《The Fine and Wholesome Activity of Chasing Shadows》Advent 4 - Part 7 - ???'s Account
Advertisement
Once again, I felt a familiar pleasure followed by an enormous torrent of information. This time, it surged through my entire body and threatened to tear me apart. They were human souls after all, there was no way I could handle that much of a shock. I blacked out.
When I awoke, a question sprung into my mind.
Who am I?
To my surprise, I had no answer. When I thought about it, a number of names and faces flashed through my mind but none of them seemed to be ‘me’.
I sat up. This information was disturbing but I didn’t feel the need to panic. For a while, I just thought about what to do next. Some demons attacked me but they died instantly. It was barely worth mentioning. Eventually, I realized that sitting wouldn’t give me a purpose, so I decided to search the city.
All I found were more demons. I killed any that I saw, whether they attacked me or not. Eating them felt right but it was hardly a purpose. Somehow, I felt like there was something more important for me to do.
I ended up wandering into the castle garden. A man stood at the entrance, even though the metal gate was already broken beyond repair. Or maybe he stood there because it was broken? It was unclear.
“A-A demon!” He announced through chattering teeth. “Stay away! I’m not going to ask twice.”
What would he do? I was curious and so I ignored his warning.
As I approached the gate, the man ran further into the garden. I was only slightly disappointed. There was a clear trail to the castle and so I followed it. I could smell a lot of people hiding inside those stone walls. They could be eaten just like demons, so maybe that was why I came here?
Advertisement
When I reached the entrance to the castle, two people stood in my way. There was the man from earlier, but now he had a woman leaning on his shoulder. I stepped forward and they flinched. Was I really that scary? I had no idea what I looked like.
Curious, I looked down to examine my hands. Actually, they weren’t so much hands as large, black claws. My entire body seemed to be made of some kind of shadowy miasma. Even other demons didn’t look like this.
Huh? Was I a demon? I had just sort of assumed that I was. It seemed to make sense. Yea, I’m a demon. I nodded, ignoring the terrified couple.
“Hey…do you recognize us?” The woman asked wearily.
“What!? Why would that thing know us?” The man shot back.
I looked carefully at the woman. She returned my gaze with unflinching, blue eyes. Suddenly, I was overcome with a powerful feeling. A sparse set of memories flashed through my mind. Apparently she had been injured earlier. I clutched my aching head, somehow I felt like I had a purpose. I took another step forward.
“Wait…There’s no way, right?” The man breathed. “You’re kidding…”
As I approached, the man helped his partner sit. He still glared at me warily, like a mother bird standing over her eggs.
“Is it really you?” He growled. “And what happened to Sera?”
I had nothing to say to that, so I continued my advance in silence.
“He finally made it back, just let him do what he needs to.” The woman sighed.
Once I stood over her, a thought occurred.
How do I help her? A tidal-wave of information flowed into me. I placed my hand on her head and began a chant. Blood began to drip out from my arm. It pooled around her wound and then suddenly vanished in a fine red mist. I removed my hand, the strong feeling driving me forward had disappeared.
Advertisement
The woman stood up and examined herself. “…I don’t believe it, it’s like I was never injured. How did you-?”
She was cut off by a scream. To my surprise, it was mine. My skin ruptured and blood began pouring out from the wounds that covered my body. I fell over in shock. This horrible pain only lasted for a few minutes but it felt like hours. Meanwhile, the human pair stood over me helplessly. Their worried faces were my only comfort.
Despite this horrible ordeal, I didn’t look any worse by the end of it. My wounds healed as quickly as they had appeared. Once my condition stabilized, I was exhausted but uninjured.
Why did that happen? I asked myself. Another memory flared to life like a candle inside of my head. I could see myself instructing a demon to use a simplistic chant. The test subject performed the chant and with the intended result. Then, it experienced the same torture that I had just felt. The only difference was that the demon did not survive.
So, I shouldn’t use sorcery. I concluded.
“A-Are you ok?” The woman asked.
I nodded and rose to my feet. Once again, I was without a purpose. I looked out at the burning city and felt some lingering attachment. It wasn’t nearly as strong as my previous desire but at least I had somewhere to go.
“Where are you going?” The man asked me as I walked away.
I didn’t feel a need to reply.
