Post by lloyd on Jun 18, 2015 11:49:14 GMT -5
As he slipped into unconsciousness, the black mist filling up his lungs, he thought, Is this how it ends? Do we get slaughtered like cattle in the first few steps into the forest?
It was dark, for a time. Then, his awareness came to, and he was on a street in Blackdawn. Yes, yes he was! There was the three-story guard post on the corner before the library.
Something was off, though. He looked around at the bustling street, the people moving about their business, and realized he was not quite there. As they moved by, the faces blurred, and he realized he saw no color in this world. Everything was muted, as if everything he heard was happening behind a thick curtain. He started moving along the street.
Soon, something stood out. More importantly, someone. It was a man in tatters, wrinkled and mad. The reason he stood out was his face was clearly visible, as if not affected by the same phenomenon that prevented Bilkin fom seeing people's faces. He stood at a corner, looking at all the people, fidgeting, muttering under his breath, but what was unnerving in this was the fact that directly above him, a hole into a void that Bilkin's mind could not quite even picture or process, hovered in place, and tendrils reached down at the man's head and were stabbed into it. Occasionally he'd hold his head as if trying to protect it in his raving madness, but his hands would merely pass right through them.
Horrified, Bilkin moved towards the man, and yelled "Free yourself! It's feeding on you!"
To his surprise, the man stopped and focused. He looked around, and responded out loud "I-- I know... He... He wants my mind..." A few people paused in front of him, one tossing a copper on the ground, and continued on their way. "Don't worry. I'll help!" Bilkin said. He raised his hands, and remembered the words and the energy flow to his Witch Bolt. He invoked His name, and directed the familiar current... But there was none. As soon as he invoked the name, the world resonated for a moment, and the people stopped moving. The old man looked horrified, and stammered "Wh-what... Wh-w-why would you... No..."
The void rotated, and expanded. It moved to face Bilkin, the tendrils digging deeper into the man's head, and in the void, Bilkin saw a moving darkness... Shifting, slithering, floating... The movement was not comprehensible... And then a glowing green eye appeared in it, staring directly at Bilkin. He felt his brain heating up, his thoughts turning feverish, his mind melting as He probed through it ruthlessly. Suddenly, thousands of tendrils shot from the void, spiraling, twisting, reaching for Bilkin to feed. "Sylar help me..." he managed to utter, and then heard a scream. The old man was up on his feet, the tendrils digging into his brain ever more, writhing, and he was screaming in rage, defiance, and desperation. He raised his hands, and a coruscating array of energy shot at the tendrils going towards Bilkin. "Go! Flee!" the madman yelled, and Bilkin saw dozens of people on the ground, covered in energy wounds from the blast. There was now panic on the streets, and the man heedlessly kept the tendrils at bay with more destructive magic, screaming the entire time, and more people fell in the terrible salvo of magic. Bilkin saw armored figures charging through the panicking flow of people towards the man, turned, and willed himself away from this horror, his eyes closed like a child's during a nightmare. Sound disappeared, the people were gone, and so was the void.
Only a journal lay in the corner where the man was, its pages flipping in the breeze, the blood stains from his demise already fading into nothing as it completed its disguise...
... A young woman faded into visibility, picked up the journal, flipped through some of its blank pages, and continued to the library. She closed the journal, the trap inside not sprung, and faded out again...
It was dark, for a time. Then, his awareness came to, and he was on a street in Blackdawn. Yes, yes he was! There was the three-story guard post on the corner before the library.
Something was off, though. He looked around at the bustling street, the people moving about their business, and realized he was not quite there. As they moved by, the faces blurred, and he realized he saw no color in this world. Everything was muted, as if everything he heard was happening behind a thick curtain. He started moving along the street.
Soon, something stood out. More importantly, someone. It was a man in tatters, wrinkled and mad. The reason he stood out was his face was clearly visible, as if not affected by the same phenomenon that prevented Bilkin fom seeing people's faces. He stood at a corner, looking at all the people, fidgeting, muttering under his breath, but what was unnerving in this was the fact that directly above him, a hole into a void that Bilkin's mind could not quite even picture or process, hovered in place, and tendrils reached down at the man's head and were stabbed into it. Occasionally he'd hold his head as if trying to protect it in his raving madness, but his hands would merely pass right through them.
Horrified, Bilkin moved towards the man, and yelled "Free yourself! It's feeding on you!"
To his surprise, the man stopped and focused. He looked around, and responded out loud "I-- I know... He... He wants my mind..." A few people paused in front of him, one tossing a copper on the ground, and continued on their way. "Don't worry. I'll help!" Bilkin said. He raised his hands, and remembered the words and the energy flow to his Witch Bolt. He invoked His name, and directed the familiar current... But there was none. As soon as he invoked the name, the world resonated for a moment, and the people stopped moving. The old man looked horrified, and stammered "Wh-what... Wh-w-why would you... No..."
The void rotated, and expanded. It moved to face Bilkin, the tendrils digging deeper into the man's head, and in the void, Bilkin saw a moving darkness... Shifting, slithering, floating... The movement was not comprehensible... And then a glowing green eye appeared in it, staring directly at Bilkin. He felt his brain heating up, his thoughts turning feverish, his mind melting as He probed through it ruthlessly. Suddenly, thousands of tendrils shot from the void, spiraling, twisting, reaching for Bilkin to feed. "Sylar help me..." he managed to utter, and then heard a scream. The old man was up on his feet, the tendrils digging into his brain ever more, writhing, and he was screaming in rage, defiance, and desperation. He raised his hands, and a coruscating array of energy shot at the tendrils going towards Bilkin. "Go! Flee!" the madman yelled, and Bilkin saw dozens of people on the ground, covered in energy wounds from the blast. There was now panic on the streets, and the man heedlessly kept the tendrils at bay with more destructive magic, screaming the entire time, and more people fell in the terrible salvo of magic. Bilkin saw armored figures charging through the panicking flow of people towards the man, turned, and willed himself away from this horror, his eyes closed like a child's during a nightmare. Sound disappeared, the people were gone, and so was the void.
Only a journal lay in the corner where the man was, its pages flipping in the breeze, the blood stains from his demise already fading into nothing as it completed its disguise...
... A young woman faded into visibility, picked up the journal, flipped through some of its blank pages, and continued to the library. She closed the journal, the trap inside not sprung, and faded out again...
