Heroes and Villains, Season Two

[spideyfan914]

INTO THE TRUE SOCIETY

A wickedly beautiful Socreress. A large hairy Tarantula. A ferocious demonic Nosferatu. A hulking rotting Zombie. A swift tricky Goblin. Each one after our blood. But where did they come from? And why are they here?

Now: the continuation of Heroes and Villains, and the origin of Phantom revealed at last.

Note: Please refrain from posting in this thread. All comments, questions, etc. should be posted in the comments thread. Thank you!

[spideyfan914]

Episode One: DEALINGS WITH THE PAST

It’s been two weeks now. School was shut down to give us time to mourn for the losses, to heal the wounds, and to rebuild. And the secret was out, now. Enough people had seen Phantom and Reaper that it was not just a legend anymore. It was real and everybody knew about it. What they couldn’t figure out was whether Phantom was on their side....
I didn’t talk to Shawn in those entire two weeks. I tried to several times, but he wouldn’t pick up his phone. I don’t know why.
I did talk more with Rose, though. Nick’s been giving her a lot of problems lately, trying to get back together with her. I myself am a bit confused about what she wants.
I gave Doug the whole brief, too. He was pretty freaked out, but I went to his place three nights in a row to help him control it. Now, he spends his nights hiding out and waiting for the sun to rise. At least it gives his human half the proper sleep.
Blake’s funeral was several days after his death. The coffin was empty, but we went through the ceremony anyway. I cried all day.
Tomorrow, school will start up again, and we will be made to go through with all the regular routines again, as if nothing ever happened. The end of the year’s been extended a bit, so we won’t be out ‘til late June. It’s still May.
---
“How’ve you been holding up?”
“Could be better,” I truthfully admitted.
“It will pass.”
“He never really leaves, you know....”
“I know, but the pain lessens.”
She doesn’t get it.
“Have you managed to talk with Shawn yet?”
“Nope. He’s not answering his phone. It’s confusing, I guess.... What with.... you know....”
“Well, you’ll get to see him tomorrow for sure. You still sit next to him, I presume.”
“And you? Any luck with Nick?”
“God! He won’t let up!” Rose replied. “I’m beginning to really hate him....”
“He’ll get over it.”
“I’m hoping to get away from him this summer. Go somewhere he can’t find me.”
“Sounds good.”
“Wanna come with me?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
“Yeah, me and my folks always go away during the summer and me and my sister are both entitled to bring one friend.”
“Where you going?”
“Don’t know yet. In light of everything that happened recently, my parents are letting me choose.”
“Does that help with the pain?”
“No.”
There was silence for a few moments. Then I had to ask.
“Have you still been having the dreams?”
Suddenly, the door opened up. We were in Rose’s living room. Her parents were out for the night. This was her sister coming in through the living room.
“Hey, Rose, Mom just called. She’s gonna be home in a few minutes.”
“What? She said eleven!”
“It is eleven!”
“Oh, ****! Jake, you have to go.”
“What? Why?” I was taken aback.
“They said no friends tonight. They don’t know you’re here.”
“Oh....”
“Thanks for the tip, Abby,” Rose said to her sister.
Abby held out her hand and smirked. Rose grunted.
“Fine! Here!” Rose gave Abby five dollars out of her pocket and Abby danced up the stairs.
“What was that about?”
“She always makes me tip her or else she spills.”
“So, I gotta go then?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’ll see you in school, ‘kay?”
“’Kay.”
I went out the door. My house was two blocks down, not too far.
I started walking and thinking. Blake was dead. He was killed by Doug’s scythe. No, wasn’t angry at Doug. It was really Zamxus who killed him, after all. Still, it did make for awkwardness.
And he wasn’t coming back. I kept hoping he would, hoping that somehow Blake would just pop up. There was no body. Of course, that was because his Wraith form disintegrated. No, he wasn’t coming back.
I kept hoping that I would just wake up and find out that it was all a dream. That none of this had even happened. But it wasn’t a dream. It was real. And somehow, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the worst was yet to come....
“What are you doing?”
I turned around. The streets were empty, aside from the occasional speeding car. The scare after what happened at the school caused most people to stay indoors after dark. But someone else was there, now. A kid who looked about 19, with black hair and green eyes, tall and skinny, and wearing a shirt which said “TO READ UNEVALUATED”.
“Um, what?” I asked.
“I said, what are you doing?”
“I’m.... walking home.... Why?”
“Don’t you know that you shouldn’t be out after dark?”
“There’s no curfew. It’s not illegal. People just choose to stay in out of fear.”
“And what? You’re not afraid?” His face was completely emotionless. It was actually quite frustrating.
“Who are you?” I finally asked.
“Name’s Jonathan. And you?”
“Jake.”
“Well, Jake, I suggest you speed up. There are some strange things that happen after dark, like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Trust me: I know.”
“Do you really?” Jake walked toward me, but he was looking past me. “I’ve heard stories about this neighborhood. Are you from the stories?”
He kept walking right past me, and I turned to him, but his back was facing me now. He was walking away.
“Wait a minute – if it’s so dangerous, then why are out this late?”
“Business, Jake. Business.” He turned the corner.
I blinked. Then I sped up and hurried into my house.
---
Third period. Creative Writing. Something I’ve noticed about this class: everyone’s in it. Myself, Shawn, Zamxus, Doug, Nick, Rose, even Barney Katcher. And it was also the class with a dead teacher....
The bell rang to start the class. The Assistant Principal was there as always. “Good morning, kids. I hope you managed to tie the loose ends in your weeks off.” No one responded. “Um.... Well, anyway, we’ve got your new teacher today. I introduce: Mr. D. M. Fangye.”
Mr. Fangye walked in and waved, smiling a goofy smile. I wasn’t paying attention, though. I was looking toward Shawn, trying to figure out how to start the conversation.
“So, um, be good to him, and, um, I’ll let him speak now....” The Assistant Principal stepped aside.
“Good morning, class!” Mr. Fangye said. “Now, I know you’ve all been going through some troubling times lately, but I hope we can all move on and make the most of our month remaining.”
Shawn was listening attentively. Or at least, he looked like he was. He could’ve just as easily been thinking about Phantom or something.
Nick raised his hand. “Hey, A.P., why are we back in school when half the student body was slaughtered just two weeks ago?”
The Assistant Principal ignored the question. “We’ve also got a new student, today. Here he is: Jonathan Cradle.”
I snapped to attention as the new kid walked into the room. He was – the same guy I met yesterday. He looked at me and raised one eyebrow.
“And, um, I guess that’s it,” the A.P. said, “so, um, I guess I’ll leave now....”
The A.P. left the room as Mr. Fangye and Jonathan stood up in front.
“Um, Jonathan, I can see there’s an open seat in the back. You can go sit there.”
Jonathan looked in the back at the seat next to Barney Katcher. Then he looked in my direction. “Actually, I’ve got bad vision and broke my glasses this morning. Could I sit over there, next to that guy, instead?” He pointed at Shawn.
“Sure, why not?”
Jonathan smiled as he took the seat, diagonally of me, and Mr. Fangye started talking about vocab or something.
“Hey, neighbor,” Jonathan whispered to Shawn, holding out his hand. Shawn looked at it as if trying to figure out what it was.
“Um.... hi....” They shook.
“So, is this class boring or what?”
“Lately, it’s been pretty interesting....” Shawn joked. Reaper had attacked during third period.
“Shawn, can you.... come by after school?” I finally whispered. He turned to me.
“Yeah, okay.... Been trying to figure out a way to talk to you....”
“You didn’t answer my calls....”
“I didn’t know what to say....”
Jonathan looked at me, and then at Shawn, and then at me, wondering what we were talking about.
“Hey, are you guys, like, gay with each other or something?”
Shawn rolled his eyes and looked back at him. “No.”
Jonathan shrugged and they both turned back to the front. I guess he’s not 19....

[spideyfan914]

Episode Two: THE HURTS OF HEROISM

“So.... You’re Phantom....”
Shawn nodded.
“How long?”
“As long as I can remember.... I was, like, eight or something when I got my powers....”
“How?”
He sighed. “Nouda.”
“Then you’re.... a member?”
“No. Not anymore. It’s a stretch to even say I was back then. I was a kid, I couldn’t make my own decisions.”
“Your parents.”
“Yeah, they’re members.”
“So did they....?”
“They volunteered me, yeah.”
“But why you? Why a kid?”
“I don’t remember – it’s all hazy – too long ago. But I’m guessing that it’s easier to control a child than an adult....”
I laughed. “And we both know how that turned out....”
“I left when I was 13. I saw what they were doing and couldn’t stomach it any longer. And then I dedicated myself to stopping them and those like them.”
“Criminals?”
“Yeah. I used to just fight against crooks. I became something of a myth....”
“Like Batman.”
“No, not like Batman – Batman’s widely known and feared. Most of the guys I meet have never even heard of me.... Until recently, anyway.... Sometimes.... it feels like I’m not making a difference....”
“Dude! You stopped Reaper!”
He laughed. “Well, that was pretty impressive, but I mean, seriously – don’t these criminals talk about the guy who nabbed them?”
I shrugged. “Guess not....”
“And now that Reaper’s gone – now what happens next? I mean, I didn’t dedicate my life to fight two-bit crooks and muggers. I want to solve problems! And right now.... I’m not doing anything....”
“So.... what made you decide to go to school?”
“When I realized I wasn’t making a difference.”
“Oh.... So you’ve been juggling with this for a long time, huh?”
“Yeah....”
“Don’t worry about it, Dude. You make plenty of difference.”
“Like Reaper? What’s the chance of anything like that happening again....”
---
The next day answered Shawn’s question. I was walking home from school when I saw him. The street, of course, was 23rd.
One thing was certain from the moment I got there: the guy was a nut. He had white hair and his skin was slightly tinted green. His tall and skinny body was draped with sleeves far too long for him. All around him, people lay in bloody heaps.
I ducked into an alleyway, where I wouldn’t be seen.
There were three cars. In the first sat two officers: one of whom was the police captain. Next to them was another cop car with that same number of officers inside. Beyond that were two cops, one of whom was yelling into his megaphone, standing beside their own car. Beyond them was the psycho.
“This is the police. Put your hands up and come in quietly.”
The man smiled and rose his hands into the air, his sleeves pouring over them but slipping slightly.
I looked in the car closest. The officers’ hands were resting on their guns. At first, I didn’t get why. He seemed to be cooperating. But then, the squad captain shouted into his megaphone. “Let down your sleeves and keep your hands where we can see them.”
The man looked at them with a sinister grin as his sleeves slipped down further. He began to laugh.
The nearby police all prepared their guns, just in case, as the man approached. He shook up his hands to let his sleeves fall all the way. He was holding two knives.
Faster than anyone could react, he stabbed the closest officer in the stomach. The one nearby began shooting at the man, but he deflected the bullets off his knives and they hit the cop in the chest. Then, the man leapt onto a police car and drove his knives through the windshield and cut into the officers’ heads. Finally, the man landed onto the final hood, but then my dad shot at his hands and the knives fell to the pavement below.
---
My father. I never mentioned him before, did I? Well, I’ll tell you one thing right now: he’s a cop. And not a bad cop, either. Nor even a rookie cop. He’s a good cop – a great cop. He fights for what’s right and he does it well.
I suppose he’s a lot like Shawn. Just wants to make a difference. Only my dad went to school first. He still feels the same way, though. I never told him that he sleep talks. My mom knows, but she doesn’t seem to think much of it. You’d think I wouldn’t, though, since he leaves for his shift shortly before school lets out. But some days, when I’m sick, I’ll hear him. He only does it in sleep’s deepest phases, right before he wrenches awake with a heart attack.
So I think I’m the only who notices. Myself and Blake, anyway. We hear him sleep talking about his life as a cop. We hear him sleep talking about how the streets are still infected. We hear him sleep talking about how he’s just one cop, and not even the entire force can push them off. We hear him sleep talking about how so many people die each day and how he can’t do anything about it. I hear him sleep talking about how he couldn’t save Blake, his own son.
---
My dad and the captain aim their guns at the man. He laughs.
“Hey, man! What’s up?”
“Why are you doing this?” my dad demanded.
“Oh, c’mon, you have to ask? I mean seriously – why not?”
“Nobody does things without a reason,” the captain sneered.
The man frowned at the captain. “And what might your name be?”
“Corporal Atlas is the name.”
“Corporal Atlas? Funny name for a Captain.”
I asked him about that once. He said it came from his time in the army.
“Listen,” my dad said, “you’re outnumbered and disarmed, so –”
The man reached into his pant pockets and pulled out two more knives. “What were you saying?”
“Um....”
“I thought so. But don’t worry – I’m not gonna kill you! After all, someone needs to deliver the message....”
“What message? For who?”
“Always right to the point, aren’t you, Corporal? Very well, I’ll tell you: It’s a message for the one you know as ‘Phantom’. Tell him that.... he’s going to die....”
“How do you expect to kill a phantom?”
“Not just any phantom, Corporal – Phantom! With a capital ‘P’! Just tell him, okay....”
But he wasn’t looking at Corporal or my dad anymore. He was looking at me. His smirk sent a shiver down my spine.
“What are you doing here?”
I spun around. Jonathan was standing there.
“I –”
“That’s police business. Let them handle it. Unless you have a stake in it.”
“He’s my father.”
“Who? Goblin?”
“Gob....? No! The cop!”
“The Corporal?”
“The other cop!”
“Ah.... So that’s Officer Jake, eh....?”
“Jake’s my name, not his. He’s Harvey.”
Jonathan shrugged.
“And Goblin? Is that the guy with the knives?”
“Daggers, actually. Knives could never do anything like that. But yes, that man’s Goblin. He called himself that a little earlier.”
“Wait – you’ve been here longer than me?”
He smiled. “I was curious, much like you.”
“Then why do I have to go?”
“You don’t. But if you value your life, you shouldn’t be anywhere near that man....”
“So you don’t value your life, then?”
Jonathan laughed. “I know what you’re thinking. Should you trust me?”
“Why are you here? In New York?”
“My parents were killed in the line of duty.”
“Police duty?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry....”
“It was years ago.”
“Then what does it have to do with now?”
“Because now is when it’s coming back to bite me.”
He turned his back to me and walked away.
“I’m done yet!” I shouted after him. “Just tell me one thing: What do you have to do with me?”
“It’s an indirect relationship, Jake. You’ll learn in time, just as long as you have some.”
He turned the corner. I chased after him, but he was out of sight.
---
That night, I visited my dad in his office. I asked if I could spend the night with him. He smiled gently and reminded me that there weren’t any beds in the station.
I asked if he could get his shift changed so he could see me more. He told me that he’d see what he could, but it would be hard to get Corporal to budge.
I asked if he could fake a headache and come see a movie or something with me. He said yes.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Three: LOVE AND FEAR

