An Era Of Shadow Part 1: Awakening

[Orombur]

((For the past six years this story has been written, trashed, and rewritten. This is what it is currently. Enjoy.))

Prologue

The sun was directly ahead, beating everything below it with a brutal heat. A small lizard dared to run from the shade that the bleached horse bones above it gave. It yelped as the heat reached its scales. The reptile scurried back to the bones.

The wasteland itself was secluded. No one had ever known that it could have existed on the east coast of the United States. The reach of the top of the trees extended over the outskirts of it, hiding that portion from the satellites. It was completely surrounded by thick forests and wet marshland, forming a massive barrier. Not even a determined camper could have found it. But someone did.

A lone building stood among the rock and dirt, seeming an act of defiance for its location. It was made of dry wood, yet refused to let the heat ignite it. Termite holes riddled the building. It was no bigger than a large shack.

Things were different inside the building, or, more exactly, under the building. A huge pit had been dug for the basement. High-tech machinery was everywhere, and there seemed to be an array of people. Almost all of them were running from room to room, save the few who stood at the machines. All sorts of numbers and percentages flew an eerie orange color, giving the entire building a strange atmosphere.

"The time is almost here," Kaimon said. He stood in the center of everything, watching over it all. Kaimon had graying-brown hair and intense blue eyes, containing a look of excitement, but also command. Few people dared to stare into them for long. He was average height and relatively skinny.

He walked over to one of the machines and looked at the percentage at the top. A giant 98 flashed in the orange color.

Kaimon almost shouted with joy, but contained himself around those working for him. Everything he had been waiting for was about to happen. All of the time he had invested here was going to pay off. He would rule the world. He thought back to when he had first found out about this location.

It was just a rumor circling around the Internet. Something was supposed to be buried in the only wasteland on the east coast. Something of un-imaginable power. Kaimon ignored it at first. A wasteland on the East coast? That was impossible. Rumors like that went around all the time. That was all before desire set in.

Kaimon's son, Jake, had been discussing the rumor with his friend Connor. Connor was a historian, so he would know about anything of the sort. He didn't think it was true, but mentioned something about a small amount of evidence to support it. That was all that Kaimon needed to hear. He checked the rumor again and saw that whatever was buried was supposed to be extremely powerful.

After more research Kaimon discovered that the wasteland actually did exsist, and was in the absolute perfect location, where no one would have expected it to be. It was in New England, even in his home state of Connecticut.

It didn't take long for Kaimon to gather up a team and go to the location. All of them shared his goal. He had been surprised at the turnout at first. Eventually, they set out for the location. Once there they started digging and found what they were looking for.

A giant 100 flashed across the screen. Kaimon smiled.

One of the others came running over. Kaimon recognized him as Todd, one of the new recruits.

"Kaimon sir," Todd said. "He's awake."

"I can see that Todd," Kaimon said. He was disgusted at hearing his own name, and the disgust showed on his face. Todd shrank back a bit. Hearing it said reminded him of how strange a name it was, and how his parents must have been freaks to name him that.

Kaimon took off running to the storage room. The others saw him and followed.

The storage room was always kept dimly lit. A giant glass tube stood in the center. Kaimon couldn't see into it, but he didn't need to. "Kill the lights!" he barked at one of the nearest men. The lights went out, and darkness filled the room.

[Orombur]

Prologue (Continued)

Glowing red eyes pierced the darkness. There was a sound of breaking glass, and Kaimon felt a stinging sensation up and down his arm.

Someone turned the lights back on and Kaimon could see the horrific scene that was before him.

Glass shards were everywhere. One of the men lay dead on the ground. The others were running from what they knew lay below. Only Kaimon and Todd remained standing where they where; one from excitement, the other from fear.

A giant arm reached out of the shadows. Kaimon could see the claws on the end of it. The arm grabbed Todd and retracted back into the shadows.

