A Dark Road - Chapter 1

"No, no, NO!" I yell at no one in particular as my car sputters and begins to slow to a crawl. I knew passing up that last gas station was incredibly dangerous with how low my gas was showing, the warning light had been blinking for the past twenty minutes or so. I honestly didn't have any choice, my inability to handle money has left me in a position where literally every penny in my gas tank was needed to get home. Perhaps If I had swallowed my pride and begged my parents for money I wouldn't be stuck ten miles away from my house on the creepiest stretch of highway in the county.

I rummaged through my glove-compartment looking for the flashlight I keep in there for situations not unlike these. After finding it, I can't help muttering to myself about the unfairness of the world and asking whoever might be listening out there why they can't help but pick on me. After steeling my resolve with a few more choice curses I open the door and step into the night.

With a pleasant few beeps I pocket the keys to my Nissan, the used car isn't at fault for this travesty of a night. The poor car had been nothing but kind to me in the few months I bought it off an old lot in town. Knowing it is nice and locked at least assuages my fears, if only in the most superficial of ways. Before setting off down the road I click the flashlight into life and take a quick look around me. Old Sara Jane road is notorious for being unsettling at night, all the local ghost stories talk about women on the road or dark evil things within the woods. Though I am not a superstitious man, on a night like this where the trees loom so tall and close to the road, where the moon seems to hidden itself in the sky as if it too was frightened by the terrors of the woods, even I might start believing in things that go bump in the night.

I give my cheeks a quick slap and run a hand through my beard to attempt to calm the nerves my inner monologue is dredging to the surface. I wish I could say it worked like a charm, but to be honest the hair on the back of my neck just wouldn't settle down. Giving up on any attempt to instill myself with courage, I attempt to get it over with and set off on a brisk walk down the side of the road. The crunching of leaves adds to the overly tense air that surrounds my journey. Even thirty minutes into my walk the original feeling of dread just won't leave me, as contradictory as it may be the forest seems both eerily silent and deafening from my position. Though I can't make out the usual sounds of a forest at night, the endless shuffling of an ecosystem in it's nocturnal cycle, nevertheless the air feels heavy with pent up energy and the weight of the silence presses on my ears more than a roaring crowd of a stadium.

At the time this was rationalized away by the paranoia of a young man in a dark world with naught but a flashlight in his hand. Though If I were to look back with the information I would gain not long from then, I would put more credence in that creeping dread. Human instincts are rarely wrong when they kick into high gear, perhaps long in the past we knew things that would later be forgotten about what inhabits the night. These days we are either too stupid or too ignorant to see what is right in front of us at times.

It must of been another thirty minutes, only a single hour into my journey home, that my foreboding walk was interrupted by a echoing crash of limbs from deeper within the forest on my left. An obviously visible shiver started at the base of my spine and worked it's way up my body. I was rooted in place, my fight or flight failing me such a tense moment, my heart was rampaging inside of me attempting to smash it's way out, and my mind was working a million miles an hour conjuring horrible images to what might have caused the sound. My indecision lasted for what felt like hours, but in reality was only seconds, before it was shattered by a young girl's scream that ripped me from where I stood.

For normal people a crash deep in dark woods followed by a girl's scream, especially after stories of ghosts and monsters in the woods, might prompt a rational person to run as far away as possible. Add on my own body screaming at me to turn around, perhaps knowing something I didn't about the thing I was running towards, and I wouldn't have held anyone against that decision. But as my legs pumped against the ground, dodging over roots and fallen branches, my flashlight letting out a beam of light attempting to fend off the overwhelming darkness, fear began to fall into the background of my mind.

In my youth, I was always a good kid if a little weird. I often played pretend, dreaming of being a hero that could save people and fight evil-doers. While my friends played on game-boys or watched television, I traveled up the slope of Mount Doom and threw the ring into the fire or stopped the evil Emperor from conquering the galaxy for the Sith. This was brought on by an un-loving home where my father was to drunk to care how I spend my days and my mother was to busy working to keep me in school, all this along with the poverty of my home left only the theater of the mind for me to play on.