“He said what?”
Shawn and I were walking down 23rd Street. I had just shown him the site of Goblin’s attack. It was dark.
“He said that he’s going to kill Phantom.”
“With daggers? They’d go right through me!”
“I don’t know – Reaper’s scythe could hit you, so....”
“That was given to him special by Nouda.”
“Then what about Blake and Doug?”
“Oh, it was all the same scythe. Sometimes when more than one were out, maybe one of them would take a fake, but I was always fighting the same scythe. Trust me.”
“So.... No replicas?”
“No.”
“No similar techniques?”
“Nothing from this world can hit me. Nothing but energy, that is. Fire, maybe.”
“Well then, that must be it!”
“I don’t know.... I don’t buy it.... I feel like there’s more to it....”
He stopped. I turned to him but before I said anything, he held his finger to his lips, signaling to hush me. I listened.
“There – did you hear it?” he asked.
I shook my head. A few more moments silence.
“There it is again!”
“What are you hearing?”
“You mean you don’t hear it?”
“No – what is it?”
“Some sort of scattering sound....”
“Scattering?”
“Yeah, like mice on cement, but it’s deeper – louder....”
“Are you trying to spook me or something?”
“Dude, it’s for real!”
“Listen, if it sounds like a rat, then it probably is a rat, okay? This is the city, after all....”
“No.... It’s too loud to be a rat.... It’s something big....”
“You’re nuts. Look around you – do you see anything big and moving aside from us?”
“It’s bigger than us.”
“You’re nuts....”
We kept walking. Shawn kept hearing things, and I kept telling him he was nuts. Or paranoid.
We still hadn’t had dinner, so we stopped by a pizza place.
“Say, do you think Goblin could have any other powers we don’t know of?” Shawn asked me suddenly.
“Um.... Maybe.... I mean, we never knew that Reaper could make Wraiths.... Um.... What are you thinking?”
“Invisibility?”
“Why would he -?”
“I’ve been paying attention to the police monitors lately.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“I took one of their radios out of the storage. Since no one had been using it, they didn’t notice....”
“Okay.... So....?”
“There’ve been a chain of robberies lately. No one knows how he gets in.”
“Could be a skilled cat burglar.”
“No cat burglar could pull this off – take this one gig, for example. Stole an Eastern European artifact – some sort of cross. The whole thing was caught on tape.”
“And let me guess – no one was there.”
“The cross just rose up into the air and floated out!”
“Weird.... Anyone seen it?”
“Nope – only the security videos....”
I shrugged and looked down at the menu. There was a riddle to occupy you while waiting.
Let the greatest feeling consume you
Or else you shall lead a life untrue.
Vast is its great power through and through.
Eternally shall it last for two.
Fallen, though, is all your hope.
End your life rather than cope.
And never face it, you big dope.
Rather untrue is the rope.
I grimaced and looked back up to Shawn.
“Hey, dude, check this out.”
He read through it. “Little complex for a pizza menu, don’t you think?”
“Do you get it?” I asked. “You’re the smart one!”
He laughed. “Look, the mood, rhythm, and rhyme all change with the verse. I think they’re indicating two different things.”
“Like what?”
“Well, they’re both talking about embracing an emotion. The first verse describes it as ‘the greatest feeling’ while the second verse is much more dark and grim.... Not to mention the word ‘though’ which clearly means that they’re opposites....”
“Well?”
“Hey, check this out! If you put your hand over the riddle, but leave the first column alone, and then read down –”
“LOVE FEAR....”
Shawn shrugged. “I guess that solves it, then.”
“Four slices and an order of garlic knots!”
“That’s us.”
We picked up our pizzas and returned to the tables. As always, I finished twice as quickly as Shawn and needed to go the bathroom.
So I went into the back of the pizzeria and then, I saw her.
She was a beautiful woman who looked about 23. She had long black hair flowing into the small of her back. She wore a gown of sorts, which looked religious. Her eyes were a deep blue.
She looked to me and smiled. “You’re Jake, right?”
I had never seen her before, but I nodded.
“I’m Rowanna. I’ve been waiting for you. I have something to show you. Follow me.”
I nodded, and followed her out the back door without saying anything to Shawn.
It was even darker now than it had been when we arrived. The moon was shining. We walked down the street until we saw a subway entrance coming up. Jonathan was standing beside it, watching us walk in. As we passed him by, Rowanna nodded to him and smiled.
We went down the stairs and into the underground. But there were no turnstiles, or tracks, or trains. There weren’t even floor tiles, or walls, or ceilings. It was like a cave, and white strings lined the rocky boundaries like a spider web.
Rowanna led me deeper in, so that I could barely even see what was happening. The web was getting larger, though. And then, my feet stopped moving. I was trapped in it.
“Hungry?” Rowanna asked then.
“Just ate,” I responded. “You wanted to show me something?”
She chuckled. “I wasn’t talking to you, Jake. I wasn’t talking to the spider.”
I turned my head to face front. Something was moving. It was a scattering sound, like mice on cement, but deeper and louder. Only this was no mouse....
At first, I only saw one hairy leg, but the other seven were quick to follow. It had two portions to its body, and it’s face wasn’t human. It had eight eyes and large mandibles on the side of its shark-like mouth.
I didn’t wait any longer. I yanked my feet out of the web and started to run, but then Rowanna stepped in my way.
“What are you doing? We have to get out of here!”
“No can do, Love,” she smiled. “You see, Tarantula here has been waiting for a good meal. So I thought I’d show you to him.”
I shoved her out of the way and darted down through the caves. It was like a maze. I didn’t know which way was out. I darted through all of the corridors, searching for an exit – searching for the way up – but I could find nothing, and the webs were slowing me down. Could it be that there was no exit?
I heard the spider lurching around in front of me, so I ran the other way. But when I turned, Tarantula was right there. The echo.
I spun around and turned to escape, but I felt the web attach to my back. I fell over face-first. When I tried to get up, I only got more tangled in the web.
The eight legs were all around me now. It was above me. I felt the mandibles grabbing onto my sides as the teeth began to press against my spine.
And then, it was gone. Its screech was drowned out by a gust in my ears. Trying to stay calm, I rolled onto my back and looked up.
Phantom was there.
Tarantula lunged towards him, but Phantom knocked him backwards with powerful winds. He spun the spider around in circles and threw it up against the wall, picking up strands of the web and tying the spider there. It was trapped in its own web.
Then, he came to me.
“Sorry I wasn’t here sooner, Jake. It took a while to find you in these tunnels.”
Flying a little above the ground, he broke open the webs and helped me up.
“I don’t like spiders.”
“I know.”
He chuckled.
And then, he was thrown to the side by a bolt of lightning. I looked around to see Rowanna flying towards him.
She gestured, and a pillar of ice sprung up beneath Phantom, ready to slam him into the ceiling, but he jumped out of the way just in time, and flew around to her, throwing a gust of wind, but it was countered with her own.
“I control all the elements,” she smirked. “How do you expect to beat me with only one?”
She clapped her hands together and a ball of fire flung from her fingertips, hitting Phantom in the chest and knocking him right behind me.
She smiled.
“Who are you?” I finally asked.
“Sorceress. High Counselor of the True Society. I was one of the first ones to ask Nouda for powers.... six-hundred years ago....”
“Wh- what....?”
She smiled, then charged at me.
Phantom grabbed me the shoulder and started flying away.
“Hold on.”
I grabbed onto him and had to ask. “Is there a way out?”
“For me, there is.”
I saw the stair ahead of us again. Sorceress was still chasing us, but she was slowing down now. And then, she turned a corner and disappeared. As we exited, I saw the cave dissolving, and caught a few turnstiles out of the corner of my eye as we pulled back onto the streets.
“How’d you do that?” I asked, as Phantom put me down.
“You were in Nouda’s realm. Only those with a demon inside can find the portals.”
“So that’s why only you could hear that thing....”
“Exactly. It was only present for me.”
Then I remembered.
“Oh man, Shawn, I –”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Sorry – Phantom, I need to tell you this. I guess you noticed I was missing?”
“Actually –”
“Well, I guess he was gone by the time you got here, but Jonathan Cradle was here, Phantom! He was in on it!”
“Jake –”
“Sorceress, or Rowanna, or whatever her name was – she looked at him and acknowledged him! I mean, sure, she didn’t say anything, but she knew him!”
“Listen, I –”
“She knew Jonathan! He was in on it! He’s working with them! He –”
“Jonathan’s the one who told me you were in danger.”
I blinked.
“Wh- what?”
“He saw you, with her, in some kind of trance, and realized something was wrong. He found me and told me where you were. If it hadn’t been for Jonathan, you’d be dead.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Four: LIVES OF THE DEAD