A few moments later Todd's body was thrown back into the light. There was a large gash on his chest. It was still bright red.

Kaimon stood unfazed. He had expected death. "Demon!" he called into the shadows. The red eyes turned and focused on him. "I am your new master! It was I who awoke you. Join me now, and this world will be ours!"

The demon walked into the dim light. It was huge, seeming to stand at least twenty-five feet off the ground, if not more. Its skin was a dark gray color. Huge arms with razor-sharp claws at the ends seemed to be pointed at Kaimon. There were two horns on the top of its head. They reminded Kaimon of a mountain goat.

"Foolish human," the demon said in a gravely voice that sent a shiver up Kaimon's spine. "I am the master." It grabbed Kaimon and lifted him into the air. He was frozen from fear now.

A giant claw moved towards Kaimon's neck. He could still see the red marks on it from Todd. Without realizing it, Kaimon closed his eyes.

[Orombur]

Prologue (Continued)

The demon threw the man to the ground. He couldn't stand the humans. They were all the same, all thinking they could control him.

He looked up and saw that the ceiling was extremely low. There was no way he could just walk out of here right now. The demon sighed and raised his hand. The ceiling felt cold to the touch. A small spark flew from his hand. It hit the ceiling and an explosion followed.

The demon jumped out of the hole. He could feel the heat coming from the desert but he ignored it. There was the far off sound of water, and he started walking toward it.

It took a few minutes for a new sound to appear. He had only heard it once before but he recognized it. Humans.

The demon stopped walking. He raised his hand into the air once more. This time a huge amount of sparks shot forward and grouped together.

The demon brought his hand down and pushed one claw into the sparks. He pulled it up through all of them and a tear appeared. It got bigger and quickly grew large enough for someone to walk through. This was exactly what he wanted.

As the rift got bigger he could see his army on the other side. The Rietures were easy to manipulate. They were strong as well.

The portal eventually got big enough for his army to march through. They came slowly at first, but soon poured out.

The Rietures looked as if they had come from Hell. Their flesh was a sickly gray color and seemed to be decaying. Huge fangs resided in their mouths, and claws that were inches long lay on the end of their arms. They all had wings, but very rarely took to the skies. Their eyes were a yellowish color.

"My brothers," the demon called out once enough had come through the portal. "I have been awakened! It is time for us to take what belongs to us! No one shall stand in our way this time! Not the humans, or the Montucleans! This time, victory is ours!"

The Rietures cheered. They ran through the forest, following the sign of civilization. The demon smiled.

((That's the prologue! Any comments are appreciated.))

[Mena]

I enjoyed reading it and will be waiting for your next installment.

[Eliphas]

Demon in America. I like it.

[The Timeless One]

((That's what you get, you silly Americans! CANADA SHALL PREVAIL!

I like it. One thing that seems sorta...weird, though, if you'll permit me saying, is the whole "demon comes and destroys everyone". It was sorta like "Lights go off. Everyone dies". Was wondering if you could maybe detail what the humans are doing about it.

But I love it! Demon's attacking America...AHH!!!))

[Pround Canadian]

Amen to Drall!

I enjoyed the read, but there is 1 thing that bothered me. Each paragraph seems to be o ne liners. You should try to put flesh to these paragraphs by adding more details, but they are still simple and you do not get lost in them. So, I am not sure if this is a good thing or not.

Overal, it was a great read, can't wait for futur installments.

[Orombur]

((Thanks for the comments everyone. Sorry about the wait. Part 1 is the one that I have the most trouble with. >.<

Drall: Not sure if you mean what's going on in the room just before the demon breaks out or what the population is doing as a large. If it is the latter, that will be revealed -very- shortly.

Proud: I tried to flesh it out as well I could without making it a boring read. If you guys think it could use some more detail I can add it in.

The next addition is coming soon. I promise!))

