Writing post 8
Title: The Company I Keep
Series: The City of the Damned (Original Series)
Rating: PG
Word count: 1066
Soft humming swayed throughout the club, interlacing with the music that thrummed from all the speakers, mixing and dancing with the pulsing lights. Everyone within the building knew the source of the faint sound, though no one dared cast their gaze on the person for too long. Fear kept them from doing so, fear of what he may do. Even if he did not need to even look at them to do it.
Oblivious and yet not to it all, Akula calmly sipped his drink, drawing shapeless scribbles in the air with one finger, faint trails of incandescent energy forming the absent patterns. It was almost as if he were drawing with a light pen. It was the closest thing he had to a nervous habit, but it was the one thing that always put people around him at ease. If he was doodling in the air it meant his mind wasn’t focused on other things. Things that could harm them.
But his obvious content in his little world would be interrupted by a woman, one whom felt brave enough to confront the beast that sat hunched over the bar. She knew his torments well, though they’d not manifested greatly as of yet for her. She would not let herself fall into the gripping fear other people had, even if what he did still made her stomach turn with the fear he could induce. But she wanted to confront him. She wanted to confront the center point of the Hell that gripped this city.
“Hmmmm?~” A Cheshire cat grin spread across his face as the girl sat down next to him, his drawings ceased and a hand waved through the patterns to wipe them away.
“Why?” The heartbeat of every person within hearing range skipped a beat upon hearing the single word. They all braced for what would come next, as if fearing that the wrath of God would be brought down upon them all.
“Why what?~”
“Why do you do these things to everyone here?”
“You really want to know?” His voice seemed to echo and overlay itself as he spoke, twisting and contorting his words.
She swallowed hard hearing his voice sound like that, wondering now what she‘d gotten herself into. But she would not back down. Not yet. “Yes.”
If at all possible, Akula’s grin only seemed to grow; the tip of his index finger glowed faintly and he tapped her forehead. She was instantly frozen in place, a confused and surprised expression plastered on her features.
When the world came back into focus, she found herself standing in the middle of nothing but emptiness. There were things about here, she could sense it, but she could not see it. Her ears were assaulted with thousands of sounds, there were things she could not see rustling about around her, jostling for the best position. It became obvious to her that they could see her, but she could not see them. She squinted, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the overbearing blackness that hid her surroundings from her.
She instantly wished she hadn’t. With her vision adjusted and ambient lightly suddenly coming from no where, she could see the throngs that stood before her. They were not human. They could only be described as a horde of creatures. They were covered in skin, in fur, in scales. Some seemed almost to ooze, some crawled, some stood, some floated. Some did not even have discernable heads from their bodies.
“Welcome to the void. The world between the worlds, the place that is not a place. The realm where nightmares dwell.” Her skin crawled as she felt Akula’s breath against her ear, his voice whispering the words almost daintily. She spun about and took a few steps back, glaring angrily at him for bringing her to such a place.
Akula only grinned, his scarred eye seeming to glean in the ambient light. “You wanted to know why? I will tell you why.” His grin disappeared and turned into a scowl as he took a step forward. “To teach those who have wronged me the meaning of fear. To make them understand what it is like to have everything taken from you. To spend a decade with nothing but the pain, and the horror of your own personal hell, played over and over.”
She straightened some at his words. She could tell it was no lie. There was definable pain in the undertones of his voice. And a conviction that said he felt that his actions were just. She watched as his right hand came up to cover the left side of his face, his fingers covering the scar that everyone knew him so well for. As he did this, the creatures standing behind her threw their arms, limbs, whatever appendages they had into the arm, moaning and wailing at their master’s plight, understanding and accepting his pain and his word, seeing him as their one and only god.
It was a haunting and bone chilling chorus that rang out along with his words. “My life was taken from me. I was left to dwell in my pain forever by the people of this town. I intend to make them know what it feels like. I intend to do so with these creatures laid out before us. My loyal army of abominations, creatures that creation itself rejected and left away to fester in their pain, hated and despised by all. I am them, and them are me. We are fear, and we intend to impart a lesson upon the wretches of that hellhole.”
His hand came away from his face, his arms held above his head as a pair of blue wings materialized out of his back, made from his psionic energy, seemingly spanning on into eternity. His legions cheered and roared now, their voices drowning out any and all other noise until Akula spoke again.
“This is the company I keep. My army of nightmares to exact my vengeance on the scum who took my life away.”
Everything suddenly faded from view and she was back in the club, sitting at the bar. Akula no longer sat next to her. The girl’s head twisted about to look for him, only catching a glimpse of his silver hair as he slid out through the exit.
