolts were, but he couldn’t feel them, so he decided not to think about it and just be happy. Darkwing backed off, sitting in the corner of the pit, tail curled around his feet. Oddly, the dragon looked much smaller than before, thinner for sure. His wings folded neatly behind his back and he seemed much more agile than the being that had brought him here. His head was tilted to the side in an odd fashion, supported by his long neck. It gave him a degree of scary innocence. After a few minutes relaxing, Davan stood up and stretched. His bones ached and it felt good to loosen his muscles out.

He looked over at his cell mate and said quietly “So. We’re going to bust out of here, right?”
Darkwing nodded
He paused, but when Darkwing remained silent, he continued “So what? You burn your way through the cage and fly us out?”
Darkwing hissed quizzically “Burn it? With what? Unless you have a flame thrower lying around that is.”
Davan paused again, this time out of confusion. He gave Darkwing a sideways glance and asked “uhh, can’t you blow fire or something?”
Darkwing retorted, “No. Can you?”
Davan shook his head, shoulders sagging.
Darkwing continued matter-of-factly “Then I suppose that plan goes down the crapper.”

An ear shattering shout ripped through the camp “They’re coming!!”
Screams and orders instantly filled the air, the drum of hundreds of footfalls beating down overhead.
Darkwing glanced up and remarked “Interesting… So, any more ideas?
Davan shook his head, replying “No… You?”
Darkwing stroked his chin with a claw thoughtfully, which was odd. He hissed “Well… I was thinking…”
He suddenly unfurled his wings and leapt up wards, catching onto the barred wall before leaping back off that, latching onto the roof, all four paws clamped around various bars. He continued, “that if we were to take hold of this particular door” He reached out closing his clawed hand around the bars of the hatch in the roof, tugging them experimentally.
“Then, twist it while applying enough force…”

Suddenly he twisted his clawed hand, dragging the door down. With a loud crack, the door snapped off its hinges, pressing the other bars out of the way and slipping through the gap. He let his long arm hang loosely below him, finishing “it would snap off its hinges and create an opening for us to escape.”

Davan grinned. The dragon tossed the door away, letting go of the roof before spinning calmly in mid air, landing down onto all fours. He angled his shoulder towards the ground and hissed “Get on, I think its time we checked out.”

Davan jumped up onto his elbow, manoeuvring onto Darkwings back and holding onto a particularly thick spike sticking out of his shoulder. Darkwing rose up onto his hind legs, leaping gracefully up, easily catching onto the edge of the gap he had made and pulling them both onto the roof of the cage. Surprisingly, nobody noticed them at first, most of the Slavers were on the wall. Darkwing jumped off the cage, landing into the middle of the compound with a loud thump, Davan hopping off his shoulder and onto the ground. A pair of men ran out of a small tent, carrying crossbows. They both froze at the sight of Darkwing, instantly screaming at the tops of their voices. Within moments everyone had noticed them and was either threatening to shoot them, screaming or ignoring them. Davan wasn’t really that concerned. Things had lost their seriousness around the time he had apparently died. But then a wailing howl echoed in the distance… a noise that sent hairs standing up on the back of his neck… Some of the slavers glanced back before brandishing their weapons with even more determination, shouting angrily. One of them, possibly a leader, stepped closer, crossbow trained on Davan’s head. He was shouting, “Get back demon! Call those things off! I’ll shoot you! Davan instinctively put his hands up, the leader taking it as an aggressive action, firing immediately. Davan dodged, the bolt glancing of his shoulder, sending an explosion of pain through his body. Angrily, he yelled out loud “Darkwing! Do something!”

Another howl broke through the air; some of the Slavers determining what ever was outside the walls were more dangerous. They sprinted back towards the wall, firing blindly over it. Darkwing’s snout was pointed skyward, the dragon hissing in his echoy voice “Please be quiet, I’m trying to listen. Besides, what do you expect me to do? Maybe I could kill one or two with my claws before they bring me down, but I don’t feel like dying today.”

There was a loud twang and a bolt whacked into his chest. Darkwing glanced down momentarily before closing a paw around the bolt and pulling out. He flicked it away without a further thought, returning his gaze to the stars.

He mused aloud “We should have a few hours by my calculations but… that last howl…”
Another howl tore through the air almost immediately after he spoke, this one much closer than the other two, the rumble of footfalls approaching swiftly in the distance.
The dragon’s eyes widened, Darkwing losing his normally interested expression. He hissed “Oh no… Ok, time to go-“
Before he could finish what he was saying, a psychotic looking Slaver shouted loudly from behind the controls of a Ballistae “Shut the hell up freak! You make a move and I’m gona-“
Davan never found out how that sentence was going to end.
Darkwing’s head snapped around, eyes locking onto the Ballistae, his hand flicking out in a smooth movement. A pulsing red line webbed between his fingers, before flashing off instantly upon reaching the tip of his claws. Like a blazing red star with a white centre, the bolt ripped forward and smashed into the Ballistae before exploding. The fiery blast sent burning pieces of the machine in all directions. An almost electrical whir crackled through the air. Before the other slavers could react, Darkwing’s other hand flipped out, flinging a similar pulse of energy. The pulse smashed into the ground and burst, a cloud of red fizzling smoke spread forward like gas. Instantly, the Slavers seemed to decay on the spot, their skin growing mouldy and saggy on the spot before rotting off, little more than grimy skeletons left. Two thin red trails wafted away in the air, left behind by the pulses, red smoke hissing out of the impact marks.
Davan exclaimed loudly “Holy crap!” Darkwing took no notice of what he was saying, hauling the human up onto his shoulder before scampering up a wooden tower. Davan clung on, still in shock at what had just happened. He looked out from his perch; out at the compounds surroundings… what he saw was like a living sea of shadow. Millions of red eyes boring down on them as the wall of monsters drew closer, scampering forward like crazed animals. In the distance, the horizon had been replaced with an enormous sheet of white, highlighted with a dark blue glow…
Davan couldn’t take his eyes off it. It was like the portal that had appeared by the N50… Except that one had been red, this was blue…
Darkwing hissed, his voice a mix of anger and fear “We’re leaving. Hold on. This will hurt. A lot.”

Darkwing suddenly leapt off the tower, the wall of monstrous shadows slamming into the compound perimeter, bounding over anything in their way. Red portal suddenly swirled open below Darkwing and Davan, the two beings plunging into it, into the familiar tunnel of blazing light, the portal entrance closing behind them, cutting off the nightmarish howls that pursued them…

[C S]

Funny Doc, and serious. Nice start

[Doc 42]

-How to kill a bit of time-

The top of the tunnel suddenly melted away into a drab of colour, Davan and Darkwing spilling out into it. Davan was left falling, blinded by the light, expelled into some strange world. He landed skilfully onto his feet, stumbling on a few steps before almost tripping. He regained his footing and looked back behind him, seeing no portal, only desert, a huge yellow sun setting behind the horizon in the distance… The ground was dusty, covered in small rocks and pathetic plants.

Inhaling a puff of sand, Davan coughed irritably. Darkwing’s echoy voice whispered like the wind, almost as if it would be blown away by a small gust “Well that was disappointing. Most of the new guys get thrown hilariously across the ground like a rag doll before falling unconscious. Davan continued to cough, bending over. He said between heavy coughs “What can I say? I’m a quick learner I suppose…”

Darkwing shook his head, his mane of hair flowing in the breeze “Suppose that’s a good thing, even if it means things are ever so slightly duller.”

Davan straightened up, recovering. He ran a hand through his hair, looking around… From what he guessed they were on some sort of plateau in the middle of a desert, most likely on an alien world. His thoughts fell back to the world they had just escaped from, the legion of shadow creatures having apparently pursued them. He decided to probe Darkwing, seeing as the Dragon didn’t seem to have any short term plans.

He began “Hey, Darkwing, how did the Shadow creatures know where we were?”
Darkwing glanced at him momentarily before looking back up at the sky, saying, “You mean the sun fiends? Chances are they followed us. The portal was hastily created and Base isn’t the most secure of worlds.”
After a pause, he asked, “Well… is it gone now? I mean Base that is, like what happened to my world?”

Darkwing replied simply, turning his attention to a stone on the ground “Most definitely. Chances are it took the Sun fiends with it.”

The blood drained from Davan’s face. He stammered “Wait, wait, wait… My world is still there? Right? I mean, it was fine when we left it, despite being over run but it existed at least!”
Darkwing waved a clawed paw at him and hissed, “No, no, no Rotrada is there… Though is most likely still over run. The world you were in, on the other hand is most likely nothing, and I don’t throw that term around a lot.”
Davan was confused and distressed. He was starting to come to terms with the notion that he may have just doomed another whole world to the fate of his own, but Darkwing’s wording bewildered him to no end.
He closed his eyes and then said through gritted teeth “Darkwing. Cut the bull crap and just tell me what the f*** is going on. What just happened back there on… Bask or whatever the hell you called it?”