There were still a lot of demons running wild in the city. It took the entire night to track them all down. Of course, finding them was the difficult part. None of them could stand up to me in a fight. When the sun rose over this devastated city, I had already moved on.
For a while, I drifted aimlessly through the wilderness. There wasn’t anything I wanted to do, so I did nothing. It wasn’t until days later that I felt another desire. One morning, new memories bubbled up to my mind’s surface. They chronicled the life of a single person.
At first, I was confused. These memories served no purpose so I could easily let them fade away. However, I felt a strange desire to hold on to them. More than that, I wanted to share them. These memories were proof that this person had lived. They didn’t want to simply vanish without a trace.
I ran to the first town that I could find. After consulting my memories for some appropriate clothes to hide my figure, I set out to gather some listeners. In the end, there were only a few people willing to hear my story. Even so, when I finished my tale, I felt satisfied.
Every once in a while, new memories would surface. Each one compelled me to speak. Eventually, these episodes became more and more frequent. Sometimes, I would feel doubt. Was this really what I should be doing? All of the people narrating my stories had different goals and each was equally important and equally worthless to me.
A lot of time passed and I never really found an answer. Just like the people in my stories, I simply allowed my desires to lead me down one path of many. At the very least, it has been a satisfying life.
Advertisement
- In Serial87 Chapters
The Scourged Earth
Derrick is no ones hero. He is barely dealing with his mundane life when all of humanity is forced to confront the extraordinary. Overnight, all across the world, mysterious machines appear. They offer people the chance to purchase almost anything they can think of. Weapons, medicine and even super human abilities are offered, seemingly for free. But following these machines, come the Scourges. The most dangerous creatures, diseases and machines that infest the universe. Ever growing and battling, these empires of horror and hunger will overhelm and devour the Earth and its inhabitants. Unless Derrick and humanity can stand against all the horrors that battle between the stars. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My first Story, an attempt to turn the standard fantasy litrpg apocalypse into a Sci Fi. Trying for a slower build to power for the MC, so don't expect him to have cheat powers. I delight in helpful crticism so no holding back plz.
8 187 - In Serial14 Chapters
A Sky of Star and Strength
Jake was just an intelligent kid living a pretty regular life in Mill Creek, Washington. Then the apocalypse happens. Now with his Dad out of the country and totally in yet out his element, this is his story. My take on a system apocalypse based around "life force" as a currency. The main character will have a special power (as will most of the other characters) and be rather OP, you have been warned. Like many of the authors on this site I have no formal writing experience so writing tips and grammar corrections are much appreciated :)
8 142 - In Serial15 Chapters
The GTA VRMMO
Instead of Fantasy and Sci-fi, I went with a Vrmmo theme that would actually be relevant, something along the lines of GTA 5 but Vrmmo, and better....The main character is the creator of the game, but when he is imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit his computer throws him into the game world that he helped create. He takes the place of his crime-lord counterpart, but he soon learns that it wasn't just him that was thrown into the game, the entire city was!If you like Mature fictions with : Slavery, Violence, Gore, Sex, Language Problems, A Harem, Crime-lords, Sociopaths, and a healthy serving of pure unadulterated bad-ass for your main character, step on up, because this is the book for you...
8 185 - In Serial61 Chapters
I Am the "God of Death", Whatever That Means. (Original)
The original to I Am the "God of Death", Whatever That Means. ------------Disclaimer----------- I DO NOT OWN THE SONGS USED IN THIS STORY. THE SONGS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE SONG WRITERS. The song writers will be listed with the song that is used.
8 190 - In Serial59 Chapters
The voice they never heard
All the words that never left my throat nor my head the way I wished they did.mention of sh, ED, depression, anxietyDisclaimer: I am not a poet. I focus on writing so most of these don't follow the traditional rules of poetry. impressive rankings#2 in poesia on 18/12/2021#1 poembook on 11/12/2021#2 in spokenwords on 06/12/2021
8 191 - In Serial92 Chapters
Taken. Jeff The Killer X Reader. Dark Story By RoverRose
After a mentally deranged killer had entered your house, and you had to hide for your life, your friends all started to be taken one by one while this killer began to grow a sickening and twisted obsession over you. Who are they? And what do they want with you? Jeff the killer x reader dark story!Note: not my story but the author gave me permission to post it.
8 184