A single tear ran down her cheek as he disappeared.
Series: The City of the Damned (Original Series)
Rating: PG
Word count: 1066
Soft humming swayed throughout the club, interlacing with the music that thrummed from all the speakers, mixing and dancing with the pulsing lights. Everyone within the building knew the source of the faint sound, though no one dared cast their gaze on the person for too long. Fear kept them from doing so, fear of what he may do. Even if he did not need to even look at them to do it.
Oblivious and yet not to it all, Akula calmly sipped his drink, drawing shapeless scribbles in the air with one finger, faint trails of incandescent energy forming the absent patterns. It was almost as if he were drawing with a light pen. It was the closest thing he had to a nervous habit, but it was the one thing that always put people around him at ease. If he was doodling in the air it meant his mind wasn’t focused on other things. Things that could harm them.
But his obvious content in his little world would be interrupted by a woman, one whom felt brave enough to confront the beast that sat hunched over the bar. She knew his torments well, though they’d not manifested greatly as of yet for her. She would not let herself fall into the gripping fear other people had, even if what he did still made her stomach turn with the fear he could induce. But she wanted to confront him. She wanted to confront the center point of the Hell that gripped this city.
“Hmmmm?~” A Cheshire cat grin spread across his face as the girl sat down next to him, his drawings ceased and a hand waved through the patterns to wipe them away.
“Why?” The heartbeat of every person within hearing range skipped a beat upon hearing the single word. They all braced for what would come next, as if fearing that the wrath of God would be brought down upon them all.
“Why what?~”
“Why do you do these things to everyone here?”
“You really want to know?” His voice seemed to echo and overlay itself as he spoke, twisting and contorting his words.
She swallowed hard hearing his voice sound like that, wondering now what she‘d gotten herself into. But she would not back down. Not yet. “Yes.”
If at all possible, Akula’s grin only seemed to grow; the tip of his index finger glowed faintly and he tapped her forehead. She was instantly frozen in place, a confused and surprised expression plastered on her features.
When the world came back into focus, she found herself standing in the middle of nothing but emptiness. There were things about here, she could sense it, but she could not see it. Her ears were assaulted with thousands of sounds, there were things she could not see rustling about around her, jostling for the best position. It became obvious to her that they could see her, but she could not see them. She squinted, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the overbearing blackness that hid her surroundings from her.
She instantly wished she hadn’t. With her vision adjusted and ambient lightly suddenly coming from no where, she could see the throngs that stood before her. They were not human. They could only be described as a horde of creatures. They were covered in skin, in fur, in scales. Some seemed almost to ooze, some crawled, some stood, some floated. Some did not even have discernable heads from their bodies.
“Welcome to the void. The world between the worlds, the place that is not a place. The realm where nightmares dwell.” Her skin crawled as she felt Akula’s breath against her ear, his voice whispering the words almost daintily. She spun about and took a few steps back, glaring angrily at him for bringing her to such a place.
Akula only grinned, his scarred eye seeming to glean in the ambient light. “You wanted to know why? I will tell you why.” His grin disappeared and turned into a scowl as he took a step forward. “To teach those who have wronged me the meaning of fear. To make them understand what it is like to have everything taken from you. To spend a decade with nothing but the pain, and the horror of your own personal hell, played over and over.”
She straightened some at his words. She could tell it was no lie. There was definable pain in the undertones of his voice. And a conviction that said he felt that his actions were just. She watched as his right hand came up to cover the left side of his face, his fingers covering the scar that everyone knew him so well for. As he did this, the creatures standing behind her threw their arms, limbs, whatever appendages they had into the arm, moaning and wailing at their master’s plight, understanding and accepting his pain and his word, seeing him as their one and only god.
It was a haunting and bone chilling chorus that rang out along with his words. “My life was taken from me. I was left to dwell in my pain forever by the people of this town. I intend to make them know what it feels like. I intend to do so with these creatures laid out before us. My loyal army of abominations, creatures that creation itself rejected and left away to fester in their pain, hated and despised by all. I am them, and them are me. We are fear, and we intend to impart a lesson upon the wretches of that hellhole.”
His hand came away from his face, his arms held above his head as a pair of blue wings materialized out of his back, made from his psionic energy, seemingly spanning on into eternity. His legions cheered and roared now, their voices drowning out any and all other noise until Akula spoke again.
“This is the company I keep. My army of nightmares to exact my vengeance on the scum who took my life away.”
Everything suddenly faded from view and she was back in the club, sitting at the bar. Akula no longer sat next to her. The girl’s head twisted about to look for him, only catching a glimpse of his silver hair as he slid out through the exit.
A single tear ran down her cheek as he disappeared.