Darkwing took his attention off the stone, staring at Davan. Then, much to his annoyance, he grinned. He let out a deep chuckling laugh “Hm, hm, hm, Typical…”
Thankfully he continued, “Tell me Davan? Did you notice anything strange about Base? I went there for a very specific reason which should be obvious enough considering the laws of chance.”

Davan clenched his fists, spotting yet another mind game. He went along with it though, he had realised that mind games was pretty much all Darkwing understood. “Umm… The fact that it had two suns?”
Darkwing waved a hand dismissively, hissing “Not weird at all! I mean, this is a completely different universe to your homeland! In that regard, I think it would be much stranger if it had the very same sun as you were used to.”

Davan rubbed his chin, recognising the hint. He tried “Um.. Well… Everyone spoke English, including you. Which I still find odd by the way.”

Darkwing’s grin spread even wider, eyes taking on a satisfied gaze. His head snaked closer to Davan’s, hissing “Yessss… Considering how different its spoken half way across the country, what are the odds that it would stay the same in a completely different universe?”

Davan nodded and said “Ahhh… So is Base like, an alternate reality?”

Darkwing snorted in amusement, growling “Not at all. Go back to the English part. What else was strange about it?”

Davan merely shrugged, anger mostly forgotten.

Seemingly delighted, Darkwing rose up onto his hind legs, saying with such a cheerful tone in his voice he seemed almost innocent “Davan. A bunch of slavers came along and carted you off on the backs of a bunch of weird creatures with intent on selling you off some place, complete with dusty camp and rags for clothes. Everything was comparable to reality, but decidedly different at the same time. Now tell me. How many movies have you seen like this? How many books exactly the same way? How many fairy tales in the same situation?”

Confused to no end, Davan replied, “err… Lots, I guess…” Numerous names popped into his head… it was a fairly common scenario in fiction. At the time he had brushed it off as coincidence.

Darkwing continued with even more jest “Yes! Lots! The key part of that, how many movies YOU’VE seen!”
He fell down onto all fours again, grinning madly
“Davan, the mind is a powerful thing. So powerful as to control a lot more than just your urge to scratch you’re a**”

Davan frowned and said, “So… that whole thing was just in my head? We were never captured? But… I still feel the pain from the bolts… and my head…”

Darkwing rolled his eyes and growled “Oh it was very real. In fact, it was as real as our current existence here. Your mind didn’t make you see Base as a stereotypical fantasy story, your mind made Base INTO a stereotypical fantasy story!”
Davan’s eyes widened, mouth dropping as he took it in. He exclaimed “So my mind… built Base? Or was Base… In my mind? Like in the movie where they journey into that guys perception of the world?”

Darkwing leaned forward, eyes twinkling. He growled manically “For the purpose of this conversation, yes! That’s exactly what it is!”

Davan laughed and turned around, walking towards the edge of the plateau, feeling much more relaxed now. He held his hands behind his head, and asked, “So, is this place in my Mind as well?”

Darkwing turned his attention back to the stone and replied, suddenly back to his usual slightly interested voice “Nope. Base is weak, just being there and leaving your mind off its leash allowed you to suck it in and impose your will on it. This world is much stronger.”

Davan turned, face falling. He said, disheartened “Oh… for a moment there I thought I was a god of some sort.. ha ha…”
Darkwing returned the look, hissing in amusement “Technically, everyone is a God.”
Davan laughed and sat down on a rock, saying “Oh really? How do you figure that?”
Darkwing grinned, flashing his teeth. He growled “Well, imagine someone dreamt up Base inside their mind, but then they forgot about it, leaving it lost. Then you showed up and shaped it a bit, before the Sun fiends arrived that is. They hijacked Base, weakening your control over it. That’s why I was so worried. The slavers could never really kill us. In a story, the hero never really dies, so you weren’t in danger. The Sun fiends don’t really care much for cliché’s though and would have happily torn you in two, which would have been quite lethal.”

Davan stopped to mull over this new information, asking yet another question “Does that mean I could just think up a world and it would be in existence?”

Darkwing grinned and nodded, growling “In theory, yes. It would be like initiating a dream on your own free will before falling into it and doing what ever you want, being whomever you want. Unfortunately, such a complex feet is beyond the strength of beings such as you and I, hence the gods.”

Just as Davan was about to enquire further about Gods, he clutched his chest with a hand, groaning in pain. Darkwing’s eyes flashed with worry. Davan held up a hand, saying “No.. Don’t worry, only the wounds from earlier, forgot about them…”
Nevertheless, he was feeling a bit faint and tired. Darkwing got to his feet, eyes much more serious than before. He growled “Alright then, but…. They might prove to be fatal. I’ll be back soon. Don’t move from here unless you have to.”
Before Davan could protest, Darkwing disappeared, seeming to fade away into thin air, a light hue of red outlining where he used to be…

Anxious, Davan leaned back, glancing around… He couldn’t help but feel exhausted… The sunset was beginning to fade into night, right on schedule. The desert was eerily silent, nothing but the whisper of the wind…

A minute or two later, Darkwing reappeared in a flash of light, landing onto the ground with a clattering of claws. He glanced over at Davan anxiously. Davan leaned up, saying cheerfully “Hey Darkwing! Good news! I feel much better now, sorry that your search was for nothing, eh?”
He was about to continue happily when suddenly he recognised Darkwing. He jumped to his feet in shock, pointing a shaking finger at the dragon. Darkwing stirred, bewildered.
Davan stammered out “You! I know you! I’ve seen you before! Your eyes! I recognise your eyes! You stalked me in the past didn’t you!”

Darkwing’s face looked grave, as if he was regretting something long gone, a deep secret…

The memory was coming clearer into Davan’s memory, how had he missed it earlier? Those eyes had haunted his nightmares for weeks. One day while coming home from school, he had spotted those very same eyes stalking him from the darkness of an old abandoned house before vanishing out of sight, a whooshing electrical sound, punctuating their disappearance.

Before he knew it, Darkwing was no longer in front of him, yet he found himself remembering more… When he was a teenager….

Davan was running through an alley, it was wet, very wet. It was a stupid mistake to come in here. Some guys were chasing him and his friends. They had split up, yet they chased Davan. He looked back, seeing the flash of red eyes. He gasped loudly, the shock causing him to loose his footing and trip. He landed into a puddle; dirty water splashing all over him. He rolled around, looking back at the nightmarish figure storming towards him. The monster jumped. Then suddenly another creature soared overhead, the flash of blue scales in the moonlight. It was a dragon, a small one, but a dragon no less. It crashed onto the shadowy monster, which howled in frustration. The dragon began pelting the sides of its head with its claws, viciously splattering thick black blood all over the ground. Suddenly it stood up, twisting around to face the young teenager. It lunged out, mouth open. He flinched, but its jaws didn’t close around him, instead they passed over his head, biting down on a second creature in mid air. The monster bellowed angrily, the dragon hammering into the ground and pinning it with its claws. It rose one paw, claws lining up into a spear like shape when suddenly a third shadow monster leapt out of the darkness, slamming into the dragons neck. It viciously tore at it with yellow claws, the bluish beast rearing up and roaring in pain. It fell onto its side, desperately trying to beat off the shadow creature, which pinned it with a foot. The dragon snapped at it, managing to stretch out the little bit it needed to bite down, its jaws clamping shut on the monsters ankle. It yanked back, pulling it off its feat. The Dragon rolled on top of the shadow creature, straddling it with one foot on its chest before snapping its jaws shut on the monsters head, twisting and breaking its neck with a sickening crack….

And then the flashback was over, Davan left with the most horrible déjà vu that had ever struck him. Suddenly Darkwing gripped his shoulders, shaking him thoroughly. He opened his eyes, not aware that they had been shut. Darkwing was bleeding, a long gash down from his brow all the way down through his mouth. He hissed urgently “Davan! Davan! Listen to me!”
Davan merely blinked.
Darkwing continued “Davan, stick with me, this is important. Probably the most important thing you will ever be asked to decide on. What do you treasure most?”
Davan blinked again, trying to think logically about the question… Well he had nothing left anymore… No family, no friends… Marvin wasn’t even here, probably killed by the Shadow creatures on Base… He replied truthfully, ignoring how self centred it sounded “My life.”

Darkwing paused and then hissed, a small glint in his eyes “Do you treasure the life you’ve lived or do you treasure the pulse that moves blood through your veins? Do you fear death Davan?”
Davan paused, shocked at the strangeness of the question… It wasn’t really much of a question. It seemed to be a choice of death now or the chance to continue his life. He answered “More than anything else. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have made it this far.”