“Here’s a skull now hath lien you i’ the’ earth three-and-twenty years.”
Rose had invited me to see the school play with her. Hamlet.
It was supposed to have played three weeks, but half the cast was killed when Reaper attacked. Tim Jacobson, originally Claudius, was replaced with Harold Greyson. Gina Rubinson, originally Ophelia, had been replaced with Judy Peters.
Currently, the show was nearing its end. We were watching the famous graveyard scene between Hamlet, Horatio, and the gravedigger. Both Horatio and the gravedigger were being played by understudies. Hamlet’s actor was still alive, though – Ben Wolf.
Rose leaned over. “By the way, I figured out where we’re going for the summer.”
I nodded. “Where?”
“Catskills. I’ve got a cousin, Jarret, up there, and I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“’Kay.”
We faced front again as Ben looked down at the skull.
“Alas, poor Yorick.... I knew him, Horatio.... A man of infinite jest and most.... most excellent.... fancy....”
There were tears on his cheeks.
“He hath bore me on his back a.... a thousand.... times.... And now.... now....”
He was crying. Out loud. It wasn’t acting.
The skull was fake, but it looked like death.
“And now.... what, Sir?” Horatio tried to bring him back.
“Now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!” Ben stood upright and wiped away the tears. “My gorge rises at it....”
It was painful to watch. I looked down at my program.
In glowing, golden letters, something had been written across the page.
How abhorred in my imagination, indeed.
And as it comes to life, my gorge rises at it.
And as it comes to strike, my gorge rises at it.
And as it comes to wipe thee out, my gorge rises at it.
Why may not imagination
Trace the putrid dust of mankind
’Til he find it
Walking again.
I blinked, and it went away. Just my imagination?
---
“Why didn’t Shawn come, again?” Rose asked as we walked home.
“He doesn’t like Hamlet....”
“Seriously? I thought he was the type to like Shakespeare....”
I shrugged.
That wasn’t the real reason, though. He loved Hamlet. He didn’t like Rose.
“Rose.... Do you believe that the dead can be brought back to life?”
“Um, what?”
“The dead. Can they be brought back to life?”
“Like.... The Chosen?”
“Um.... Yeah.... I suppose....”
“You’re talking about Blake, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know....”
“Jake.... People die.... It happens.... If it didn’t happen, we wouldn’t have room to move our feet.... And it sucks.... It really does.... But we have to move on.... Blake would’ve wanted it....”
“If he wants something, then doesn’t that mean he’s alive?”
---
Over the weekend, I had to write a story for Creative Writing.
“It can be anything,” Mr. Fangye had said. “We’ll present next Tuesday.”
My story was titled The One Wish.
Once lived a man named Joseph. He was a kind man, always giving to everyone.
For his career, he would walk around town and give away things. The children would run up and he’d give them lollipops and other sweets. For Mrs. Starr, he’d have a lovely woolen hat. For Mr. Gregoric, he would offer a new pickaxe with which to mine. For the Turners, he would always remember one shining ruby to add to their collection.
Everyone loved him, and the town grew to run on Joseph’s care.
He had a wife, too. Erica was very beautiful, and they loved each other ‘til death do them part.
But then, death did do them part. Erica was killed in a car accident, and Joseph was left with no one.
He wept for her for forty days, never relenting. The children of town would run up, but there would be no lollipops. Mrs. Starr found herself with nothing to wear on her head. Mr. Gregoric was forced to claw at the mines with his bare hands. And the Turners’ great collection of shining rubies met its startling end.
The townspeople begged Joseph to move on, but he could not. And so, they sought to bring Erica back.
Mr. Jemnas knew of an ancient tale, about a genie capable of granting any one wish. But a sorcerer had locked away the genie in a small golden lamp, atop a hill, and dipped in a lake. The townspeople told Joseph of this tale, and he listened carefully.
The following day, he went to the hill and climbed it all the way to the top. There was a lake there, and he peered down to see a small golden lamp at the bottom. He dove in to retrieve the lamp and returned home.
He broke the prison, and released the genie then. The genie stretched out and smiled down at Joseph. For releasing him, the genie offered to grant one wish.
Joseph wished for his wife to live again.
---
I didn’t finish it by Monday. I didn’t know how.
I brought it in to Mr. Fangye after school and asked for help.
Reading through it, he nodded. “So the question is, can the dead be brought back to life?”
“What do you think?”
“You’re going through a hard time, Jake. A large portion of this school was killed only a month ago. You want to know if it can ever turn back.”
I wanted to tell him that I hadn’t come for a psychoanalysis, but I held back.
“Everyone’s going through this kind of trouble, Jake. Even I.... I lost my wife and child to that Reaper.... just a few days before the attack on the school.... I would’ve been killed, too, had it not been for that Phantom....”
I nodded.
“Jake, you have to consider your audience. You’re giving a message to a group consisting entirely of people with a recent loss in their life. You’re telling them how you think they should react. You’re offering an answer to a question. Incorporate that answer into your story.”
He handed it back to me, but I didn’t take it.
“What if.... I don’t know the answer myself....”
---
Shawn and I were going to Doug’s hideout that night. The three of us had agreed that we needed to stop by from time to time to ensure he had the Wraith under control.
“That robbery mystery’s getting more confusing by the minute....” Shawn was chatting on the way. “A security guard caught one in progress today. He didn’t get a good look at the thief, but swears it was a her.”
“Her?” I wasn’t very enthusiastic.
“Yeah, I guess that rules out Goblin.... Maybe that Sorceress lady.... But the thing is – the tapes still didn’t see her! It’s like she’s only visible to the naked eye!”
I shrugged, expressionless. “Beats me.”
Shawn raised an eyebrow. “You okay?”
“Sorry.... I’ve just been out of today....”
“What’s wrong?”
“Just.... All this dying around us.... We must know fifty dead people by now....”
“Oh.”
“But look at all the people in our lives! You’re like some sort of ghost, Zamxus is the grim reaper, Doug turns all skeletal by night, that psycho killer Goblin dude, a giant spider, and now there’s even a lady who can pretty much control all reality!”
“Not all reality.... It’s really just energy.... I mean, maybe with kinetic energy, she could move around physical objects, but –”
“I’ve just been wondering – why can’t the dead come back?”
Why may not imagination trace the dust of mankind ‘til he find it walking again?
Doug’s place was just another block, but we stopped walking then. Shawn was completely silent.
“Shawn....”
“I know, I know.... Jake.... When someone dies, they’re dead.”
“But all these people with powers –”
“Of Nouda’s choosing. Not even Nouda can bring the dead back to life. He can’t allow other people to do it either. When someone dies, they’re dead.”
“Is there an afterlife?”
Shawn shrugged. “Nouda’s realm is pretty much Hell, but I’m not sure if you go there when you die. It’s been a while since I was in the True Society.... I don’t remember all the rules....”
I sighed.
“Jake.... The dead can’t come back. Please don’t press it. Just move on.”
I nodded and we resumed walking.
Doug hid in a small section of Nouda’s Realm by night. The entrance was through a small alleyway. We turned in and started towards the hideout, when we heard something behind us.
We spun around, and then I felt a punch in my jaw and flew backwards. I got up to see Shawn trapped in some kind of bear hug. The attacker was in shadows – I couldn’t see it. Shawn bit his lip as not to scream.
I ran up and tried to pry apart the arms. They were green, and smelled rotten. At several points, the skin was torn off, and I could see the bones.
I grabbed onto them, but I couldn’t even budge them an inch. They were locked in place. And then, my hands started to bleed. I jumped back to see small spikes along the arms. They weren’t there before.
I tried a different approach. I kicked it in the leg. Again, it didn’t budge. Instead, a tendril of some sort grew out of the leg and held onto mine. I tried to move away, but it was immovable.
I quickly lost the feeling in my leg. “Shawn, you okay?”
He said nothing.
“What is this thing? I still can’t see it....”
He said nothing.
Suddenly, everything went black. But I wasn’t blacking out – I was being carried through darkness, and when I reappeared, I was several feet away from Shawn and that thing.
I looked behind me to see the Wraith standing there. Doug.
He didn’t have his cloak or scythe, but he lunged at the creature and grabbed onto one of the arms, freezing it. Then, he slashed at it, his hand soaked in the dark, and it shattered.
Shawn stumbled out from the grip, which still didn’t move. As Shawn gasped for breath, the creature grew back its arm.
I could see its eyes now. They were pale white, pupil-less, and unseeing.
The creature lunged at the Wraith nearly as quickly as Goblin. It grabbed his head with one hand, and just as the Wraith shrunk into the shadows, a spike spurned out of it.
The Wraith reappeared behind the creature and kicked its back, but it didn’t move. A sledgehammer of sorts grew out of its back and swung at the Wraith, who barely disappeared in time.
He reappeared directly above it, forming the darkness into a black scythe and slashing at the creature. Its limbs fell off, and yet it wasn’t even bleeding.
It jumped up towards the Wraith, its head swelling up, and then head-butted him, knocking him into the opposite wall.
It didn’t come back down, though. It kicked off the walls until it made its way to the roof, right in the way of the moonshine.
Finally, I saw what it was. A man of rotting flesh, a man who should be dead, a man who was brought back to life, a Zombie.
And then, it disappeared into the night.
---
The genie granted Joseph’s wish, and reanimated Erica’s corpse.
But she wasn’t the same as she once was. She was a shell, more monster than human, a being torn between the world of the living and the world of the dead, unthinking, unfeeling, knowing nothing but that she shouldn’t be here, that she should be buried deep, she should be in the grave, and that she wishes it were so.
But the genie can only grant one wish, and the dead don’t get their say.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Five: WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