[The Timeless One]

((I mean when the demon breaks out, everyone dies. It just seems sorta weird that they all die so suddenly, you know? No bloodcurdling screams, no rushing in the other direction, just silent killing))

[Orombur]

((And here's the next part. I'm gonna try to stop procrastinating now and get a steady pace of posts for this.))

Chapter One

The path twisted on through the dense woods. Nate only came down this way if he had something on his mind. There was a lot to think about thanks to some recent events.

One of Nate's best friends, Will, had disappeared the other day. It wasn't like him to leave somewhere without telling anyone. The local police had no leads and those who knew him hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. It seemed as though he had just vanished off of the face of the Earth.

Then there was the rumor. Nate had heard it earlier in school. Apparently, one of the students on campus had seen something that they described as 'a creature straight from Hell.'

He had just disregarded it at first. Most of the students on campus were on some kind of drug; it seemed like your typical hallucination. But then more people started seeing something. It wasn't long before there were sightings across the whole state.

It was around that time that Will had vanished. Nate saw a possible connection between the two events, but decided that it was just a coincidence.

Nate came across the small lake that signaled the path was almost to an end. He paused and looked at his reflection in the water.

He was a bit shorter than he would have liked to be, but was still just under six feet. Most people told him that he was too scrawny, and that he needed to work out more.

Nate had brown hair that was at his shoulders and looked like it had never seen a comb in his lifetime. He was still occasionally taunted about having a large nose. Finally, he stared into his own intense blue eyes. A shiver ran down his spine.

It took Nate a second to realize that the shiver wasn't because of looking at his reflection. He couldn't shake the feeling he had then. He was being watched.

There was a sign of movement to his right. Nate quickly turned in that direction. What he saw shook him to his core. The rumors were true.

Something that he could only describe as a demon stood about fifty feet away in the woods. Just staring at it almost made him throw up. It seemed to be decomposing where it stood.

Nate decided that the best thing he could do at that time was to run. He was fast, and he hoped that would be enough. When he tried to run, he found that he couldn't.

Nate looked down at his legs. A ring of what looked like darkness was wrapped around his legs, keeping him from moving.

He was sure of one thing: he was going to die here.

[Pround Canadian]

You see, in this chapter, the short paragraphs seemed to work better. Because of the simple and straight sentences, the sorrow seems bigger in Nate.

[Orombur]