Darkwing suddenly let him go, the young man collapsing to the ground. Darkwing stared down at him with sorrowful eyes. The dragon hissed slowly “Right answer… I’m sorry Davan. This time its for real.”

The dragon suddenly unleashed his paw, swinging out and smashing it across Davan’s cheek, blowing him onto his side, his surroundings fading into black.

Pain exploding through his head, Davan barely managed to turn back, seeing Darkwing in the distance, staring at a different Davan. A Davan lying motionless on a dusty plateau… Groggily, he looked around, seeing nothing but black everywhere else… The ground below him was illuminated slightly, but it was blank and had no texture what so ever, just blank…. Then more images came into view… another light lit up the ground near Darkwing and his corpse. It was him and Darkwing again, this one with Darkwing holding him up. Suddenly Darkwing dropped his other self, smashing his claws off his cheek yet again, the other light fading away. Then the process repeated itself. A light would be illuminating Darkwing standing over Davan’s corpse when the same scene from moments before would play adjacent to it, the first fading away as the second caught up with it. Then more lights appeared, much more. Hundreds of lights in a giant chain stretched as far as he could see…. They eventually stopped, the last one he could see being the inside of a hospital, way, way off in the distance. Each one was moving past at a leisurely pace, each one showing Davan at a different stage of his life… Whenever one reached the end, where Darkwing clawed him, they faded away and another reappeared at the bottom, the hospital coming into view. Davan groggily stood up, stumbling towards the hospital room. It was difficult to move… his mouth hung loosely, blood running down his face. His face was crushed in on the left side, pancaked by Darkwing’s massive paw.

He looked at the ‘scene’ next to him, seeing…. Seeing his mother… holding a baby… holding him… His entire lifetime floated leisurely in front of him, stuck in an infinite loop, replaying his birth and death over and over. He struggled along the path, his footfalls not sounding out in the mysterious void he inhabited. Then he spotted an oddity, a branch of lights moving off in a different direction from the others. He set off towards them. It took him a few minutes, but eventually he reached them. It was he and Marvin, in the school gym, moments before the portal appeared. The chain branched off into two directions. The branch depicted him and Marvin hiding under the gymnastics stand when a horde of shadow creatures burst through the door, quickly throwing the stand away and horrifically tearing the two men apart. However, the end of this chain didn’t fade away, and the main chain didn’t feed into it, instead feeding into a scene of a giant portal falling over he and Marvin like a net. Then he realised the chain was dead, a fate that had never come to pass. On further inspection, many of these branches could be seen, but most of them were transparent, barely visible possibilities that had, like his death, never occurred. Maybe this was heaven? Or was it hell… maybe even limbo? To observe one’s story over and over….

Then something really caught his eye. It was a bunch of Shadow creatures, materialising around one of the many scenes… this one depicting him at a soccer match. He didn’t care. It was useless now. He shuffled past them, heading back towards the start. He wanted to follow his path, look back at the mistakes he made, learn from them. He watched the scenes pass as he moved… him fighting a bully back in school. He smirked, remembering how scared he had been that day…. He decided to watch the scene, relive the moments of glory that won him his revenge.
Then things changed. Something happened that shouldn’t have happened… and that something was Darkwing. The Dragon burst out of a splash of red energy, a single claw extending, and burning bright red before slashing through the air, cutting the young Davan in half. In a flash, the scene disappeared. Then Darkwing reappeared in another spot, cutting the teenage Davan just as he entered a disco. His pace quickened, Davan’s eyes widening as he realised what was happening. One by one, Darkwing cut every one of his memories apart. Stripping him of the last thing he had left. Davan fell to his knees, trying to cry out in warning, just as the dragon’s claws raked through his mothers frail frame, throwing the baby in her arms away in a shower of red sparkling drops. The scene disappeared before he was forced to watch it go on.
It was agonising, feeling every memory he ever had be ripped in two and destroyed, lost forever. The void began to shake and groan, the blood of one thousand Davan’s flowing towards him. As each one died, their blood leaked towards him, as if he was in the centre of some colossal drain… It began to build up around his feet, and then his ankles… Soon he was knee deep in his own blood. He desperately waded towards the end of the chain. He had to try warn himself some how. He had to stop this. The blood grew deeper. Soon there were barely any lights left, disappearing by the second. There was still a few left near the end. Suddenly Darkwing appeared, his claws slashing through Davan as he sat up on the mountain plateau. Another flash, claws ripping through another Davan who was holding his head in agony. The blood grew too deep. Davan tripped, landing face down in the red tide… Screaming and shouting he pulled his head out of the liquid, looking forward at the one Final scene remaining, his corpse below Darkwing’s unearthly gaze. His screams faded away… His mind clearing…. Realising…. It was inevitable… Now he understood the question. It wasn’t wither or not he wanted to continue, as he thought. It was which one he wanted to hang onto. The life he lived, his past, what made him… him… or his future… A destiny… Davan had made his choice.

He stood up, looking down at the blood, watching reflection. He looked forward once more. He knew what he had to do. He began wading through the blood, pressing on towards the frozen image of his corpse… Nothing lay ahead of him now, nothing but the present. Darkwing had slaughtered any hope of a future too. He had made sure of that.


Fissure


-The Longest Second-



Hello. I’m guessing you don’t know who I am? Thought so. I ask that every time but no one ever answers. Well I’ll tell you, I’m a mysterious disembodied voice. That’s really all you need to know. You see, I’m here to tell you a story, the story of the first Fissure, the panic point. There are many angles to this story, but I will choose only one to narrate to you, the story of Davan Freet, a story within a story, if you will.
Please get comfortable; Fissure is no ordinary story. You see, this is a TRUE story, and the truth hurts. You have been warned.

Chapter 1:
Righteous genocide and the first secret of existence

Davan sat up groggily. His head pounded, his blood seemed to bubble, everything about him felt fatigued and generally crap. He closed his eyes and reopened them, surprised to find himself seeing clearly. He exhaled loudly, placing one hand on the dusty rock below him before hauling himself to his feet. The little colour that had returned to his face disappeared in an instant. He found himself staring down at a corpse, his corpse, lying slumped against a thick boulder, head hanging limply to the side, eyes wide open. The corpse’s cheek was crushed in and bore 3 thick gashes.
A rumbling otherworldly voice hissed from behind “Don’t worry, that’s common for a while after.”

He spun around, seeing Darkwing standing over the corpse of some massive cow like creature, claws and jaws covered in blood. He looked back, mouth still hanging agape, to see nothing. No blood, no corpse, just a blank boulder.

He turned back to the dragon, who was casually eating. He decided to sit down again, he felt wrecked. It was sunny and he was sweating, apparently the weather didn’t care about how he felt. After a few moments of collecting his thoughts, he closed his eyes and said “Ok… What have you done to me?”

Darkwing froze, casting him a side ways glance. After a moment’s hesitation, the dragon took his paws off his meal and settled down onto all fours, staring at Davan curiously. He said with a wry smile “Davan, what are your parents names?”
Davan replied irritably “I don’t have a god damned clue. You made sure of that.”
Darkwing continued “And what is my name?”
Davan snapped back “Darkwing the colossal dumba**”
“Hilarious. Now tell me what happened just before you found yourself awake here” Darkwing answered dryly

Davan looked up, thinking… He responded slowly, still working a new realisation around his mind “Well… You killed me. After that I’m confused, I could see my past. I’m not sure what was there; I only remember that it was my past. Then I remember you appearing and destroying it. Either they were my memories, and you were preventing me from coming back, or I was actually looking back into my past, watching as you erased every single trace of my existence from the time line.”
Darkwing let out a satisfied hiss, annoying Davan in the process. The dragon said, a grin spreading across his maw “Righteous genocide my friend. I’m impressed. But first, I need to know the extent of your memory, how powerful that slab of matter you call a brain is… “
Davan shrugged, saying, “I think… I remember you. You and the shadow creatures, or Sun Fiends as you called them. I remember being taken from my own world and being sent to a new one, Base it was called. You talked to me there and then I was captured, or something. The details are all very hazy. What I said there is pretty much the extent of what I know… I’m not even sure about what my world was like…”

Darkwing seemed satisfied at this answer and padded forward a few paces, saying “Good. You shouldn’t worry, as you see reminders, the details will be filled in and the more you get used to it the more powerful your memory will get.”
Before he could say more, Davan interrupted him “Darkwing, I want answers. I know it’s like your thing to be completely vague at every opportunity but after that, you owe me some honesty.