It was the Friday night before the last week of classes. Shawn and I had just gotten back from the movies, and were now preparing dinner.
There was a message on the table:
Had to go to store. Be home soon. Friend coming – let her in and give her dinner. –Mom
“Well, school’s almost over,” Shawn said, stretching out on the bed.
“Yeah, we’re pretty much just watching movies and reviewing next week.”
“Naa – it’s all movies. Physics is all doing review in – Regents, y’know?”
“Maybe for you, Mr. AP, but I’ve got Regents in History, English, Math, and Chemistry! I hate this stuff!”
Shawn laughed. “Don’t worry about it, man – they’re a joke, anyway.”
“Chem’s a joke?”
“Dude, what’s your average?”
“Low 80s.”
“You’ll do fine.”
“What about Spanish? It’s not a Regents, but it’s gonna be a tough final! I’m horrible at languages.”
“I wouldn’t know – I take French. We don’t have a final ‘cause there’s, like, nobody in the class.”
“Oh....”
“Well, we’re watching movies in Fangye’s class, anyway. I think he said it’s called Fearless....”
“Like we need that....”
“Good job on that final project, by the way. How is it that you’re not in AP English?”
“Last year, my teacher was so horrible that it killed brain cells.”
Shawn laughed. “What’d you think of mine?”
“I only heard the first part, then I had to go to the bathroom.”
“But I liked Unassigned: Italy!”
“Sorry....”
“And Nick’s – I didn’t know he could write!”
“He didn’t – he left it unfinished and was all like, ‘and here’s how Bad Things would have ended.’”
“Well, what he did write was good....”
“I liked Ben’s Generation Olympus thing. Greek mythology is awesome.”
“I prefer Egyptian.”
“Of course you do....”
“And what’d you think of Jonathan’s?”
“Now, that was the weirdest story of all time.... I mean – was it even a story?”
“I don’t know. It was so weird.... And the title was What Is the Truth. I mean, seriously, what’s that supposed to mean?”
I shrugged. “It was more confusing than Shakespeare....”
“Shakespeare’s not confusing.”
“Says you! I can only understand it when I see it.... But reading it’s impossible.... And then Jonathan’s story was like.... What the -?”
---
What Is the Truth?
The truth’s hardest worker can never be seen,
By any ordinary glass or machine.
You can only find her by the nightly sky,
With its stars twinkling like her sharp piercing eye.
She learned of the truth so she could rise the past,
And bring back memories which would this time last.
And you can too if she may cross the river,
For then all you must do: give welcomes to her.
---
“What did Fangye give him, anyway?”
“I dunno.... He was praising it like mad for its interesting plot and memorable characters....”
“Plot? Characters?”
Shawn laughed as the doorbell rang.
I went to answer it. A woman was standing, with long blonde hair. “You my mom’s friend?”
She nodded. “I’m Clarissa Clearwater. I don’t think we ever met.”
She held out her hand and I shook it. “Jake Bradley.”
“May I come in?”
“Of course – you don’t need to ask.... Uh, my mom’s out at the store, but she told me to get you dinner. You like pizza?”
Clarissa nodded.
“’Kay, just gotta see what my friend wants.”
Shawn was upstairs, washing his hands as I walked in with Clarissa behind me, stopping at the doorway.
“Don’t wash ‘em yet – let’s order pizza.”
Shawn raised an eyebrow at Clarissa. “Why you waiting out there?”
“I figured it’s pretty crowded in there,” she laughed.
Shawn shrugged as he turned off the water. “Whatever. I’ll order ‘em. How many slices you want?”
“Three.” I like pizza.
“Just one.”
“It’s on me, you know,” Shawn told Clarissa as we went downstairs to the phone.
“It’s fine – I’m not that hungry.”
As Shawn dialed the number, we sat down at the table.
“Getting late,” I observed.
“Yeah, and it was only just getting dark when I got here....”
“That’s summer for you – lots of light until late at night.”
“I prefer it when it gets dark earlier. Late sunsets throw off my entire inner clock.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that used to happen to Blake. When he was a kid, my parents would be all like, ‘Bedtime!’ and he’d be like, ‘But it’s still bright outside!’ and then they’d tell him the time and he’d be like, ‘Oh, ****! I’ve gotta do my homework!’”
She laughed, not noticing as a small teardrop ran down my face.
“It’s coming,” Shawn said, as he sat down with us. “They’ll be here in a few minutes – they don’t usually get orders this late, so the work rush is over.”
“That’s good – I’m starving!”
“I’m more thirsty than hungry,” Clarissa said.
“Water’s in the fridge.”
She nodded and went to help herself.
I looked toward Shawn. He was staring at me with this weird look on his face.
“Uh.... What are you doing?”
He shrugged and looked away. Rather than asking again, I just pushed my glasses up my nose and turned back to the table. Clarissa was sitting down again with some lemonade.
“Hope you don’t mind – I prefer the taste.”
The doorbell rang. Shawn got up to get it.
“So, when did you say your mom would be back?”
“She said soon. You can even read the message yourself if you want.”
“And what does ‘soon’ mean? A few minutes or an hour?”
I laughed. “I guess it depends on how long the line is.”
Shawn sat down with the pizza box and a bag of garlic knots. Clarissa looked at it with a sharp expression.
“What’s that?” She indicated the knots.
“Garlic,” Shawn responded casually. “I ordered some for myself. Why? You want some?”
“No, that’s fine. I just hate the smell is all....”
“Please, I insist. You’re only having one slice. You must be starving.”
“I really don’t like garlic,” she said, pulling her seat away.
“Why not? What’s wrong with garlic?”
I just stared at them, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Have a knot – it’s delicious.”
“I’m not that hungry. It’s fine.”
“I said – have a knot!”
He threw it at her, and it smacked her in the face. I grabbed the bag away.
“Dude! What are you doing? If she doesn’t want one, she –”
He didn’t look at me. He just pointed towards Clarissa with something of a death stare. I turned to see her.
She was shrieking, face buried in her hands, and flung the knot away. But her shriek didn’t sound like an ordinary one – it sounded monstrous, like some sort of bat.
And then she looked up. Her skin had gone pale and two long, sharp teeth were sticking out her mouth.
I jumped back. “She’s a – a –”
“Then you see now, Jake? She couldn’t come into the bathroom because she can’t cross running water. She isn’t hungry because she can’t get hungry. Heck, her reflection doesn’t even show up on your glasses! She’s a vampire!”
“Nosferatu,” Clarissa hissed. “Vampire’s too cliché.”
“I take she waited for you to welcome her in?” Shawn asked me.
All you must do: give welcomes to her.
“Jonathan’s story!”
“It wasn’t the story, Jake. The rest of the class heard something else – we were hearing something prerecorded – something from Nouda’s Realm.”
“Doug, too,” Nosferatu laughed as she got up. “He heard a warning of Tarantula’s pending attack.”
But my mom said –
“Where’s my mother?”
“Don’t worry – she’s still alive. I only held the bite long enough to knock her out. Same for you.”
She leapt toward us, her eyes turning black. I turned to my left, but tripped over my chair. In that same moment, Nosferatu spun me to face her and dug her teeth into my neck....
---
With nightfall, I transformed once again. The Wraith, they call me.
All I can do is wait in my niche.... wait for the sun to rise and turn me back into a human....
And in the meantime, I must resist the temptation. I must bury the need to kill. I can’t kill – I’m a human.
There’s a noise, suddenly. My hideout is pitch-black. You can’t see anything. So there’s no point in turning to see what it is.
Instead, I send out a chill to freeze whatever it is. The thin layer of ice lets out a faint glow – but nothing is there.
And then, something hits me from behind. Something big. I fly across the room and slam against the ice-covered floor. I send out another chill, but it’s gone again.
I listen closely. It’s a scattering sound, like mice but deeper. It’s behind me.
I reach out my bony hand to stop it, and I feel a hairy limb. I don’t know what it is, but I start to freeze it. But in that same second, something hits me on the other side – another one of those hairy limbs.
I fall to the floor and it hits me on the mask with the frozen leg, shaped like a sort of insect.
And then, something sticky pours onto me. A web. Which means a spider.
I can’t move. Traveling through the shadows won’t work here – for these are the shadows.
As I begin to fade out, I feel the spider pick me up and carry me away....
---
“Doug!”
I woke up with a start.
I was sitting in a room of some sort. It was dimly lit – barely at all, in fact. Just one small candle sitting between Shawn and myself.
“Don’t be surprised,” he said. “Nosferatu told us that Tarantula was sent after him.”
“I....”
“So you’re finally awake.” The voice was deep and powerful, dominant and demeaning. “It sure took you long enough.”
“Where are we?” Shawn asked. There was someone there, sitting across from us, next to the door. His face was in the shadows.
“In the True Society. Didn’t you pay attention to Goblin’s warning? You welcomed Nosferatu into your house, which means you accepted the truth.”
“Who are you?” Shawn asked again. He wasn’t scared; he was angry.
“I’m the Highest Council of the True Society, the leader, if you will. I’m the one who engineered your capture. Your defeat. Your execution.”
“Why? Because I’m a thorn in your side?”
The man chuckled. “Not at all. It’s more.... personal.... than that....”
“What?”
“There is a man who knows a lot
About thieves, and ‘seas’ and ‘fences’,
A man who claims to believe not,
Until he hears, ally senses,
Yet he knew all about the clan,
And he bewares of the gather,
But me, well, I am not that man,
No, for you see.... I'm his father.”Shawn’s eyes went wide as he stared at the silhouette, getting up now and approaching. Finally, he stammered a response.
“Dad?”
He came into view. He wore a blue mask over his face. A mask of Phantom.
“Hello, son. It’s time to die.”

[spideyfan914]

Chapter Six: LETHAL ORIGINS

“Sixteen years ago, you were born. Sixteen years, seven months, and fifteen days. Your mother and I were so proud to have a son.
“You had a birthmark, Shawn. Right on your chest. It looked sort of like a little circle, split towards the bottom to appear jagged. And on the top, two tiny banana-shaped marks extruded from the sides. It’s faded now, but it used to be very prominent, like a bright-red tattoo.
“We were devout Christians. And so, we brought you to be baptized. But then, when the priest saw your birthmark, he associated it with the devil. He named you the ‘Devil’s Child’ and cursed you. He said that special precautions would have to be taken. Really, he wanted to kill you.
“We didn’t want that, though. We argued that you were just a child, and that it was no more than an ordinary birthmark. Our arguing brought our exile.
“We tried other churches, but they were all the same. We tried other religions, but they were all the same. Nobody wanted you – nobody wanted the Devil’s Child.
“When you were three years old, we sent you to pre-school. Public schoolings aren’t supposed to be religious, you see? But that was just a myth, I suppose, as you were tormented by the teachers, students, and parents. They couldn’t legally attack you, of course, but they could still make you suffer.
“And then, we were approached by a woman named Rowanna. I believe you’ve met her. She told us that in her religion, the Devil’s Child would not be persecuted anymore. You would be free; we would be free.
“She told us that in her society, people were true to themselves, and didn’t hide behind veils. Her culture would accept us as long as we pledged to never lie about who we are.”
Shawn’s father took off the Phantom mask, revealing his face. He looked a lot like Shawn, but his face was tattered, scarred, burned. He barely resembled a human at all.
“This is who I am. A man whose lost everything because of you, Shawn. And now, I will ensure that you lose everything as well.”
“I know why you want to kill me, but leave Jake and Doug out of this!”
“Why? Because you left the people I loved out of your rebellion? Son, I will kill you only after I’ve stripped away every last thing you possess.
“But alas, the boy must know why this is happening. And so, Jake, I’ll finish the story. After all, I doubt that my son has ever told you the truth about who he is.
“He was a son of the True Society, our youngest member along with that Zamxus fellow. Shawn was only four years old when we joined.
“In the True Society, youth is held at a high standard. It means that you have your entire life ahead of you, an entire life of servitude. And, of course, Nouda prefers it when his followers will be around for long. That’s why he made Rowanna immortal when she became Sorceress. That’s why he doubled Frank Kravey’s life span when he became Tarantula. True, he’s stopped granted these tremendous lengths of life in recent years in order to avoid the correlating laziness, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t prefer his youthful followers.
“And so, the Highest Council of the time, a fifty-year-old man with skin like stone, and wings which each spanned twice his size, and the power of fire, and eyes like Hell itself – he called on Shawn to gain powers from Nouda.
“You see, it is only one who Nouda gives powers to that can bring about the forthcoming Apocalypse. For Nouda doesn’t want mere blood, but he wants it to come from someone who will follow him without ever having ulterior motives.
“That’s another thing about youth – their will can be controlled.
“And so, you were given powers. Powers to manipulate phantom essence, the material which glues Nouda’s Realm to Earth. By coating yourself in it, you can exist between worlds, making yourself intangible. You can use it to travel through one of the dimensions, making it appear as though you’re sort of teleporting through the other. You can even whip them around to make winds.
“And it was all to serve Nouda....”
“He told me that!” I blurted out. “I knew that he used to be a member of your group of misfits and I knew that you still were a member! But Shawn deserted you! He rejected Nouda! He’s a hero!”
“Jake.... I’m not done yet....
“I’m going to go off on a limb here, and assume that he didn’t tell you about his little rebellion. I’m going to guess that you didn’t know that he killed his own mother....”
“Wh-what?”
“Didn’t think so....
“You see, as Shawn grew up – as Phantom grew up – we trained him, made him into the fighter he is today. When he grew to the proper age, his reign of terror would begin and the Apocalypse would finally come.
“However, he was a childish fool. When he looked at all he was asked to do, when he saw what the battlefield would be like – did he ever tell you this? – he threw up. He literally threw up.
“He couldn’t take it. He couldn’t handle and refused to accept the truth. He refused to embrace his true nature. Correction: our true nature.
“You see, all men want to kill. All men want to serve Nouda. It is simply a matter of how we cloak our inner selves.
“After all, you want to kill me right now, don’t you? You can’t deny your inner self.
“But my ‘son’ refused to serve Nouda. And a few years back, he held a huge hissyfit, aiming to leave the True Society forever, to come to the real world.
“I remember that day in the most vivid of detail. After all, I dream of it every night....
“I was in the Highest Council’s chamber when it began. He called himself Gargoyle. He was promoting me at the time, for my work with my son. I was to serve on the Grand Council, the level directly below the High Council where Sorceress and Tarantula reigned. And so, they were all in the room – Gargoyle, Sorceress, Tarantula, and the other eleven members of the Grand Council, with their twelfth having just passed away.
“My wife was by my side, proud of me as always. And when Gargoyle handed me the new robes, I was honored to take them.
“On a side-note, Shawn had only met Gargoyle during his own ritual. He was still too young to meet with the High Council.
“And then, the alarm went off. Gargoyle ran out to find the source, as did Sorceress and Tarantula. They all went different ways, and the Grand Council was to follow their lead.
“I went in Gargoyle’s group, with Greg Blino, Rory Vertian, and Samuel Horace. My wife was supposed to remain behind, yet she followed us several feet away and nobody noticed a thing.
“We searched several rooms, until we finally arrived in the Coliseum. The Coliseum lies in the center of the True Society. It is used for the rituals in which Nouda grants power, and also when two powers wish to fight in practice matches. Or real matches. Either or.
“It was there that we found Shawn.
“You see, he had gone there for its excess of runes, places where he could focus in order to transform into Phantom. After all, he was still only an amateur at drawing his own rune.
“Gargoyle was furious. When he asked my son ‘Why?’, my son replied ‘Why stay?’, and so their fight commenced.
“Again, Phantom was still only an amateur in his training, and for him, teleporting required much focus. Something he could not do while fighting Gargoyle.
“The four of us Grand Council members asked if we should stay, but Gargoyle reminded us that anything we tried would go right through that pest. So we were kindly asked to leave.
“The others did so without question, though Blino was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get in on the action. I, however, was slightly more reluctant, walking slower than the others and constantly looking back, pausing all the time. He was, after all, my son.
“The fight was going in Gargoyle’s favor. His fiery attacks could only be knocked to the side by Phantom’s winds. And of course, contact would hurt him, as fire is essence, just like phantom essence.
“Phantom was entirely on the defensive. His strikes did nothing against Gargoyle. And he had not yet developed any shape-shifting prowess. He had no way to strike back. Only to block attacks and wait for one to hit. And with each attack, fire would land somewhere. The arena was on fire. Phantom could not keep it up forever.
“I was unsure whether to be happy that an enemy would be defeated, or sad that my son was to be slain, or loyal for Nouda’s word is supreme, or angry for Gargoyle was a murderer.
“My wife was upset by my strange behavior, and finally stepped out of the shadows. When I saw her, I tried to shield her from what was happening.
“But she saw. And she was terrified. She ran forth into the Coliseum, calling out ‘Shawn, Shawn! That’s my son! Stop it, you monster! Don’t kill my son!’ I ran after her, not wanting her to die in the crossfire.
“Gargoyle was in the middle of preparing a blow when my wife came in. His hand still flaming, he turned to look at her.
“And Shawn – my son – took advantage of the distraction. Using his phantom essence, he brushed up a package of fire from the ground and thrust it into Gargoyle’s hand. He could have just fled. But he attacked instead, and then flew out the Coliseum just as the fires met.
“The resulting explosion blew up in my face. Gargoyle’s limbs were melted together, such that he could never move again – he became nothing more than a lifeless statue.
“Me, I was just on the perimeter, and I was the lucky one, surviving with nothing more than these scars.
“But my wife, she was right in the center.
“She died that night, and Shawn, my son, was the one who killed her.
“And for that, my son, you will have to die.”