As I grew older and wiser my games of heroism in the fantasy worlds of my youth faded into the background as real world concerns took hold. Things like leaving my garbage-bin of a home and furthering my education replaced the adventures of youth. Though the fantasy was gone, the dream wasn't. I worked two jobs to pay for the tuition of the local college and though the quality of the education might not have been high, I attempted to study medicine to save people. I think this dream of saving people is what caused me to rush headlong into those woods, towards the mysterious crashing and the cause of my mounting terror.

My flashlight beam caught the pale skin of a teenage girl moments before we smashed into each other and tumbled to the ground in a storm of expletives from the both of us. I only had mere moments to get my thoughts together before I was wrenched off the ground and I felt the wind whipping past me. The moment I got my head back together I hear a massive crash right behind the two of us. The forest floor where we had both smashed into each other had been turned to mulch by a large shape in the darkness the remains of my flashlight broken into too many pieces to count by it's massive weight. This is the creature for which caused my body to burn with terror.

It took me another moment to realize that the teenage girl was not only lifting and carrying me, a 200 pound grown man of over 6 feet in height, under her right arm alone, but also that the smokey black tendrils that seemed to be sprouting from her well tailored, if dirty, suit were swinging us through the trees away from the monster pursuing us. "Brace yourself!" I heard her yell only moments before the heavily wooded area gave way to a clearing and with both went tumbling to the ground. I rolled many times over the asphalt before I managed to come to a stop. With my clothes beginning to fall into tatters at this point, I drag myself to my feet to see the girl already up and standing few feet to my right.

Honestly, though a strange time surely to think it, she was beautiful to me at that moment. The moon had finally come out of it's hiding place behind the clouds above. The somber light from above outlined ger pale skin that was so striking against her jet-black hair and matching suit. Her well proportioned body seemed to cloak itself in shadow before splitting off into shadowy clones of herself and spread out around her with fists raised. At the time I had left the world of reality and joined the realm of madness, surely. The spell was only broken when she cast her blue eyes in my direction and letting out the best mixture between a yell and a whisper I have ever heard, "Run you idiot!"

Childhood flights of heroism aside, I tried to take her advice there. I turned down the road and attempted to break into a sprint, as if I could simply outrun this waking nightmare that I have found myself stuck in. Each step seemed like eternity at that moment, funny how adrenaline does such strange things to your perception of self. I don't know if the creature from the woods could sense my fear, or perhaps the image of someone running from it was exactly what it was looking for in it's prey but as it burst from the woods in a torrent of branches and dirt it was upon me in an instant.

I felt an arm, so warm for but a moment, against my back before I was once again flung forward by the mystery woman in an attempt to save a stranger who was supposed to be her hero. The asphalt of the road has become all to familiar as I slide a small ways from her shove, not to say I was ungrateful. With the crashing of wood on the far side of the forest marking the beast's pounce across the entire road, I turn to help my twice savior to her feat.

The visage I was struck with then was one that will stick with me forever.

The once beautiful girl was torn asunder, from the waist up her left side seemed to be eviscerated by the beasts passing. She had fallen to her knees before slumping over, only the dullest of lights still left in her eyes as the blood began to drain from her massive wound. I couldn't even move as tears began swarming my eyes and running down my mud-caked cheeks. I couldn't even comprehend someone else dying in my stead, it is so far removed from anything a normal person will ever experience in their life time.

I fell to my knees to catch her before she fell to the ground and as her blood ran over my right arm I felt a small handful of coins be placed in my palm, if not a strange enough sensation, when the white catlike creature popped up on the quickly dying girl's shoulder I was certain that I had descended into madness. This was certainly confirmed when It began speaking to me, "The girl is dead, Puchuu. If you don't want that to be a waste you will have to take her place."