Darkwing nodded slowly, and continued softly “I suppose I do… When the Sun Fiends attacked you on your home world, you were marked. Once you’re marked, there is no escape. The sun fiends will pursue you to the end of the universe and beyond if necessary. I’m not sure how they communicate, but every single one of them will know of you. I escaped your world to Base, and you happened to be caught within my portal. I went to Base because of its weak nature. I thought the Sun Fiends would arrive there quickly and then I could try collapsing it, slowing them down in the process. Effectively, that plan worked, but things had changed, I had to get you out as well. The Sun Fiends couldn’t pursue us, they had nothing to track, and Base was just an empty plain. They failed to catch you for the second time, so they tried something new. A group of them went back in time and attacked you as a child.”

Davan stopped him, holding up his hands “Whoa, whoa, whoa… Back in time? These guys got themselves a fricken time machine?”

Darkwing waved a hand dismissively, hissing “Oh please. It’s not all that difficult. Once you can move through universes you can move through time. After all, do you really expect all universes to be stuck on the same linear track? 5 seconds on one could equate to a few hundred years in another. It would take ages to explain exactly how to do it but it’s merely a matter of changing direction. Now don’t interrupt me.

So they attacked you as a child, and killed you I might add. Then in the present you felt the effects and were moments away from death. If you had been within your own universe, you would have ceased to exist immediately, a loophole saved you. I managed to follow the Sun Fiends back and ambushed them before they got you. Shortly after they attacked again, so I had to fight them too. They would have kept coming forever, at every moment in time you would have been threatened. Even before your existence, even before your parent’s existence. Just one death or change of events could have meant the difference. So I decided it was now or never. I asked you did you want to die with your memories intact or live, starting on a blank slate. You went for the latter. So then I killed you, immediately eliminating you from the future. Then I went back and killed you, over and over again in every moment you have ever existed. But the whole time, I kept one part of you alive, the present, using my… skills to ensure your existence. By the time I was finished and brought you back, you were unconscious.”
He paused, letting Davan take it in, who merely nodded for him to continue.
“You see, it is the first secret of creation. There is no time line; the closest thing to it is the time line everyone holds within their life. A person’s memory relies on their time line to remember far into the past, kind of like an inbuilt defence against mind alteration, or at least, that’s what most magicians would tell you, the wise elders who have studied time’s ebb and flow. I can guarantee you 90% of them were raving idiots who discovered nothing. You see; I believe there is another purpose to this… personal time line… The universe you are currently residing in uses it as a guideline to work out your destiny. My thinking is that when you go back in time, you see others as they were at that point of their time line. So imagine someone with no time line. What do you see?”

Davan thought for a moment. Before he answered, he had to do something first. He calmly picked up a rock, rolled it over in his hand a few times, then flung it, with all his might, off the edge of the plateau.

Darkwing said, slightly dumbstruck “…Not the answer I was looking for…”
Davan chuckled and said humorously “That rock symbolised everything I ever knew about physics. Now, someone with no timeline, I imagine you go back in time and find everyone talking to mid air. Either that, or a time paradox nukes the entire planet.”
Darkwing laughed, easing up. He hissed, “Close, but it's complicated. Depends on what they do. It would be difficult to explain the dynamics of it, but people talking to nothing is a good way of looking at it.”

Davan took it all in and tested “So basically it’s like logic, just different in every possible way? Good god my head hurts….”
Darkwing chuckled and growled, “I bet it does, but I think that’s all the honesty I owe you repaid. Let me put this simply. You’re like me now, Davan, you’re Timeless. You have no past, no future, only the present. No divine being can take hold of you and set your destiny. I was in the middle of something when I had to come here to check up on you. I’m going to send you off to a world named Bob. It’s a nice place and there is someone there who can guide you a bit, his name is Muka. He is Timeless too, but has gone a bit mad, so take care of yourself.”

Davan merely stared at the dragon with one eyebrow raised. He wasn’t really listening. To him, all the details were irrelevant. Him being alive and able to touch the air was all that meant to him.
He opened his mouth to reply, “When do I le-“
Suddenly a red tunnel seemed to open out of Darkwing’s outstretched palm. The tunnel engulfed him and before he could react, it was gone.
“leave…”
He closed his mouth, head still hurting… Despite Darkwing having waffled on for minutes on end trying to explain things to him. He still had no idea what was going on, where he was, why he was there. Guess he hadn't much choice but to try make sense of it... Find this Muka person...
He made a mental note, deciding that his first goal would be to find out if this place was actually called Bob.


Chapter2:
A little stroll on Bob


Davan’s eyes flicked open. Wind ran through his hair and cooled his face. The sun (thankfully just one of them) hung peacefully abreast a tranquil blue sky; lazy clouds veiling the heavens leisurely. The soft sound of waves crashing into the coast played across the air… He brought his gaze down, from what he could see, he was on an island, it wasn’t very big. From here he could see the northern peninsula and the southernmost tip of the island was just behind him at the base of the mountain he now stood on. He cracked his knuckles, taking in the scenery calmly. A few odd plants scattered around the rocky hill top, limestone like rock protruding from the earth. The grass was green, but an artificial, unfamiliar sort of green. He didn’t like it. He thought about how different it was to the grass where he grew up. The first problem he ran in to was that he didn’t know where he grew up; the second was not knowing which shade of green the grass was. He swore to himself, thinking “Was the grass even green?”

The island was shaped like a crescent moon, the northern tip right ahead of him, a steadily arcing bay bridging the gap. Dense forest filled the centre of the island. He could make out a few plains and fields in parts. From inside a valley around the middle of the island, he could see smoke wafting into the air, a sign of civilisation.
Davan shrugged and started making his way down the mountain. It was more of a rocky hill really. Insects buzzed around lazily, the odd bumblebee rocketing past in search of flowers. He thought about how he had been sent here, it didn’t really make much sense. “That must be this ‘Muka’ person’s job,” he reasoned. Best to seek him out as quickly as possible. He entered the tree line after about 5 minutes of walking, entering a strangely sparse jungle. It had all the qualities of a jungle, just seemed… empty. There wasn’t enough trees or plants, long beams of sunlight piercing through the canopy in parts.

A while later, hearing the trickle of water nearby, he decided it was a good time to rest for a few minutes and try to relax. Just beyond a small slope he found a small stream of water running out of a gap between two rocks. He took a quick drink and then sat down on the rock, proud of himself. He felt like one of those survivors from… Unfortunately, he didn’t have a clue who he felt like, or how he knew them. Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up and he froze in place, watching with awe as a Gazelle like creature ventured from the bushes, large black eyes blinking innocently… It lowered its head to drink from the water peacefully, lapping up the cool liquid. He watched quietly, mind working frantically “What the hell is a Gazelle doing in the jungle? What the hell is a Gazelle? Why isn’t it running away from me?”

Then, almost in response to his confusion, a large crocodile waddled out of the bushes behind the Gazelle. With smooth cat like movements, which really didn’t make much sense on a crocodile, the beast snuck up behind the Gazelle, and opened its jaws wide. He had never dreamed a crocodile could be so stealthy… Suddenly, its jaws clamped down on the Gazelle’s flank and lifted the creature into the air. The Gazelle stayed stiff for a moment, still in a standing pose, as if it didn’t notice what just happened. The crocodile begun slinking back into the bushes and the Gazelle frantically started struggling and hooting, shaking its hooves out in front of it.

Ignoring its desperate pleas, Davan hopped off the rocks and set off into the jungle again, not wanting to be anywhere near such a dangerous monster. The whole thing seemed strangely surreal.

30 minutes of swift walking and anxious backward glances, Davan spotted a sign of the jungle coming to an end, quickly pushing his way out through some large bushes, out of the tree line and into a well kept field. By the looks of it, it had been ploughed recently. His heart leapt, he spotted a few people on the other side, walking along a bank rising up at the end of the field, not caring about the mud. He set off at a jog towards the other side…

He clambered up the bank, mud covering his pants and feet. The dirt trail on top of the bank extended in both directions, piercing into the jungle. Another field lay just beyond it, also ploughed. In a good mood, he decided to just go on impulse and turned left, setting off along the track. If he were correct, it would lead him towards the coast… In his journey so far, he remembered going down from the hill, then travelling up after a long while then going down again, so he should be in the valley. Looking back across the field he could see the jungle extending up the slope he had ran down earlier… Scanning around, he spotted the pillar of grey smoke wafting into the sky that he had seen from the hill originally. It was much closer now. He was making progress…

Chapter 3:
The Theory of Whaletivity


Walking through the tribal town, Davan couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. It was all very new to him. The bamboo huts, the tiki-torches, the vending machines full of something called cola. Even the lovely atmosphere and slightly sandy soil seemed slightly off. There was a lot of straw around too, the villagers seemed to really like straw. He had seen a few of them wearing straw skirts, which was odd, as they seemed to have access to much more comfortable materials, but he thought it better not to judge them. One smiling man wearing a t-shirt and goofy straw hat stumbled up to him, grinning from ear to ear. “’Ello there mate, havn’t seen you around before. Was your name?”