[spideyfan914]

Episode Seven: CARNAGE

He left the room after telling us his story. We heard him speaking to Goblin outside.
“Keep a watch on them, Greg. Soon, it will be time to fight.”
“C’mon, Artie, let’s just kill them right now.”
“No.”
“But, Artie – they’re right there! They’re sitting ducks! It’ll be fun!”
“Just guard the door, or else I’ll kill you as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
There was silence for a few moments. I just stared in front of me. Shawn was rummaging through his pockets.
“Damn!” he said. “They took my chalk!”
“Well, no, duh! They’re not about to just let you draw a rune and escape!”
“Well, we gotta do something....”
“Shawn, tell me – was he telling the truth?”
Shawn hesitated. “I wasn’t aiming for the fireball. I didn’t even know it would happen....”
“Shawn....”
“It’s true, okay? I’ve regretted it every day since....”
Silence.
“So what do we do now?”
“I don’t know, okay.... I hardly expected my dad, Art Casper, to become some obsessive lunatic with an army of demons and worshippers under his control....”
“Do you think we’ve met all of them?”
"No. We've only met five - Goblin, Sorceress, Tarantula, Nosferatu, and Zombie. They're powerful - all of them. I doubt my father wouldn't want more of these guys.... I mean, look at them:
“Goblin’s a psycho who just kills people for the heck of it. I bet the only reason my dad made him come up with those riddles was to stop him from killing Society members....
“Sorceress is tricky.... I don’t think it’ll be as easy to fall under her spell if you’re ready, though.... But even so, she’s powerful, and she has a lot of experience.
“Tarantula’s big, and, to be honest, he is scary.... But we’ve faced fear before. I think – I hope – we can handle it.
“I’m not so sure about Nosferatu, though.... She has a lot of weaknesses, sure, but none of them will help us here.... Not even sunlight – in Nouda’s Realm, it’s always night.
“And Zombie – he’s tough. Really tough. Last time, he could’ve killed us easily. But that wasn’t the intention. Doug – they were testing Doug. I mean, think about it – why else would they attack so close to his hideout?”
“How do they even know who Doug is? How do they know anything about us? They haven’t seen you in years, Shawn! And Reaper wasn’t exactly chilling with them, either....”
“I don’t know.... I just don’t know....”
He sighed. There was silence. Then, something in Shawn’s mind clicked.
“Give me your glasses.”
“Um – what?”
“Your glasses – give them to me. Don’t worry, you’ll get them back. Um.... Well, you might get them back....”
“Uh.... I’m near-sighted.... I kind of need them....”
“Well, it’s either that or we’re both killed by my lunatic dad.”
He made a good argument.
I gave him my glasses and he examined them for a second. Then, he started banging on the earpiece.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
The earpiece fell off and we heard the screw hit the ground.
“Damn! Where’d it go?”
“Seriously, what are you doing?”
“There!”
It was hard to tell, but I figured he found the screw. And he pricked the tip of his finger.
“Dude – what the hell?”
“We usually use chalk for runes. But that wasn’t Nouda’s intention. The exact context of the command was to ‘write thy name in dust.’”
“Dust?”
“We got away with chalk dust, but he had meant ‘dust’ as in, ‘dust to dust.’ Human flesh.”
Blood dripping out his finger, he kneeled down on the floor and began to draw the rune....
“’Write thy name’?”
“Symbols. Mine’s ‘Phantom’.”
“What about the one in the coliseum. Your dad said it like anyone could use it.”
“’Nouda’.”
“Oh....”
“Everyone with a demon has their own symbol, but if you use Nouda’s symbol, then anyone can activate it.”
“Everyone with a demon?”
“You’re referring to Sorceress, Tarantula, Goblin, and Zombie, I presume? Some extremists, like Tarantula and Zombie, will desert their human form entirely. Others, like Sorceress and Goblin, can combine their forms so that they’re somewhere in-between. I suppose it works with Sorceress, considering her spell, and Goblin – I guess he’s just more agile that way.... With a name like Goblin, I’d hate to consider what his true form would look like, and I guess he agrees....”
“What about Nosferatu? She transformed without a rune....”
“The garlic. It stung her demonic form enough to surface it.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Speculation. There! I’m done.”
Right there, in blood, was Phantom’s rune.
“So now what?”
“Concentration – shut up. I’m not as good at this as Reaper, okay?”
He closed his eyes and held his breath and about ten seconds later, he began to fade into Phantom.
“Awesome! Let’s get outta here!”
“Not yet.... We need to find Doug....”
“Oh. Right.”
“Goblin’s waiting right outside. Are you ready for this?”
I nodded and he blew the door open. It slammed into Goblin and knocked him into the opposite wall.
“Ow!” he shouted. “Okay, seriously, dudes – that hurt! I mean, haven’t you ever heard of honor? You wait to attack until after I’ve seen you....”
“Uh.... Sorry....?”
“Oh, it’s fine. I’ll just have to kill you to make up for it....” A smile grew across Goblin’s face as he charged.
I ducked under the chair, as he thrust his knives at Phantom. Phantom just stared at him, not moving at all, and let the knives go right through him.
“You do realize how pointless this is, right?”
“Not quite....” Goblin sped up his attacks, his arms now moving in an entirely circular motion.
It began to make sense – Phantom’s very essence was being shifted into the motion like a laundry machine.
He pulled out, flying into the air.
“Oh, c’mon! Living! That’s no fun!” Goblin jumped up towards him on the wall, spinning around. Phantom flew across the room, and Goblin leapt after him. Phantom blew back a gust of wind, and Goblin deflected in another spin.
As they went out the door, I came out from under the chair and ran toward the door to see what was happening.
“I know all about you, Phantom. You’re a newbie. You’ve got no experience, no training, no skills.”
“And what about you? I don’t remember seeing you around when I used to be here.”
“Oh, details, details....”
Goblin thrust towards Phantom, and phased through him, but the speed did distort Phantom’s body. As he recovered, Goblin came up from behind, spinning.
“Behind you!” I shouted out, and Phantom spun at the last moment to knock Goblin into the wall.
“Oh, that’s no fair! You have a helper!”
“And what about you? Who’s your helper? Who told you guys about my life?”
Phantom grabbed Goblin by his shirt and shoved him into the wall.
“Haha! You mean you haven’t figured it out!”
Goblin stabbed Phantom’s wrist, and it bled. Phantom grabbed it in pain and jumped back.
“Gotta watch those tangible areas, Kid. You can’t attack me without turning solid first!”
Goblin leapt towards Phantom, knives out. Phantom let him phase through and hit a wall.
“Why do you do this? Why do you work in the True Society?”
“Why not? Their goal is to kill people and killing people is fun!”
“Is that the only reason? Do you not care about Nouda?”
“Oh, please. Don’t drown me in that religious nonsense.” Goblin spun around, and sliced at Phantom, cutting at his stomach and making him stagger. “Nouda doesn’t exist, okay?”
“Then what about you? How’d you get your powers?”
“Oh, it’s all a hoax. I mean, come on, you’re not telling me you believe all that trash?”
“I don’t want to, Goblin. I really don’t want to....”
Goblin thrust at Phantom’s side, beginning another spin, when Phantom grabbed onto his wrist and flung him into a wall. Before Goblin could recover, he gathered up the wind and formed a large spear, putting it right up against Goblin’s throat.
Goblin looked at him and laughed.
“You wouldn’t do it. You don’t have the guts.”
“Try me.”
“I overheard Artie’s little speech to you. Is it true that you killed your own mother?”
“Shut up!”
“Oh, yes it is.... You see, I remember that day, too! I was in your father’s group. Only I followed Gargoyle’s orders, and I turned back!”
“Shut up!!!” Shawn pushed the spear up, touching Goblin’s throat. One small blood drop dripped down.
Goblin grinned wickedly and chuckled. “Go ahead. Do it. After all, you’ve done it before, so what’s the big deal?”
“Shawn, don’t –”
“You stay outta this, Kid. Now listen, Phantom. I know what you’re thinking: You kill me, and you’re a murderer. You’re just like me. But truth is – you already are....”
“Are you trying to convince him to kill you?” I snarled.
“Hey, I’m just saying – once you kill one guy, or mom, a few more isn’t really that big a deal....”
Phantom just stared down blankly. He was breathing heavily. If he could, he’d have been sweating.
“Trust me: the first kill takes something. After that, it’s easy. So, are you gonna do it? Are you gonna be just like me?”
Phantom sighed, and the spear faded away. I smiled.
“Thank you, Shawn....”
Goblin laughed. “Wrong choice!”
He leapt towards me, grabbing me before I could react, and placing a knife to my throat. “Now, are you going to back down or not?”
Phantom stared, face blank.
“Just turn back – turn back into your human form so I can kill you. Or else this kid gets it.... What’s his name? Jake?”
A million thoughts rushed through my brain. I didn’t know whether I wanted him to listen or not. I didn’t know whether I wanted to live or not. I didn’t know whether I wanted Goblin to die or not.
But thankfully, I wasn’t the one making the decision.
Shawn looked down at the ground, and slowly walked into the room we came from. He focused to turn back.
Nothing happened.
“Well? A few more seconds and I’m gonna slit this kid’s throat!”
“Back off, Goblin. He’s bleeding – it’s dripping and interfering with the rune.”
I turned. Clarissa was walking towards us. Clarissa Clearwater. Nosferatu.
“Arthur said he wants to kill them himself. Let the kid go.”
Goblin grunted and threw me to the ground. I just sat there, breathing heavy.
“Now, listen, Phantom. Come with us, all right?”
“Shouldn’t have put him down.”
Phantom charged at both Goblin and Clarissa. Clarissa dove out of the way – she wasn’t in her Nosferatu form.
Phantom kept punching Goblin as he slammed into a wall. He didn’t give Goblin a chance to strike back.
Goblin stopped struggling. He must have been going numb. He was beaten.
Phantom kept going.
“Shawn – stop!”
Phantom kept going. Goblin was laughing now. He fell to the ground. Phantom grabbed him by the sides and wind started pouring out of Goblin’s mouth.
“Stop laughing!”
“It’s over! He’s beaten!”
I ran up, and Phantom knocked me back.
Goblin continued laughing all the way as the life was sucked out of him. He began choking. But he was still laughing. I could see the wind gusting out. He was dying.
“Shawn – stop!!!”
Goblin’s head fell back as his eyes began to close. He chuckled one last time.
“Congratulations, Phantom. Now you’re just like me....”
His eyes closed and his pulse stopped.
He was dead.