Blinded by my tears I didn't understand the small creature as it spoke. I instead choked out what I could through the emotions, "W-we have to save her. I would do anything to save her." Whether sparked by my words or by the creature starting the magic I felt something akin to lightning course through me as if to burn away all that I was. The flames were replaced by rippling pain and the cracking of bones as I grew smaller then before, the girl I once held began to tower over me.

Words whose meaning was lost on me in the transformation left my lips, and were underscored by the smashing of wood as the monster had finally returned and leaped forth.

"Protector of the weak and heroes alike! Defender of all, White Bishop!"

After those words were spoken I felt like a gate was unlocked inside me, and a vast ocean of energy was available to me for use in ways I didn't fully understand yet. Despite my incomplete knowledge I once again spoke out of instinct, "Ward; Cylpeus!"

After a reverberating crash shook the ground I sat on, I was astonished to still be alive. I opened my new eyes for the first time to see the once dark night bathed in the glow of a golden dome that stretched over me. I could see the monster had been rebuffed by the shield and was having a hard time coming back together to assault me once again.

Before I could get myself back together the small cat-like creature, who sometime in the transformation made his way to my shoulder instead, began to speak once again. "I knew you were worth the risk, Puchuu! Your magical talent is unlike any I have seen in a very long time indeed. Turn your power on the monstrosity and it won't last but moments, Puchuu." Despite my thankfulness to the creature for saving my life, I had a favor I must try to repay before turning to the monster outside the shield.

I layed the mysterious girl down, amazed at how much smaller I had grown in comparison to her, before looking at her and casting another spell upon myself, "Sight; Verus." Though surprised for a moment, I quickly grew accustomed to my eyes as they perceived the magic radiating off the teenage girl. I could see that not only was she a being fully made of magic, but I saw it being snuffed out akin to a candle.

I almost fell upon myself in despair, as even if I healed the damage to her body her soul was all but gone. The image of her cold dying eyes was too much and in a desperate grab at whatever hope I could find, I began channeling a spell without resolution. Digging deep inside myself I found an image of a distant possibility. In whatever changes that were done to me, there was a chance to separate body and soul. Perhaps If I could recreate that for this girl, she might still live.

As soon as the thought occurred to me two things happened. Firstly, The spells name came to mind so the choice to channel it had become mine to choose. Secondly, the circular pendant upon my neck began to glow and I was given rapid glimpses of the future, ones where I stood beside the girl though it was shrouded in darkness and defying physics i seemed to stand with only a single leg.

My fate had already been decided as soon as the possibility presented itself, the premonitions did not even begin to stop the words leaving my lips.

"Miracle; Anastasis!"

As the creature smashed into the shield above me I knew it would not last long. This was followed by a burning sensation that filled my entire body, not unlike the one from my original transformation as the massive mana pool inside my body was being siphoned out of every single pore to fuel the spell. The energy manifested as a large golden runic circle upon the ground surrounding the two of us, inscribed with glyphs whose meaning was far too obscure for me to understand.

"What have you done, Puchuu?!?! You are going to waste all your energy and potential on that dead girl?! If you do this we are all going to die to the monster. You can't fight it after this. Stop this madness."

As the last of the magic exited the body so did the burning that had run rampant throughout my body. Though I had thought the worst was over the fire once again started up, this time centralized in my right leg, and I could feel a piece of magic not meant to be removed torn asunder and fed into my spell. Looking down on my leg with my golden eyes and magic aided vision, I could see the price I had payed for this stranger. The magic in my leg had been mutilated and it flared and twisted inside the flesh of my leg disturbed by the spell beyond my ability.

As my consciousness began to fade with the last of my magic, so too did the shield above me. As fractures spider-webbed throughout the shield above me, my last sight was a small purple gem float down from the air into my clasped hands. The last thing I felt was a strong arm pick me up, and the wind to once again rush across my face. The last thing I heard was an unholy roar of anger from far behind me.