Davan stared at him, blankly. With a calm tone, he replied “Davan.”
The man stumbled back, exclaiming “Crikey! Really?” Davan, suddenly intrigued, asked “Hm? You recognise it?”
The man recomposed himself and shook his head replying “Nah, never heard of it. I say that to everything.”
After a short pause, Davan said slowly “…Why?”
The man stumbled back again, exclaiming “Crikey! Really? I’m not sure to be honest…”

Rather than continue the conversation, Davan simply stared at him. The odd man stared back. After about a minute, the man suddenly lost interest and stumbled away. Davan continued staring at him, watching as the man made his way out of sight through the crowd and between two huts.

He had reached the town maybe half an hour ago. He had expected a bunch of tribal warriors to stick spears in his face, instead a young girl had walked up to him and gave him a coconut, telling him he would need it. He took her word for it and kept the coconut safe. The sun was setting over the horizon and the night was alive with the voices of villagers and waves crashing on the sandy beach only half a mile away. He continued staring forward, into the street, he could see the other side of the village from here and was trying to estimate how many people lived there.

A rude voice startled him
“Hey, sh*t face”
He looked down to see an unruly looking teenager, wearing tattered jeans and a dirty black hoody and skater shoes.
He replied in his trade mark calm, lost voice, determined to convince himself that everything was normal “Yes?”
The teenager spat out “Welcome to Bob, bitc*”
“Bob?”
“The island you f*cking douchebag”
Davan stayed quiet for a moment before stating “Oh. What did I do?”
The teenager looked at him quizzically and asked “What ya mean sh*t-for-brains?”
Davan got a sinking feeling, the kind when you realise you are surrounded by morons
“Why do you keep…. Insulting me”
The teenager scoffed, sneering “What? You mean constantly calling you things like dumbf*ck?”

Another pause
“…Yes actually.”
The teenager looked silently surprised and said “Oh. You don’t like that?”
“Not particularly no…”

The boy scratched his head, ruffling his longish dirty blonde hair and said apologetically “oh… Sorry. Well ya. Welcome to Bob.”

“Thanks… How’d you know I’m new? Not much people living here or something?”

The teenager stared at Davan for a few moments, taking his own turn to pause before saying “…You’ve got no shirt, no shoes, you stink like an elephant turd and your beard is longer than your average whale. It’s safe to assume you don’t look exactly familiar to civilised society”

Davan took the teen’s words slowly and said “Oh… Well, mind giving me a hand?”
The teenager shrugged, saying, “Usually I would tell you to go to hell but you seem cool enough. Come on, I’ll show you around. Name’s Karma by the way.”
The boy held out his hand. Davan took it, shaking it firmly and saying
“Davan. Good to meet you Karma”

Things made a lot more sense with Karma explaining them. The village was relatively new, it had been founded some 30 years ago. The main commercial buildings were located around the town centre, with houses stretching out around it, housing the modest population of around 350 people. It was built on a hillside leading down towards the beach, a large temple built near the top of the slope to meet their spiritual needs, the main street lead down from its steps all the way to the start of the beach, the town centre half way down the main street. The market was held every morning in the plaza and once the days trading was done; the various merchants usually relaxed in the pub or went down to the beach. From the steps of the temple, they could see around for miles. Karma pointed out various places of interest, including a much smaller village off in the distance, a fishing village apparently, which supplied the townspeople with their main diet.

Karma finally directed him towards the pub, where they apparently had rooms for rent.
He thanked the odd young teenager and set off towards the lively building, the rumble of voices coming from within. He opened the door, exhaustion evident in his eyes, a number of people glancing at him and laughing. He ignored them, making his way to the well lit bar. The barman finished serving a young woman and then glanced at Davan, leaning on the bar. He grunted, examining him “Who the bloody ‘ell are you?”

Davan leaned on the bar as well, staring at him. He said in a long hiss “Davan Freet, I want a room, I’ll pay in the morning.”
The barman shrugged and took a key from under the table; he dropped it into his hand and grunted, “Take a shower as well, on the house. You smell like an elephant turd.”
“So I’ve heard,” Davan replied curtly, taking the key and stalking away up the stairs next to the bar, not bothering to ask where his room was. He was confident it wouldn’t be difficult.

30 minutes of searching and 8 hours of sleeping later, Davan was out walking through the crowded market, wearing strange robe like shirt. It wasn’t much, but it was better than walking around bare-chested. He still hadn’t worked out what the people used as money, so he had to steal it. Thankfully the owner of the stall was busy drawing a picture of a shark at the time and wasn’t paying attention to his wares. He had snuck out the window of his room to avoid paying the barman. Walking around in the sunlit streets and enjoying the hospitality of the villagers, Davan decided that he had misjudged Bob. Even though the people were a bit odd, they were mostly nice and there was nothing really wrong with the pleasant island. He enjoyed himself so much that he nearly forgot about what he was there for.

He had to find Muka. The name reminded him of Darkwing and honestly, was a bit depressing. As much as he wanted too, he couldn’t feel like he actually belonged at Bob. The feeling was compressed by having ripped off two of its merchants already. He felt guilty for a while, and then smoothly picked up a pair of discarded sandals he noticed on the ground, slipping them into the folds of his shirt-robe thingy. Later, he sat down on the beach and put them on, they were a bit too big, but it didn’t matter. He stretched, looking around at the people on the beach… He noticed someone who seemed slightly out of place… a young woman with a blonde ponytail and glasses, staring out to sea with a serious expression. The glasses… They didn’t belong here he thought… He looked out to sea again, trying to make sense of things… Then he noticed two long shadows looming over him…. He looked back in surprise, seeing two tall men wearing black suits. One of them saying sinisterly “Hello Davan. Welcome to Bob”

He scrambled to his feet, backing off and wishing he had a weapon… He quickly stammered out “What do you want? Who are you?”
The second man hissed “We are the sinister men. We want to welcome you to the island”
The first continued “Heh, yeah… Welcome you…”

After a short pause, both of them jumped, making Davan jump in response, the sinister men shouting “WELCOME!”

Davan flinched, slowly opening his eyes.
The sinister men’s grins disappeared and one of them grunted sourly “So what do you want here, outsider. We don’t take kindly to your folk strolling in here and abusing our hospitality”

At this stage, Davan was more confused than scared, he relaxed slightly and said slowly “uhh… do you know a guy called Muka?”

They both stared at him blankly before bursting into laughter. After a few moments, one of them managed to say “Who DOESN’T know Muka? He is the father of modern Whaletivity”

Now he was getting somewhere. He quickly pressed the subject “Can you take me too him?”
The sinister men glanced at each other and then answered “..,If that is your wish…. But don’t try anything funny. An insult to Muka is an insult to all of us….”

Without another word, the two men lead him away from the beach and up main street... Davan got that sinking feeling again, realising that his time on this island was probably coming to an unfortunate end... Nevertheless, he had to find out what to do with himself...

Chapter4: It’s logical, really.

Standing at the top of the Aztec-esque temple gave Davan a good perspective over Bob.
He could see right down the length of the town, all the way to the beach. There was an elevated square just below the temple, the square jutting out over the town, the main street curling off around it and spiralling up to the temple steps.

“Remember, we are right here. If you try anything, you’ll be dead before you know what you did wrong.” Said one of the sinister men. Davan didn’t really pay much attention; they’d been making idle threats the whole way up and it had lost all meaning by now. He simply responded with a grunt and a nod. He strode towards the small hut purposefully, pushing his way through the beaded entrance. He instantly felt uncomfortable. The air felt hot and sticky and he couldn’t see anything in the darkness.
A scratchy high pitched voice droned out “Speak your name, traveller and tell me why you are here…”
Davan blinked several times, eyes adjusting to the darkness. A feeling of uncertainty washed over him, the room seemed empty… He managed to say, “I am Dav-“ before the voice cut him off, its tone laced with annoyance “Look at me while you speak, whelp. I will not have upstarts like yourself interrupting me and not showing respect…”

He looked around again confused. The room was fairly blank, a strange couch in one side of the room, a desk by the other and a small table with a fruit bowl on it in front of him. The voice hissed again, clearly agitated “What do you think your doing?”

This time he heard it more clearly and looked down at the source, finding himself staring at the fruit bowl. It was empty except for a single pineapple. The pineapple demanded angrily “Well?!”
He stared at it some more, raising a single eyebrow. He asked, voice full of disbelief “Muka?”