[spideyfan914]

Episode Eight: FRIEND OR FOE

“Shawn.... What did you do....?”
“He was going to kill us, Jake. You know that.”
“Are you deaf?? Nosferatu stopped him!! It was over!!”
“It’s never over with these people. You should know that, Jake.”
“Idiot!!!”
“One down.... Five to go....”
“Then I’ll have to be your next victim.”
We turned around. Clarissa had drawn a rune – she was Nosferatu now, standing in a small green puddle.
Phantom chuckled. “Guess so....”
He flew towards her, getting ready to punch, when the puddle suddenly leapt up, grabbed Phantom by the tangible hand, and thrust him into the wall.
Zombie.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Nosferatu smirked, showing her fangs. “Zombie here is mine. I brought him back and now.... he’s mine....”
She closed her eyes, one tear slipping down her cheek, then charged at Phantom, who phased through Zombie, but Nosferatu made a sharp turn in the air – far faster than I’d ever seen before – and bit into Phantom’s neck.
She began to radiate all of a sudden. The bite only lasted a second, but Phantom now fell to the ground, shaking a little.
“What.... What did you do to him?” I stammered.
“Sucked out his energy. He’s turning back into a human. And as long as that rune in there isn’t working, he’ll stay that way....”
I looked up, wide-eyed. Nosferatu and Zombie were staring at me.
“Honey.... Get him....”
I turned and ran, with Zombie on my trail. I didn’t look back – not even once – but I could hear it leaping on the walls like an animal. It didn’t make a sound – not even grunts or breaths – but the thumps of its leaps were getting louder. It was gaining.
And me, I was running out of breath.
The hallway was long and narrow. I got the feeling it would never end. It probably wouldn’t. And yet, it constantly curved to the right. It was only slight, but just enough such that I couldn’t see what was ahead of me. I couldn’t see what was coming next.
All I could do was run.
Until I couldn’t run anymore.
I collapsed on the ground. I was never too great in Phys Ed. I started to get to my feet, but was pushed down by the corpse.
“I see.... Nosferatu sent you....”
I looked up. Someone was coming from around the corner.
“I’ll take it from here, Nos.”
Zombie got up and scrambled away. I stood up, looking behind me to see its shadow disappear around the corner. Then I turned back to my front. Whoever had come still hadn’t rounded the curve, but his shadow was sneaking.
“Hello, Jake. I bet you didn’t expect to see me here. Then again, maybe you did....”
I was breathing heavily. I could barely move. “Who are you?”
“I know what you’re thinking.... Should you trust me?”
My heart stopped as he came into view.
Jonathan Cradle.
He smiled. “To Read UnEvaluated. TRUE.”
“You’re.... a member?”
”Whatever you say, Jake....” Cradle was circling around me, not even making eye contact.
“Then you – you were the one who –”
“Yes, I was sent into the physical world as a scout of sorts, to retrieve information about Shawn Casper. To find who his friends are, who he loves, who’s been raising him.... Turns out that there’re only two people who fit the criteria....”
“Me and Doug....”
“Bingo.”
“Doug.... Where is he?”
“Why, he’s right here....”
Jonathan turned to me with his arms outstretched, and suddenly, the Wraith sprung out from his shadow, newly cloaked and wielding a scythe. Doug landed right in front, scythe pointing at my neck.
“Wh-what the -?”
“Oh please, Jake.... You’re the one who gave us the idea.... Always checking up that he was in control of the Wraith.... like Reaper was somewhere inside of him, waiting to spring out and do what he does best.... Turns out you were right!”
I looked into his eyes. They looked like black holes. It was the one visual difference from Reaper – red eyes replaced with black ones.
“Doug, l-listen.... You’ve g-got to fight it.... Y-you’ve....”
“It’s too late, Jake. We’ve been ordered to bring you to the Coliseum. There, Art Casper will watch as you’re murdered by your own friend. And then, he’ll kill Shawn as well....”
“And you.... Why are you following along?”
“My business, Jake. Now come: the Coliseum awaits.”
I was shaking. But I had no choice – I followed him, with the Wraith’s scythe at my neck. I couldn’t have bolted even if it wasn’t there, though – I was still exhausted from Zombie’s chase.
“Morning can’t be far, Cradle. Doug will come back and then you’ll lose your control over him.”
Cradle laughed. “What do you take us for? Idiots? Here in the True Society, it’s always night. Surely, you’ve heard....”
As Cradle led the way, the hallway straightened out, and a doorway appeared in front of us. As he opened the door, the moonlight streamed in. We stepped through, and found ourselves in a large circular arena.
It had to be the size of a sports arena, with the ground a large dirt field. In the center, I could see a rune of some sort – probably one of the universal runes. In the stands, there were thousands of people – members of the True Society, I assumed. They cheered and jeered. Across from me was an area in the stands set aside.
There were twelve seats on the bottom, filled with ordinary-looking people. The Grand Council, I assumed. Above them was a closed-in booth, with three seats. On the left and right sides, I could make out Sorceress and the unmistakable Tarantula. In-between, on an elevated throne-like seat, sat Art Casper, Shawn's dad.
In their booth, there were microphones.
Next to me, I saw Nosferatu and Zombie arriving, dragging Shawn, tied with chains.
Casper held up his hand and the stadium grew quiet. Nosferatu spoke first.
“This is the accused, Shawn Casper.”
“Where’s Goblin? He wouldn’t want to miss this.”
“Goblin’s dead. Murdered by Shawn.”
“Some things never change....” Casper turned to me, Cradle, and the Wraith.
“This is Jake Davis,” Cradle declared, “friend of the accused. And this is Doug Urson, another friend of the accused, transformed by Zamxus Zane, also known as Reaper, into a cold-blooded Wraith. As per your request, this Wraith has been taken under Society control.”
Casper nodded. “Good. Then the executions may proceed. As per the rules of this Society, the accused are given a chance to defend themselves. First match: the Wraith will duel with Jake Bradley. Second match: I will duel with Shawn Casper.”
“Some chance,” I muttered, “knock me within an inch of life and then pair me up with a guy possessing demon powers....”
The Wraith flew over to the other side of the ring and waited for me.
“Push him in,” Casper ordered Cradle.
Cradle hesitated.
“I remind you, Jonathan, that you still owe us your life.”
“I know....” Cradle shoved me forward and I stepped in. I once held my own against Reaper himself, yet somehow, I felt much greater odds this time around.
The Wraith didn’t wait a second longer – he charged at me, scythe held high. I ran to the side and barely dodged the attack. I tried to grab onto his scythe, but he pulled it back – I was too slow. He sliced at me, and cut the back of my hand. I staggered back, wincing in pain.
It was no use fighting – I was too exhausted. So I just kept moving, not stopping no matter how tired I was.
“Doug, you have to fight this! You’re better than this!”
He slashed at me as I stumbled backwards.
“Come on, Doug! You’ve been through a lot, and you’ve managed to keep in control the entire time! You even saved us from Zombie!”
The ground beneath my feet was darkening. I leapt to the side as a geyser of darkness sprung up into the sky.
“You used to be a quiet kid, never speaking out about anything. You were shy, hiding from the world because the kids at school couldn’t accept that you were smarter than them. You didn’t think anyone could be on your side. Even your parents were constantly fighting, and the one thing they could agree on was hating you. I know this because you told me, because I’m your friend!”
I slipped – ice had gathered underneath me. I looked up to see Doug slowly approaching me and raising his scythe for the final blow.
Too slowly. I was breaking through.
“Zamxus turned you into a monster, feeding on your misery. But you’ve overcome him, you couldn’t stand being a monster. Doug, if any of this is reaching you, then just know this: You can overcome it again!”
He swung the scythe and it pierced its target....

[spideyfan914]