((Here's the next part. Note: when you see three ~'s at the beginning of a post, it means the viewpoint character has been changed.))

~~~

The Marine was home. He had missed everything here. The way the woods looked, the smell of fresh air, and most of all, the lack of dead bodies littering the ground. Yes, that was definitely his favorite thing about his home.

Joe had joined the Marines straight out of high school. The United States had ended the conflict in Iraq by then, but he joined right at the start of a new war. He was plunged into the middle of a conflict with Iran.

That was back in 2013. Two years ago. Those two years had felt like an eternity. He had killed more people than he could count and had seen even more of his comrades die. After one year of the blood-fest all of his excitement and energy was gone. The only thing keeping him alive was his will to live.

Finally, the military had let him return to his home. Joe hadn't told anyone that he was coming back. He wanted to surprise everyone.

After asking around, Joe had found himself on the college campus that his friend Nate was currently attending.

"Hey," Joe called out to one of the people walking by. "Have you seen Nate Alvarado?"

"He left about an hour ago," the passerby said. He sounded like he was stoned. "Said somethin' about taking a walk, collectin' his thoughts. Can't say I blame him. His friend Will vanished. Probably dead."

"Thanks," Joe turned to walk away, then turned back again. "By the way, you should lay off the drugs."

The man snorted. "Whatever man." His tone suddenly became serious. "You're in demon country now, soldier." He nearly spat the last word. "They ain't like nothing you fought before." The stone laughed and walked away.

"Wonderful people here," Joe muttered under his breath. He knew where Nate would be if he needed to think about something. That lake was practically Joe's second home when he was deciding to join the Marines. It wasn't that far away. He decided to walk there.

The Marine stood out like a sore thumb on this campus. He was what most people would describe as a mountain man. Joe was taller than a lot of people, over six feet tall, and wider than most too. However, most of his weight was made up in muscle.

He had the crew cut that came with being a Marine and light brown eyes. Joe was still wearing his uniform, so it as easy to identify him as a soldier.

Joe and Will had never been friends, but they had known each other. He no longer mourned for the dead, in fact, in some cases, he envied them. Their battles were over while his were still just beginning.

Those words had never rang truer than when Joe turned on the path in the woods. He saw the lake, Nate, and some sort of demon. The demon was closing the distance between it and Nate, and he was too far away to make a difference in the outcome.

That wouldn't stop him from trying. The demon looked like it could easily tear him in half, which meant Nate was done for. Joe had only one chance.

"Hey you!" The demon paused for a moment and looked at Joe, who was already charging at it. "Yeah, spawn of Satan over there! How about something that's more of a challenge?"

"Not a chance!" The other voice rang out loudly. The low pitch made it sound threatening and commanding at the same time. Joe swore he could see the demon shudder. "I'll deal with this one!"

A spear of what seemed to be a solid form of light shot out of the woods at the demon and caught it in the head. It fell to the ground, dead. A yellow pus-like liquid poured from the wound.

Another demon stepped toward Nate and Joe from the direction the spear had flown from. This one seemed to be the exact opposite of the other one.

While the first demon was taller than Joe, this one only came up to his stomach. It's skin had an orange hue to it, and it's eyes were pitch black. It had no nose whatsoever and a short tail.

"Who-who or what are you?" Nate recovered from what Joe guessed was shock and questioned the new demon. Joe still had his guard up and was ready to fight if it came down to that.

"I am Vellindar, and what your people would call a General for the Montucleans." The demon nodded its head slightly. It then pointed at Joe. "What were you thinking? Attacking a Rieture while unarmed is one of the stupidest things I've seen a human do!"

"Hold on a minute," Joe said. "You're the 'General' of, something called the Montucleans. It doesn't look like you're going to attack us, so I'm going to ask a few questions. What exactly are the Montucleans?"

Vellindar let out an irritated sigh. "What do you mean by that question? You should know who we are. Unless your race has forgotten that we saved you from extinction. It can't be helped either way. Follow me."

"It would be easier if you got rid of this thing around my legs," Nate said. Vellindar sighed again.

"What thing?" The General looked at Nate's legs. "Oh, that. That's a Rieture technique."

"Can you get rid of it or not?" Joe asked. He didn't like Vellindar at all.

Vellindar glared at the Marine. "Of course I can." He pointed at the ring of darkness, and it disappeared. "There. Now let's go."

Joe walked over to Nate. "What do you think? Should we follow?"

Nate shrugged. "You saw what it did to the other thing. I really don't think it would be a good idea to piss this thing off."

Joe bowed his head. "This isn't exactly the welcoming I as hoping for." They both laughed.

"What are you waiting for," Vellindar called back. "Let's go!"

[Orombur]

Announcement

First off, the reason for no new updates is because I'm still deciding on if I should change one of the major events. My decision shall be, hopefully, made soon and I'll get back to a good pace.

This is the main part that I want people to read. From today to next Sunday, for any review I get of this, I want whoever reviewed it to include at the end of their post which story on site they think should be getting more reads and reviews, -other than this one.-

I shall take the time during some point in the week to read the story you have recommended and leave constructive comments for the author. I also encourage other authors on the site to do this. The best way to get more people to read and review your story is to read and review there's.

[Orombur]

Another Message

Hey anyone who may be reading this. As of right now, I have decided to discontinue this. I've got absolutely no ideas on where to go right now, so I'm gonna take a break from this and write up the story that I actually have plenty of ideas for before I lose them. You can expect to see that some time shortly.