The pineapple replied testily, tiny mouth barely visible half way up its brown coating “Yes?”
There was lots of questions Davan needed to ask; About Bob, about Darkwing, about what he was supposed to do. However, he could only think of one thing to say. “You’re a pineapple.”
It shook furiously, cutting him off with an angered roar “SILENCE! You are Davan Freet, yes?”
Davan nodded slowly in response, adding, “Yes, that’s me.” When Muka remained silent. It immediately replied “Then, Mr. Freet, you had better tell me what exactly you are doing on my island before I have my sinister body guards catapult you off it!”
Taking his time in coming up with a reply, he said “I came here to speak with you, uhh, oh mighty Muka. I err… seek your consul and advice…”
The pineapple remained motionless, sneering out “Oh! He wants MY advice? Tell me, why should I bestow my words upon a disrespectful whelp like yourself?”

Desperately attempting to sound sincere, Davan answered “Please, Darkwing sent me, I need-“ Muka cut him off, asking loudly in its scratchy high-pitched voice “Darkwing? Darkwing sent you here?”
“Yes! If you cou-“ Cut off once more.
“Never heard of him. What kind of stupid name is Darkwing?”
Before Davan had even opened his mouth, Muka had managed to cut him off again
“However… I deem you… worthy. You shall have my advice, oh traveller of Freet.” The pineapple paused dramatically, and then the curtain of beads behind Davan was thrown open by one of the sinister men. The man glanced around, looking shocked, then nodded to the pineapple and the two body guards unhooked some latches on the outside of the hut, pulling the whole front wall open, sun shining into the room and blinding Davan. From here, he had a spectacular view of the whole bay, the sun beginning to set in the distance.

A bell started ringing loudly from somewhere nearby, birds rising from Bob’s jungles in response. One of the sinister men motioned for him to step outside onto the porch. He followed the suited man out, watching as hundreds of people flooded up the street, dropping what they were doing and flocking to the square below the temple. The other bodyguard carried Muka’s fruit bowl out. Holding it above his head with care. He shouted loudly, calling the murmuring crowd to attention “Muka speaks! Hear his words of wisdom and rejoice!”

The air felt silent, the entire population holding their breath… Davan’s eyes were fixed on the fruit, wondering why it was being made into a public affair… Then Muka spoke, its powerful scratchy voice echoing over the darkening sky “It is unwise, to run with scissors.”

Silence remained. Davan stared on, jaw dropping open.
Someone shouted in the distance “Muka has spoken! Do not run with scissors!”
Cheers suddenly erupted from the crowd below, fire works were set off, jets of flame whooping into the sky and popping loudly. Music started playing, people were dancing; trolleys of food were rolled in, a full party kicking into action in the plaza below. The sinister man set Muka down and took up his position next to the hut, staring forward dutifully. The pineapple spoke, sounding tired and pleased “You have your advice, wanderer. Now leave.” Something snapped in Davan’s mind. He exclaimed “Oh **** this.” And took a step forward, putting some extra spring into his leg before punting the pineapple prophet away as hard as he could. His foot connected with a satisfying ‘THWACK.’
He watched it sail off into the distance, over the town and down into the main street, disappearing from view. “What the hell?!” shouted one of the sinister men, approaching him from behind and grabbing onto his shoulder. Davan twisted around, and before he knew what he was doing, he had grabbed the man’s arm above the elbow, broke his grip and thrown the hefty body guard right over him and down the steps, a series of painful cracks following. A fist lunged towards him from his other side. He easily blocked it with a flick of his arm, grabbed the man’s arm then twisted, earning a series of clicks from the strained joint as he forced the arm behind his back. He grabbed the man’s head and pulled it back, the sinister man falling to his knees and screaming in pain, the noise of the party below drowning out his horror.

Then he stopped struggling, Davan holding the limb in place, confused as to why he had suddenly become so calm… The man whispered, his tone full of fear “Whale…”
Davan swore and grunted angrily “Whale? What the hell are you talking about?”
He spoke again, louder this time “Whale!” Then it came out as a panicked shout “WHALE! WHALE INCOMING!”

The music from below suddenly cut off, the partygoers freezing and looking around. Davan did the same, confused. He released the sinister man, not really thinking about what he was doing. He stared out to sea, expecting to see some sort of tyrannical monster rising out of the waves. Screams rose into the air, some people scattering and running back down into the town, others pointing into the air in disbelief. Davan followed their eyes, trying to see what they were gesturing too… It was a whale. Tumbling through the sky, flailing around, occasionally releasing a bellowing whine. It was ridiculous, or, as he put more thought into it, perfectly logical considering where he was. Various shouts rose up from the villagers “It’s going for land!”
“Who has the predictions?”
“The Whaletivity charts are blank! This is all wrong!”
“It’s going for Port Volhume!”
More screams. The enormous aquatic mammal plummeted towards the ground, right above where he had seen smoke rising from before, the second, smaller town.

The whale zipped out of the clouds, rocketing down and disappearing into the jungle. Immediately, a huge cracking splat echoed through the air, a shockwave of dust racing across the island, ruffling Davan’s clothes slightly. He stumbled back slightly, in complete shock. A massive mushroom cloud of dust was rising above the impact zone… Down below, people stared in disbelief, others were crying. Something snapped inside Davan once more. “**** this. Where’s the pub?”


Chapter 5: Sinking like a Stone

“What’ll it be?”
Davan stared daggers at the bartender, replying coldly “Whatever has the most alcohol.”
The tall bearded man nodded, saying “Sure thing” and turning around to fiddle with an array of different drinks and bottles. Davan scanned around the room. Light, inviting music was being played from some sort of machine at the back of the pub, by a large fire built into the wall. The place was crowded, all sorts of people relaxing on the stone benches, chattering away. He recognised most of them from the square earlier, others from the beach. A small rescue party had set off into the jungle but other than that it seemed the town had apparently forgotten about the whale related catastrophe that struck the island only hours before. In fact, he hadn’t heard anything about it since the rescue team left. He studied a few of the people, noting how some of them had surprisingly modern clothes while others were wearing a tribal arrangement of furs. The clink of a glass landing in front of him informed him that his drink arrived. He turned back around, delighted, only to see a glass of golden liquid which smelt like apple juice. He asked, crest fallen “What’s this?”
The bartender replied “Apple juice.”

It took all his self-control not to flip out again. He stared at the man’s thick face and exclaimed “Apple juice! That’s the most alcoholic drink you have?
He looked surprised and put down the glass he was cleaning, replying “Sorry mate. We ran out of drink ages ago. This is all we got…”

Davan jerked his thumb in the direction of some drunken idiots, who were currently stumbling around trying to find their chairs, crashing into everyone and everything. He grunted, “Then what the hell are they drinking? Can I have some of it?”
The bartender leaned forward, resting his elbows on the bar top.
“That’s apple juice too.”
Davan raised an eyebrow; beginning to think the man was messing with him. After what he had gone through today, that was pushing the limit of his patience. He said, “If that’s apple juice, why the **** are they puking all over the floor and befriending every inanimate object they get there pissed drunk hands on?”
“Because they’re complete idiots. They don’t know there’s no alcohol in it.”
“Huh?” Davan blurted out in confusion, drawing back and scrunching up his face.

The bartender leaned back as well, folding his arms and saying, “Haven’t you noticed? They’re all ******* morons. Here, watch this.”
Then he picked up a banana and held it to his ear as if it was a phone, pretending to listen and nodding occasionally. Then he suddenly faked a shocked expression and shouted “What? The dolphins escaped from their pen and are caught in the reeds! Oh no!”

Everyone turned towards the bar, looking shocked. Then a blonde woman with glasses burst out of her chair, standing up straight. She was the same one Davan had spotted on the beach earlier. She howled out, looking both furious and heroic “Not my babies! I’m coming for you!” She sprinted across the room through the crowd and kicked the door open, charging off into the night…
Seconds later, everyone got back to what they were doing, the music started back up, the door swung closed and they all promptly forgot about her and the dolphins. Davan looked back to the bartender, who announced, “This isn’t a real banana AND we don’t even have dolphins!”

Davan narrowed his eyes, impressed and cracking a smile. His hand shot up. “Davan Freet. Good to meet you kind sir.”
The bartender grinned, shaking his hand and replying “Jan. Where’d you come from? I thought I’d never see another person with half a brain.”
Davan thought for a moment before replying, raising an eyebrow involuntarily as he did so “Er, I don’t really know… actually. Either I got really drunk and woke up here, or the dragon did it.”

Jan laughed heartily and got back to work, pulling another apple juice for one of the drunkards “Right, I won’t ask questions mate.”