Episode Nine: COLISEUM OF CHAOS

Glass shattered, feet scrambled, Art Casper ducked, Tarantula was hit.
In front of me, the Wraith had turned around and thrust his scythe at the booth where Casper sat. Now, the spider was flying backwards through the wall, hit with the blunt end of the scythe. Art Casper maintained his mostly emotionless expression aside from a slight furrow of his brows.
Sorceress leaped down from her seat, landing down in the Coliseum and followed by Nosferatu and her Zombie.
“Jonathan Cradle, I thought you had him completely under your control.”
“Hey! I’m new at this! I never wanted to join this damn organization anyw-”
“Silence!” Casper boomed. “Kill Jake, and kill the Wraith. By any means necessary....”
Sorceress nodded. “Very well....”
She flew towards us, and Doug jumped in front of me, swirling darkness in front of us like a shield and Sorceress steered away. Then, a bit higher in the air now, she formed a sword of light.
“Fools....”
She charged down, shattering Doug’s shield in one blow, as we both leapt aside.
“Doug! Hold her off! I’ll go get your scythe!”
I ran toward the booth. Surprisingly, Sorceress didn’t follow me.
But everyone in the stands was a member of the True Society. And as I began to climb through the rows, they tripped me and punched me and ganged up on me. I ran for my life, but I couldn’t be fast enough.
Then, they all froze up – more of Doug’s work. But if he was spending his energy helping me, how well could he be doing against Rowanna?
I made it to the booth at last. Through the hole in the wall, I could see Tarantula frantically hurrying back, but he was still too far away.
And in front of me – Art Casper was holding the scythe. My heart stopped.
“Looking for this?” He held it like a cane, casually and uncaring. I couldn’t mutter a word, I couldn’t muster a syllable. I just swallowed my spit and grabbed the scythe right out of his hand.
He practically gave it to me....
I turned to run back to Doug, when I found Nosferatu standing there. She clawed at me, and I jumped backwards.
Through the broken glass....
I tumbled down the stands like a fallen mannequin. I fell to the dirt below, feeling half-dead.
But I was breathing, and that was all that mattered. I fumbled upwards, preparing to sprint across the Coliseum floor, when I was pinned against the stands.
Zombie had been waiting for me.
I raised the scythe, ready to swing, when it was swiped out of my hands.
“Don’t you dare hurt my love!”
My eyes darting to Nosferatu, tossing the scythe aside as if it were meaningless. She grabbed my head and forced it back, leaning in toward my neck.
“Your.... l-love....?”
She stopped.
“He was my husband. We came to New York once.... years ago.... I had.... convinced him.... to come.... to see a – a production of Hamlet....”
“He died....”
“A mugger.”
“And that’s why....?”
“Art Casper came to me after his funeral.... He told me.... he could bring my Pierre back to me....”
“You can’t raise the dead.”
Zombie’s grip was weakening. My head was upright again. Still, she wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“All I needed.... was loyalty.... And then.... I’d be given the power.... to raise the dead....”
“Clarissa.... I once heard a story about a man named Joseph. He also got the chance to bring back the dead.”
“And they lived happily ever after....”
“No.... She wasn’t happy.... She was only a shell....”
She looked me in the eye.
“That may be your husband’s corpse, but it’s not your husband. It’s your slave. Casper lied to you.”
“All that I want.... is to see him again....”
“Then be true to yourself, and know this isn’t the way....”
She hesitated. We lost eye contact.
And then, Zombie’s grip began to tighten.
And Art Casper jumped down.
“What’s the hold-up, Nosferatu? Why isn’t he dead?”
She turned to him, without answering.
“Oh, I see – you’re done with us, aren’t you?”
“I –”
“Well, if that’s the case, I suppose you should know....”
“But I wasn’t – know what?”
“The man who killed your husband – he was no mugger. It was I.”
Nosferatu’s eyes widened as Art Casper walked off, his expression still blank.
“Sorceress, finish up over there, and when you’re done, take care of these two, will you?”
My eyes turned to Doug and Sorceress. He was on the ground, embers all around him. He could barely stand. And Sorceress held a dancing flame in her hand....
“No more....”
Nosferatu lunged towards them, leaping over the fire and pouncing Sorceress, whirling her in my direction. Zombie got off of me and smacked Sorceress across the face, slamming her backwards into a wall.
“Oh, so that’s it, is it? All fed up with being obedient, so now you’re just gonna attack me, are you?”
“It’s over, Sorceress. You may have seduced Frank in the past, but you won’t seduce me.”
“Haha! You think I’m that simple-minded? Well then, you’re one idiotic –”
Zombie jumped up from the ground, throwing a punch, but Sorceress leaped into the air, flying high into the skies. Nosferatu flew up after her.
Sorceress lashed out with waves of fire and ice and wind and light, but Nosferatu took it all, barely even bothering to set up a defense. She lunged toward Sorceress, eyes turning black as she hissed and slashed Sorceress across the stomach.
Sorceress flew back and spun around, shooting lightning out of her fingertips. It hit Nosferatu square in the chest.
“Do you want to know why it was so easy to kill your husband? It’s because he fell head-over-heels....”
Nosferatu regained her wind, and grabbed Sorceress by the neck, tackling her against the aisles. She slid her hands apart and leaned forward, her teeth touching Sorceress’ neck.
And then.... a stream of water hit Nosferatu against the face. Sorceress stood up, smiling gently, in an orb of swirling water.
“What’s wrong, Mrs. Clearwater? Can’t cross some clear water?”
She rammed forward into Nosferatu, sending sparks throughout the water as Nosferatu fell to the ground and Sorceress came down too.
Clarissa looked to Zombie and held out her hand. “Pierre.... Help me....”
“Haven’t you been paying attention?” Sorceress laughed. “He’s only a shell of the man you knew, and he feeds his energy directly from you. If you’re fighting a losing battle, so is he....”
She stepped forward, charging up a spark in her left hand.
And me.... I was just standing there....
Thinking fast, I picked up the scythe and ran forward, slashing. She saw me coming without enough time to react, and I landed the blade directly in her shoulder.
She yelled in pain as blood streamed out and splashed onto the ground.
“You little *******!!! No man treats me that way!”
“Uh.... I just did.... Are you okay, Clarissa?” I helped her up, as Rowanna continued to swear.
“I used to be the underling.... the woman who couldn’t make her own choices.... the servant to the man.... But those days ended when I became Sorceress.... Now, I make the rules! Do you hear me??”
A patch of ice encased her bleeding arm, stopping the flow.
“If I get frostbite from this, I swear, I will **** on your grave!”
She began to fly up again.
“And now.... DIE!!!!!”
A huge bolt of lightning came down towards the scythe like a lightning rod. And then, Zombie jumped in the way and took the full blow. Without even flinching. His strength was back.
Sorceress’ eyes widened. “I.... He can’t do anything in the air!” She soared up to the clouds. “Come and fight me, Nosferatu! Fight me!!!”
“Can’t it....?”
Nosferatu closed her eyes, and I looked towards Zombie. It was hunching over, and its backbones were growing.... sprouting.... wings....
Long, black, demonic, beautiful wings.
And it rose up into the air, its hand turning into axes as it swung at Sorceress, and she dodged in desperation.
I looked behind me. Doug was still on the ground, but he wasn’t dead. Cradle was standing there too, staring up at the battle in wonder.
He could’ve taken out Doug, but he didn’t....
Who is he?
And then, I heard a scream. Beside me, Nosferatu was lying against the wall, bleeding all over. Zombie fell down beside her, limp and unmanageable. I looked up to the sky and saw Sorceress flying over to Art Casper.
“Thanks for the help there, Art,” she smiled lovingly. He looked at her with a blank expression. They both now stood in the middle of the Coliseum, atop the rune.
But he wasn’t holding a gun. And he was nowhere near Clarissa and I. So how had he....?
“So, does this mean you’re joinin’ in?”
“The Wraith and Nosferatu are not dead yet.”
“We can take them out any time....”
“Yes.... Any time.... Same for Jake, I suppose.... Just –”
“Oh, I got it!” She gestured towards me, and a wind knocked the scythe out of my hand and high into the air.
“Good.... Then I suppose I should kill my son next.... It’s simpler that way.... Jonathan, if you will....”
Cradle looked at them blankly.
“Jonathan, I’d like to remind you that –”
“I know, I know.... C’mere, Shawn....”
He began fiddling with Shawn’s shackles as Casper turned to me.
“Listen, Jake, I’m sorry about all this chaos. It was supposed to be a simple one-on-one fight, you know....”
I snorted.
“Now, I recommend that you go up into the stands to watch this match.... Unless, of course, you’d rather die sooner....”
“So, Artie, I guess it’s almost over....” Sorceress said gently, massaging Casper’s back. He began to turn to her, slowly and expressionless. “When it is, there’s nothing left for you and I.... Our goal.... accomplished....” They stood face-to-face now, Sorceress’ arms wrapped around his hips. “It’ll be a new era....”
She whispered something into his ear and then stood upright.
He smiled.
They leaned forward....
Shawn groaned. “I think I’m gonna puke....”
And then.... a large gust of wind sliced into Sorceress’ stomach, hurling her backwards across the Coliseum, as blood dripped to the floor. She slammed against the wall, breathing heavily as her eyes began to fade.
“I have one wife.” Art Casper turned to his son. “And you are her killer.”
His skin was a pale white, slightly transparent. He had entirely lost his shape, aside from the basic humanoid silhouette. His face had been simplified into two ovals and a slit.
Just like a phantom....

[spideyfan914]