Davan grinned himself, looking around. Finally, he wasn’t the stupid one. It was then he realised that he didn’t care about being lost in a strange world, or about not understanding what was going on around him, just the sinking feeling that maybe he WAS the stupid one had been the source of all his misfortune.
Life is easy when you have simple desires. He turned back to the bartender, asking, “So, where’d all the intelligent people go? Or did they become idiots?”

Jan replied, smirking and not taking his attention away from his work, “The dragon did it. There were about 8 of us, intelligent people. Well, I’m the sucker who stayed, so I’m about half way…”
Davan paused, engaging in a serious conversation for the first time on Bob, “What happened?”
After a long moment, Jan responded, “Told you. Dragon did it. Essentially he stopped for a drink, leaving this doorway open. They saw what was happening to Paradise, that’s what we called it then, and saw their ticket out of there and jumped ship.”
Davan nodded, asking cautiously “…and they left you behind?” Somewhere in his head, he felt a pang of familiarity, having left something behind, someone… He wasn’t sure though.

Jan chuckled and said “Nah, they asked me to come. Weren’t happy about leaving without me.”
He looked up at Davan’s confused expression and replied defensively “What? I was making a mint off these idiots here, I didn’t want to lose out on business like that.” He added quickly “It seemed like a good idea at the time…”
Davan smiled understandingly, “Are you sure there isn’t a way to re-open the doorway thing?”

Jan glanced at him and replied “The door? It’s still open; I’m surprised you never noticed it. It’s just behind port Volhume, I can take you there if you’d like.”
Davan was confused, he asked “Huh? If it’s still open why are you still here?”

Jan shrugged. “I never got around to leaving?”

============The Curse of Night===============

It’s cold. Very cold.
Davan hated cold weather.
It’s late. They’re late. Everything is late.
Davan always got scared when they were late.

It’s a place. A familiar one. A bad place.
Davan really hated that place.
This place hurts. Things hurt. They hurt.
They always hurt him. But they weren’t the ones who were late.

It’s getting dark. So dark
Davan liked the night.
There were things in the dark
Davan did not like the things in the night

It’s very quiet.
Davan was alone, the rest were gone.
It’s not usually quiet
It was this time, because they were late.

There was a noise in the dark
Davan looked around, hoping to see it.
It was the crunching of gravel. Tyres
They drove a car with big tyres. Wheels.

It’s late. They’re late- IT is late
Davan didn’t like when they were late, but liked the treats he got to make up for it.

They were there, but it was here
They didn’t get here in time.

IT IS HERE
It got here first.
[I]What did IT want?
It wanted Davan
The dark was no more. There was light.
Davan was scared of the light.

There was noise. There was pain, the flash of light, the flash of death. It burned. Everything burned.
Davan asked IT why it was here
I’m here to kill you. Davan.
And then the flash tore through his chest like a blazing sword.



Chapter Six: Panic button

Davan burst out of his bed with a howl of pain and terror. He threw back the sheets, drenched in sweat. “Where was he?” His chest burned. He looked down, writhing in pain. A deep gash ran up the length of his body, right through his hip, up to his shoulder, blood drenching his ripped shirt. He screamed again, falling off his bed and landing onto the floor, hitting his head painfully.

He lay on the wooden boards, releasing shaky whimpers, curled in a foetal position. He lay there for hours. “Had nobody heard?” His head hurt. He concentrated on his breathing, having returned it to normal, unable to repress the occasionally shake.
A ray of sun eventually disturbed him, slicing in through the blinds of the small room. He grunted, stretching out and pushing himself up onto his knees. He placed his hand on his chest, running his hand down from his shoulder to hip, across the dirty fabric of his shirt. No gash. No rip. No blood. “Was it even there at all? It must have been, I felt it, but…” It made no sense. “It was just a dream” he told himself, standing up and stretching, pulling down the blinds, the light blinding him. The world of Bob was as it was the night before, completely f**ked up. There was a pack of angry birds assaulting a man running down the street past the inn. One of them had a baseball bat in it's beak.

He soaked in the spectacle. Bob was an interesting place. The sort of world that could be considered as a heaven or a hell depending on your point of view. To Davan it was the latter. The whole thing repulsed him. The maddness of it all seemed to envoke an instinctual hatred inside him. His head ached. He sat back down on his bed trying to think of his home. Back when they were running from the shadow creatures, he used to try relive memories of his youth to pass the time. He pondered for a while, but couldn't recall a single vivid memory. He knew it was there, he just bring up any particular moment. He cursed and stood up, sweeping from the room and slamming the door.

Davan grunted, shouldering the ruck sack again and continuing. He followed after Jan listening to him as he pointed out various land marks. There was the original structure the towns people had built (Jan didn't remember the story of how the town was founded, oddly enough.) He showed him the playing field where the towns people regularly made up nonsensical games to play (as they passed, several men and women wearing cardboard suits were running around throwing tea pots at each other.) Most interesting to Davan however was the local McDonalds. He didn't bother asking Jan to explain that one.

They left the town, following a trail by the coast, leading to the port Volhum. They talked mostly about the people who left Bob when the door way was first created. As they neared the port town, traffic on the trail became heavier and heavier, islanders running past with various materials or supplies. They passed close enough to the port to see the crater left by the Whale impact, confirming that it had actually happened. Several collumns of smoke indicated the rescue teams hadn't fully quenched the fires started by the dissaster.

After maybe 4 hours of walking and running out of things to say, Jan slowed to a halt and turned to Davan, beckoning him closer and pointing onward. They were standing on the lip of a large rocky trench gouged through the earth, about 24 metres deep. A metre or so down from where they stood, a thin rope bridge was stretched across the trench. To call it a bridge was optimistic. It consisted of 3 long cables stretched in a triangle. One rope to stand on, the other two to hold onto. The ropes were bound to form what looked like a glorified hamock.

“You're kidding me.”
“Only way across I'm afraid. Its not so bad. But it'll only take one of us at a time. There's a cave just beyond the bridge. The doorway is inside it.”

They looked at each other for a moment before Jan said “I'll go first and I'll wait for you on the otherside of the doorway. The cave isn't the sort of place you want to spend extended amounts of time hanging around.”

He stepped out on the rope bridge, the ropes taking his weight precariously. Davan watched, tense, until Jan reached the other side and quickly moved out of sight into the bushes without looking back.

Davan watched for a few moments then stepped onto the bridge himself. The bridge wobbled, making Davan start, clutching onto the hand guides desperately. He eventually collected himself and took another step out. Why again was Jan heading on without him? Now that he thought about it, the whole thing seemed so suspicious. How did he know there even was a 'doorway?' He kept himself focused on the other side of the bridge, taking step after step, trying not to pay attention to the wobbling or the scratching groans of the posts the bridge was tied to. Too late, now he was thinking about them. His knees started shaking momentarily. Why was he even with Jan? Darkwing had told him to find Muka, the pineapple. Who he had punted out into the town. He should have gone looking for him. A deep rattling hiss suddenly interupted Davan's thoughts.

His blood ran cold. He looked over his shoulder, trembling. There was the crocodile. The stiff looking monster from his frst day on Bob. It's eyes stared daggers at him. It hissed again, moving forward as smooth as a cat. Its claws curled around the rope bridge. “Oh my god its going to try cross after me” Davan let out a shout and threw himself forward towards the end of the bridge, scrambling along it desperately, the bridge swaying everywhere. The crocodile, set off by his sudden movement, sprang after him, leaping into the hamock of ropes and getting tangled in them. Davan barely threw himself onto the bank on the opposite side of the trench, the posts supporting the bridge straining to hold the beasts weight. He desperately pulled off his ruck sack, rifling through it for his knife. He looked up; the crocodile had found its balance and was progressing across the bridge, somehow holding onto the two hand guides with it's claws and shimmying along with a malevolent grin. He finally found his blade, pulling it out and swiping it into the ropes. Turning out to be made of rubber, the blade bounced off the rope harmlessly. Davan swore and threw the useless thing at the crocodile. It paused for a moment, snapping the knife out of the air and devouring it hungrily. Its tounge licked over its teeth and the monster moved forward with renewed vigor. Davan swore again loudly “Aw f**k it!” backing away. He had to think fast, this thing was going to rip him to shreds.

Suddenly a loud crack sounded from the other side of the trench. The posts ripped from the ground on the other side of the bridge. The whole thing collapsed, swinging forward into the wall of the trench, taking the oblivious monster with it.