Episode Ten: LIKE FATHER, NOT SON

Goblin was dead.
Sorceress was dead.
Nosferatu was dying.
Tarantula was a mile away.
Doug was back on our side.
So why weren’t we winning?
“D-dad?” Shawn stammered, staring through his father.
“It’s time, my son, to face the consequences for your actions.”
“What – what happened to you?”
Art Casper stared blankly at his son for a few moments, as if pondering the question. And then, he spoke.
“After you killed your mother, my wife, and ran off like some sort of ‘hero,’ I didn’t sleep for a week. I didn’t eat. I didn’t drink. I didn’t move a muscle. I just sat in the chair in my room, not knowing what to do next.
“Sorceress moved up to be the Highest Council for a while, in Gargoyle’s place. Meanwhile, she chose Greg Blino of the Grand Council to take her place on the High Council, and he became Goblin.
“Finally, I was approached by her as she tried to snap me out of it. I sat there, barely conscious, staring into oblivion with the same blank expression I wear now. Sorceress told me all sorts of things – I don’t remember what she said. I’m sure it would’ve been very moving. But all I knew was this:
“My son was a traitor. My son killed my wife. My son. My son, no more.
“The next time I stirred was at Her funeral. In the True Society, there are no funerals. But somehow, an exception was made, perhaps for me.
“When I arrived there, the first thing I heard was Goblin’s voice. ‘Nice scars,’ he told me, ‘make you look like Victor Von Doom.’
“’Victor Von Doom,’ I replied, ‘who’s that?’
“’He’s a man with a life in ruins.’
“After that, I knew what my face meant. It was a symbol – a constant reminder of what you had done. I could try hiding them behind a mask, but they would never go away. I could never change the past. I could never correct your mistakes.
“But I could avenge them.
“Vengeance. A poison? No. A weapon? No. An outward expression of anger? No. An impulsive reaction? No. A proper burial? No. A confession? No. A cry for help? No.
“What vengeance is – what it truly is – a cure. A cure for me, and a cure for you. The only way that any decent form of honor, of soul, of life, can be returned to this barren wasteland we call a man.
“And so, I dedicated myself to retrieving this cure. For both of us. Because I loved your mother and she wouldn’t want us to live one more second with this vial disease that rots our cores. I knew that I would be unable to get the cure in my present state, so I sought power.
“To receive power, my son, you must first enslave yourself to it. So I enslaved myself to the will of the True Society. I hid myself from them with a mask, such that they would be blind to my goals, for only I could get the cure and their help would be futile.
“Then came the day that Sorceress grew impatient with Goblin’s brutal methods. Brutality serves only to weaken loyalty, and Sorceress knew this. Which is why she replaced him with me.
“I then served alongside Tarantula, on the High Council. And, as per regulation, when I joined with the High Council, I was to be given great power. I was asked to choose what kind I wished for.
“Now listen closely, my son, as this is the part which will answer your question: My goal was to cure two plagued souls, mine and yours. To do this, I had to use a method of vengeance – to penalize your actions on the night of your escape. The greatest punishment is the ending of your life, and therefore, I sought to end your life. But if I were to end your life cowardly, it would mean nothing. I would have to take the courageous way, and fight you one-on-one. I would have to fight you to the death. When two men are destined for a fight to the death, they are considered enemies. Whether this is true or not, I knew that I would have to be more important than any other enemies you may have concocted over the years. Therefore, I had to be your greatest enemy. A man’s greatest enemy is his own shadow. So I had to become your shadow. You were Phantom. So I would be the Phantom’s shadow. I would be
“Spirit.”
“Shall I kill him, Arthur?”
We turned. Tarantula had finally crawled back, and he was standing atop the Coliseum walls.
“No, Frank. If you wish, you may devour the boy over there. Then Nosferatu and Doug.”
“Nosferatu?”
“She’s turned against us.”
“Very well.... You handle your son....”
I started running before him. But he was still faster than me.
“Now son, I told you I wanted a fair fight, and I meant it. Come here, and change yourself. Change into Phantom. Change into the man you’ve become....”
His voice was full of contempt. Rotten to the core.
But I had another concern: Tarantula was breathing down my neck, and the stands we ran in were slippery, hard to keep balance. Earlier, Doug had frozen them to prevent the crowd from beating me.
It was pointless. One of the legs was already past me – he was there. I couldn’t outrun a spider.
So instead, I made a turn – I slid down the icy stairs, gained some distance, but he was still following me.
In front of me, I could see as Shawn stood in the rune and, winds blowing circles around him, transformed into Phantom.
But I didn’t have time to watch. I made a sharp right, and jumped out of the stands. I could hear Tarantula following behind me.
“Tell me this, father,” Phantom was saying, “why wait? Why did you not come after me as soon as you had the power?”
“It wasn’t power enough. I needed more before I could face you. And so, I waited for Tarantula there to speak up: to say that I was, perhaps, more eligible for the Highest Council than was Sorceress. It was then up to the Grand Council to vote on it: Sorceress or myself.
“And they voted for me.”
“And Sorceress? She never complained?”
“Why would she? After all, she sought to regain the position herself, and arguing with the Grand Council’s decision would only make her case weaker. It’s like I told you earlier: to receive power, you must first enslave yourself to it. Any resentments she had, she pushed aside.
“A sad case she was, truly. Rowanna had always been a servant to the man until she became Sorceress so many years ago. And since then, all she wanted was respect.”
“She wanted respect.... And you want a cure.... Goblin wanted chaos.... Nosferatu wanted her husband.... What does he want?”
I turned to see Phantom gesturing towards me. And then, I was knocked over by the one he was truly indicating.
“Tarantula?”
I looked up into his hideous face. Eight eyes, and razor-sharp teeth. Covered in hair, and two large crushing mandibles spewing out of his mouth.
“His name was once Frank Ranar. He was always bullied, pushed around by those bigger than him. He was an instrument of weakness.”
He lunged at me, and I rolled to the side. He came down again, and I rolled again.
“He was an instrument in submitting to fear. He wanted to be an instrument in implementing fear. A turn of the social pyramid. Not unlike Sorceress.”
He opened wide. I couldn’t roll away this time. I grabbed his mandibles. Slimy and disgusting. My heart was beating fast. But I was alive. For now.
“He joined the True Society out of fear of the consequences. But his fear enslaved him, and that carried him high. And then, he reached the High Council. And that is where he finally mastered fear.”
I gave a kick into his belly. It didn’t do much, but he stumbled backwards, and I punched him in the face. Several eyes popped and began to ooze. Tarantula screamed. My hand was coated in ooze. But as scared as I was, I had faced fear before, and this was nothing in comparison.
“I know another master of fear.”
“It matters not. Tarantula is not your opponent.”
Tarantula squirmed around in pain, finally resting his head on the ground, right in front of Sorceress’ dead body.
“What – what have you done to her?”
“She learned the consequences of betrayal.”
“Rowanna? Betray us?”
“In ways you can not imagine....”
I should’ve run right there, but instead, my eyes scanned the room. Sorceress lay dead in a bloody pool. Tarantula, stunned and partially blinded, rested in front of her. A bit farther, I saw Doug, the Wraith, spread out along the floor, face in the mud, but he doesn’t need to breathe. Beside him rested Nosferatu, blood trickling out of her shoulder, as she half-consciously watched events unfold, Zombie stood like a soulless machine above her. In the center of the stadium, Phantom and Spirit stood face-to-face, waiting until their battle commenced. And behind them....
“What about him?” I asked.
Spirit turned to me, then turned to where I was staring. Jonathan Cradle.
“Another pawn. That is all.”
And then, he turned back to Phantom.
“Do these means satisfy you, my son? May we now commence our destiny?”
“I don’t think they will ever satisfy me, father.”
“Then we shan’t bother. It’s time to do battle.”
“No.”
Spirit cocked his head to the side, curiously.
“I will not fight you.”
“Sh.... Shawn? Are you okay?”
“Earlier, I killed a man. He called himself a Goblin, but he was still a man. I can not take back that kill. Just minutes ago, you killed a woman who loved you, a woman named Rowanna. You didn’t love her back, but that doesn’t excuse it. Many years ago, I killed two people: the leader of a devil’s society.... and my own mother.... And no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I can’t change that. If I kill you as well, it will only make the next kill so much easier, and my life so much harder.”
“You.... will not fight me?”
“Killing only leads to more killing. You don’t want my death on your conscience. I don’t want yours on mine. I won’t fight you.”
Goblin’s words: “Once you kill one guy, a few more isn’t really a big deal.” Shawn, my friend.... you’ve proven him wrong....
Spirit stared blankly at his son. His pupil less eyes began to slant, his chest began to expand, he began to shake drastically, and then....
Spirit’s hand turned into an axe, as he sliced at Phantom, who dove back. Spirit lunged at him, his hands growing into a large fist, which he slammed into the ground, as Phantom sunk into the ground, and popped out behind him. Spirit spun around, thrusting a great wind at Phantom, who vanished from the spot, and reappeared high in the air. Spirit stretched out to where he was, now as large as a giant, and stomped around Phantom, thrusting his fists in a violent fury. And all the while, Phantom maintained an ordinary, humanoid form, not shifting, not striking, merely flying in circles and dodging his father’s attacks.
“You will fight me! You will give me vengeance! You will give me my cure!”
“I won’t fight you, father. Even if it costs me my life, as long as I never fight you, there is no way you can win.”
Spirit clapped his hands together, but Phantom flew over his head, swooping down to grab Doug, and Nosferatu and Zombie in his formless body, and then turning towards me.
I ran towards him – the faster we meet, the faster we escape – and then I saw his eyes widen.
“Jak-”
I was pulled back, all of a sudden, as Spirit foot slammed in my path. I turned to look behind myself and face my savior.
Jonathan Cradle.
“Kill them, Tarantula! Have no mercy!”
The spider was coming to, now. He looked towards us with his remaining five eyes, madder than a rabid dog.
“This way!” Cradle shouted into my ear, pulling me through a door – a door which seemed to appear out of nowhere....
I didn’t know if I could trust him, and I would’ve hesitated, but he didn’t give me the chance. He tugged me by the shirt as the door disappeared behind us, trapping out the spider.
“That won’t keep him for long,” Cradle told me as we ran in circles through the never-ending hallway.
“Where are we going?”
“Away from here!”
“But Shawn –”
“We’ll find him later! He can take care of himself!”
We jumped over Goblin’s corpse, which smiled at us in glee. We could hear the loud pattering as Tarantula chased us, not far behind.
“Just don’t be afraid, Spidey – that’s what feeds his power!”
“Like he needs power!”
“You don’t understand, Tarantula acts like a large, hulking beast, but a battle with him is just a battle of the mind.”
A battle of the mind....
Another door opened in front of us and we dove in and it shut behind us.
I didn’t even have time to take in my surroundings, as Cradle thrust something into my hands. I didn’t have time to look at it before he began giving me more things, and more and more and more.
“What are you doing??” I finally asked.
“Just take that stuff and follow me!”
The walls surrounding us shrunk away, and we were once more outside, running as Tarantula broke through the wall.
“He’s just trying to scare you....” Cradle whispered as we continued to run. “Stay strong!”
A web snagged my foot.
“Stay strong!”
The web snapped and we kept on running fast, outrunning even the spider....
“Now give me everything in your arms!”
I dumped whatever he had given me into his own hands, finally seeing what it was – rockets....
Without a moment’s hesitation, Cradle piled the rockets onto the ground and grabbed a match out of his pocket, lighting the rockets and they flared backwards, toward Tarantula.
He leapt to the side, but two of his legs were blown off. He fell limp and unconscious.
“Is he....?”
“No.... As long as fear exists, Tarantula can’t be destroyed.... Only weakened....”
I turned to look at Cradleman. He was still staring out towards the Coliseum on the horizon, toward Tarantula....
“Man.... is everyone in the True Society a traitor?” I joked.
He didn’t budge. He said nothing. He didn’t even blink.
And then, I asked the same question I had asked when we first met....
“Who are you?”
He waited a moment, and then, he turned to me, and replied with a grunt. “A loyal member of the True Society.”
“Then why’d you help us?”
“I couldn’t stand by any longer.... not after what Phantom did back there.... not after what you did back there....”
“But then.... why’d you join up with them at all?”
He looked to me. “That’s what you’ve wanted to know all along, isn’t it?”
“Why?”
“Because....” He sighed. “A while back, I was attacked by Reaper....”
“Zamxus?”
“The one and only. Art Casper saved my life. In return, I offered it to him....”
“Then Reaper.... He’s not....?”
“A member? He is.... But he’s not an ally.... The True Society prides itself on being true to themselves, and though they claim that the truth is that they’re all as rotten, evil, and twisted as Nouda himself.... Zamxus is the only one who actually believes it....”
The wind blew strongly. It began to take form. Phantom appeared, placing Doug, Nosferatu, and Zombie in front of him.
“Where’s Spirit?”
“You mean, where’s my father?”
“I.... yes....”
“He’s coming. We have to go now.”
“How do we know he’s not going to follow us?”
“Goblin is dead. Sorceress is dead. Nosferatu and Zombie no longer work for him. Tarantula is all that remains....” He turned to the demon behind him.
“You’re not suggesting that we....?”
“No.... We need him to live.... He’s seen the True Society rot under my father’s control.... And I assure you.... I know this man.... this creature....”
“Casssper....”
“And he will not stand for it....”
Phantom stretched out his essence, grabbing ahold of myself, Dodgers, Nosferatu, and Zombie. And then, he turned behind him, to Jonathan, who had been silent since Phantom arrived....
“Are you coming with us?”
“Heh.... And what? Go back to high school? I’m 19! It was just a ‘guise!”
“I knew it!”
“Then.... you’re staying here....?”
He hesitated. “I.... I hate the True Society.... But I owe them something.... I have to stay here.... I gave them my life.... And I meant it....”
“You have a choice, Jonathan.... We all have a choice....”
“No.... Not all of us....”
A moment of silence passed. And then....
“I understand. Good-bye, friend....”
The wind was deafening and blinding. I reached out and pounded on the vortex.
How could he do that?? How could he stay?? How could we let him stay??
When the wind subsided, we were home. Phantom was Shawn again, Nosferatu was Clarissa again, and Doug was the Wraith no more.
And me.... I punched Shawn across the face....
“What are you talking about, you understand???” I yelled. “He saved our lives!! How could we leave him there??”
“He had no choice....” Shawn wiped the blood from his lips.
“Of course he did! He just didn’t realize it! We should’ve TOLD him! We should’ve TOLD him!!!!!”
“Does Doug have a choice, too?”
I couldn’t speak. It was done. The battle was won.... And Jonathan.... Who knows....
---
We spent the rest of the day in silence. As Doug and Clarissa awakened, we merely nodded, and they understood. No one spoke.
Where we were was somewhat unfamiliar to me.... A small room.... An apartment.... A place I had never been.... A bit of a mess, but mostly clean, and when you look closely, you could make out a dusty old rune on the floor.... I had never been here before, but I knew what it was anyway.... Shawn’s apartment.... His own personal Bat Cave.... Where I had never been.... For he feared what I might learn, and what others might learn about me....
A place I’d never been.... until today....
When night fell, the Wraith emerged. Wordlessly, he looked at us, and we nodded, and he nodded, and he faded into darkness, no doubt returning home.
Clarissa didn’t have a home, but when the time came, she drew a rune on a paper and showed her fangs. She looked at us, and we understood, understood that she now had to run, run from the True Society.... for ever after.... And we nodded, and she nodded, and Zombie grew his wings, and they flew off as well, but with no home to return to....
And finally, it was my own turn. I looked up at Shawn, and he did not nod.
“Jake.... This is going to happen.... Over and over and over again.... Crazy, psychotic people are going to try to kill me.... And as they try, they’ll run over you.... This is not the end....”
“Dude.... I read comics, okay – I get it! And trust me.... we’ll pull through....”
“Eight people died when Goblin attacked a few weeks ago.... Eight people! Two more died in the True Society.... And really, we were lucky....”
“That wasn’t luck, Shawn. It was courage.”
He looked up at me, and I looked at him, and he nodded, and I nodded, and then I departed through the door....
---
It was well past midnight when I returned. I walked in to find my father sitting at the kitchen table.
“Where’ve you been?”
“I....”
“We had company today, Jake.... I told them you were at Rose’s, even though I knew it was a lie....”
“How....?”
“Because I called. I used the damn telephone to call someone to relay information!!”
“I....”
“Don’t tell me you were at Shawn’s house, either! I called the building he dorms in....”
“You –?”
“And they told me that the last time they saw him was when he was checking out to come over here!!”
“But –”
“So where have you two been, son? Huh? Wandering out late at night and not coming back for over twenty-four hours???”
“We –”
“Your mother is in the hospital!!! A mugger cut her throat!!! She nearly died, but thank God it didn’t get deep!!!!!!!!”
“She –?”
“And she’s babbling nonsense about VAMPIRES!!!! But all we CAN make out as the one COHERENT STATEMENT is that HER SON IS IN DANGER!!!!!”
There was dead silence. How could I tell him? How could I tell him that my best friend – my oldest friend – was the mythologized Phantom and that we were trapped in another world where his psychotic father was trying to kill us both?
“My best friend is –”
He burst into tears before I could say anymore. He collapsed into my arms, as my father, the man who had raised me, who I had looked up to for so many years, cried upon my shoulder....
“I thought you were dead.... I thought you were dead....”