Davan let out his breath, unable to believe his luck and fortune. Then the monster scaled the edge of the lip, walking vertically up the rocky wall and up over the edge, staring at Davan once more. It let out another rattling hiss and lunged forward. Davan screamed, reaching into his bag and pulling out the first thing to come to his hand. The coconut given to him by the girl when he first arrived. He bludgeoned it off the top of the crocodiles maw, which suddenly exploded. The creatures head splattered, sending unrecognisable bloody shrapnel all over the grass. Davan stood froze solid, holding the blood soaked coconut in one hand, staring horrified at the crocodiles remains. The impact had blown the top of it's head off, leaving the bottom of its jaw and tongue exposed in front of him. It suddenly toppled over onto its back, making an indistinguishable gurgle. The feet twitched occasionally. Davan took a number of steps back, mouth hanging open wide.

He turned and pushed through the bushes, returning the bloodied coconut into his bag, thanking the mysterious girl who had given him it. He quickly found the cave. A wide gash in the rock, like the maw of some huge monster. (For some reason all he could think about was terrifying monsters)

He walked into it without pausing, slowing to let his eyes adjust to the dark. A chill fell over his body. He couldn't tell if it was his body relaxing after the crocodile incident or something else. After a minute or two of walking he knew it wasnt to do with the crocodile. Everything about this place shook him to the core. It was just a plain damp cave but for some reason, every shape, every stalactite made him him shiver. Something inside him could tell him that something was wrong. As the cave became darker and darker, he took out a match to give himself some light. The little flame flashed into life. A sentence scrawled across every conceivable space in sight suddenly burned into his mind. “WHY HAVE I BEEN FORSAKEN?”

It was repeated over and over and over. Scratched into this wall. Painted in blood on this rock, burned onto the roof in ash. Davan looked around franticly, heart pounding like a hammer on an anvil. He suddenly slipped, skidding down a rocky slope he hadn't spotted, plummeting downwards.

Suddenly the slope gave a way and he was in free fall. Then the cave walls dissappeared. It was just Davan tumbling through empty space. Above himself he could see the opening he'd fallen from becoming smaller and smaller, surrendering him to blackness, until he tumbled over and spotted the red scar below him. Like a gash in fabric of the air itself, it burned and seethed.

Davan plummted into it. His ears were filled at the same time with laughter and terror. He couldn't tell if it was his or someone elses. Everything burned and for a second that felt like an aeon, Davan felt like he belonged.


Chapter Seven: Event Horizon



With a horrific crunch, Davan sprawled out across the ground, screaming in pain. His senses were completely dulled, he lay there, confused and alone. Eventually he stirred, opening his eyes. He was lying face down in hard dirt. Small stones and bits of plants lay scattered around him, bathed in a blood red glow. He twisted, looking back over his shoulder. A thin red crack hung in the air behind him, insubstantial, like a mirrage. It seemed to hiss and burn the very air around him. He flinched away from it, crawling a few steps before staggering to his feet. His entire body ached, he felt sick, his head pounded and his stomach churned. A breif glance around told him he was in a forest. His vision blurred, but he could make out the vague spiky shapes of trees.

He picked up his pace in to a brisk walk, stumbling over small trenches and roots, breathing heavily. He kept moving until he felt his legs were going to give a way. Coughing, he leaned against one of the tree's for support. At the touch, his blood instantly ran cold. He stepped back, shocked, the blurriness draining from his eyes. His mouth fell a gape as he stared at it's crinkled, blackened bark. He stretched out his hand, running it down the bark, feeling it's texture, evey little crack, the patches of soften'd wood. He had never once come across an object so realised, so detailed and intricate. Looking around and becoming more aware of his surroundings, he saw the same detail everywhere. Rocks cast aside, moss creeping up their bodies. Gnarled roots snaking through the cracked dirt. Fallen branches creating little arches on the path. He just stood there, marvelling at the complexity of his surroundings. He had never paid so much attention to the objects around him before. Had he really never noticed how breath taking it was?

He let out a laugh, smiling to himself. A deep, excited voice responded "Like me?"
It seemed to reverberate off the trees. Davan's face immediately fell. He dropped his stance, wary, glancing around trying to spot the owner's voice. The voice continued, it's source moving somewhere infront of him "Are you... what..."

The tree's directly a head of him suddenly seemed to shift, he saw eyes in their bark, arms and claws in their limbs.

He stood back, shaken. The voice's source moved rapidly, sounding less excited "Or maybe, you're one of them..."
He blinked, the tree's ahead of them were as they were. Just blackened bare trees. Then a rock on the ground blinked back at him.

He gave a yelp and turned, beginning to run. The voice screeched after him "Where are YOU going?" Anger tipped it's tone. Davan just ran faster, the burning ache in his limbs subsiding.

He could feel the presence gaining on him, sweeping through the trees, it's hate threatening to bowl him over. He ran faster, terrified, when suddenly he felt the presence dissipate, the voice sing songing behind him "You'll beee baaack, the last one came back too!"

He paused for just a moment glancing over his shoulder. The last one? Was it talking about Jan? Jan said he'd meet him on the other side of the portal, but he was nowhere to be seen back by the crack.

The voice hummed in the distance "I hope you're stronger. We need more... stronger ones."

Davan swore and kept running. Somewhere deep inside, a flashing memory told him about a hobo with a shotgun and the sound of pounding feet and screeching monsters. The memory told him to run and keep running forever, to never look back. A gutteral howl screeched out behind him. The voice called out behind him "Oh, I better be going, they're back, I'll see you soooon though."
Davan kept running, feet pounding off the dirt. The voice drowned away to nothing, and suddenly there was silence. He couldn't hear his feet, or even his own breathing, just nothingness. He was about to stop, when suddenly he crashed head first into a wall.

An enourmous rushing of wind filled Davan's ears, followed by a huge pop, and he was suddenly expelled onto a patch of grass. He swore loudly. The grass was green and full of life, he wasn't in the forest anymore. He grunted and got to his feet, he was just at the edge of the tree line. It was dark though, he couldn't see much ahead of him, but he was aware that the ground sloped downward and the gentle breeze told him he was high up. He looked behind himself. The forest looked green and full of life. He considered wether or not that chase through the blackened trees and the voice had all been a dream, but at this point he realised it was just as likely real as it were imagined. He laughed for a moment. "Maybe nothing is real anymore."

[C S]

Scary. it's like i am legend...

[Doc 42]

Thanks CS

Third chapter up.

[Doc 42]

4th chapter up, change of setting.

[Doc 42]

Fifth chapter.
introduction of a new character.

[TyrannoTitan]

Very awesome...

Though I'm kinda confused which way you're ganna take this story...First its a horror/apocalypse story, and now its dealing with dimensions...Very interested to see how this will turn out.

By the way, that shadow creature design is amazing. Just the methods to distract them...instead of hurting them with light...very creative.

[Doc 42]

Yet another chapter, this one was a bit haphazard as I edited bits into it over a while. didnt write it as one, so Im sorry if the style seems to randomly change as it goes.

[Doc 42]

New chapter put in place. Story main is almost in motion, you could describe what's happened so far as the chain up to the first drop of a roller coaster
Wither its a fun and exciting Roller coaster has yet to be determined.

[Evil Eye]

Just noticed this... I like it, its very... what's the word I'm thinking of... Can I get back to you on this?

[Doc 42]

Thanks for the comment
Another chapter posted.
This should make up for the boredom induced in the last few chapters.

[TyrannoTitan]

Have been following this for a while, just haven't posted a comment in a while >.<

Once again, very strange, and very interesting. Hopefully the next chapters are posted faster, I'd really like to see how this continues...

[The Kingpin]

the story is mesmerising. gripping. it's rare that i stumble across amateur fiction with this kind of....for lack of a better term, stick-to-it-ness. reading it just made me drop everything else i was doing and read it. outstanding writing. the last time i came across anything this hard to stop reading was when i read a book by my favourite author, a professional writer with several best-sellers. i'm confident you have a future as a Writer, Doc. looking forward to the next chapter.

[Doc 42]

Next chapter up.
Sadly, it made the first post too big so I had to edit into the third post in the topic. Shouldn't be too hard to spot.

[TyrannoTitan]

Fan-freaking-tastic chapter. Fanfic gets more and more awesome with each chapter. Keep up the good work.

[Evil Eye]

This is amazing! I couldn't stop reading, bring 'em on

[Doc 42]

Just posted a new chapter, kinda like the first real chapter, if you will

I'm very dissappointed in it and found it hard to write, but if I don't post it now I'll never get it done. Hopefully I can make up for it with future ones. I think its largely based on how I create chapters, basically slicing up the main plot it into bite sized chunks. I'll probably change this so that the pacing is better and to prevent chapters from being overly boring or drawn out.

[TyrannoTitan]

Very cool still, explains a lot of things, makes the general picture clearer.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

[C S]

Doc, This chapter was flipping awsome, if it was a dissapointment, then I want to see a chapter that makes you proud because it will drop a bomb shell on the site =D