Status: Active
The Soul Sword
Animositas
"Those who play with the devil's toys will be brought by degrees to wield his sword."
~R. Buckminster Fuller
1895-1983, American Inventor, Designer, Poet, Philosopher
Miles found himself lost in a world of uncontested darkness. Everything that surrounded him was completely black. He couldn't see the ground he was standing on, or even his hand in front of his face. It was as if the world around him had been blanketed with starless heavens. Not being a coward, however, Miles ignored the fact that he was entirely vulnerable and took a step into the abyss before him. His foot landed on more solid ground and his confidence grew. He took another step and another, hoping to find his way out or at least come to a light that would provide for him some guidance. He had no such luck, however, as his next step landed in only empty space and he was sent falling down through an eternity of darkness.
He was suddenly not alone, either. All around him he could feel the presence of others -- evil creatures -- watching him as he fell; whispering words of a foreign tongue into his ears. Then he felt them. The hellish creatures grabbed at his clothes and scratched his sides, all while growing louder and louder in their whispering and hissing until Miles couldn't take anymore. He started screaming and cursing and thrashing about, with tears rolling down his face. He'd never felt this afraid before. At that moment he would have given anything to make it stop, but he didn't need to... because as quickly as it had begun, it ended and Miles landed safely and softly on the ground below, although still alone in the darkness.
His breathing was slowly returning to a normal rate and Miles could feel his body covered in sweat. Wanting to move past where ever he was, he quickly stood up and was about to start walking off again, when he saw a light. It came from above and illuminated a column of space, only a few feet from where he stood. Inside the column, floated what appeared to be a sword, held up by some invisible force. As Miles approached the light, he examined the weapon closely; it had a long, slender, black blade, with a black hilt. The cross-guard was in the shape of two bat-wings and the grip had the word "Animositas" engraved in elegant white lettering.
Not knowing what else to do and feeling somehow drawn to the sword, Miles reached his hand into the column of light and grabbed handle. Instantly, the light shining down turned a fierce red color and in the center of the hilt, an eye opened. Miles fell backward in surprise and tried to release the weapon, but couldn't. He was mesmerized by the eye. It was blood-red, with a snake-like slit for a pupil and rapidly flashed around, trying to take in its surroundings.
Finally, it settled on Miles and their eyes locked with one another. Miles felt as if the sword was trying to divulge something; just from looking into the eye he could feel pain and anger and power and purpose... and he saw frightening images -- images of demonic creatures -- the kinds of creatures he had felt all around him only a few moments prior. After just a couple seconds of this, it was as if Miles' brain couldn't take it anymore. The dark and empty world around him grew fuzzy, then flashed with bright lights. A light-headed feeling overcame Miles and he passed out.
☽☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽
As he awoke roughly and suddenly from his dream, the first thing Miles noticed was the sword. It lay across his body, held tightly by his right hand. In a way, he wasn't surprised to see it. The dream had been so realistic, it might have been more shocking to realize it wasn't true. Knowing that some kind of magic was probably the cause of it, it didn't change the fact that he'd still never heard about anything like this happening before. He decided to ask his friend Adria about it when he got to the academy later. Adria was part of a select few people whom had been gifted with the ability to use magic and was soon leaving for the main-land to start apprenticing as a mage.
Thinking about talking with Adria suddenly reminded Miles that he was probably going to be late for the academy today. A quick glance at his digital clock told him not to bother, however. He was already six hours too late. The dream had caused him to drastically oversleep. Knowing he needed to leave the house before his mom discovered he'd been sleeping all day, Miles rolled out from under his covers and stashed the sword under his bed.
He then pulled his academy uniform from his closet and put it on: a button-up, tunic-style shirt with black pants. He snapped matching leather bracelets to his wrists as well, and donned a simple necklace. After getting dressed, Miles proceeded towards the bathroom, to check his reflection. His green eyes were blood-shot and stood out oddly against his pale skin. He yawned and rubbed them sleepily, knowing that wouldn't help at all, then smoothed out his messy black hair and ran out of his home.
On the way to the academy, Miles shop-lifted an apple from a merchant's cart and proceeded to eat it as he kicked back on one of the benches lining the walkway up to the large building's front doors. After a few minutes, the last bell rang and students proceeded shuffle out into the hot sun. When Miles saw Adria passing, he called her over and she sat down on the bench next to him.
"Where were you all day?" She asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
"At home." Miles replied casually, taking another bite from his apple.
"Why'd you stay home?" She questioned.
"I was sleeping." Miles told her.
"You slept all day?"
"Yeah, and I had this really weird dream..." He began, but Adria continued.
"You know, you're never going to graduate at this rate. You skip classes so often I'm surprised you made it to your final year... you know I'm leaving to the main land in a few weeks and won't be around to help you skate by." She reminded him, pushing strands of her long, black, silky hair, away from her face.
"I know, I know... but listen, I've gotta talk to you about this dream... something really weird happened."
She seemed a little more interested, now. "Weird how?"
Miles stood up, "Come with me, I'll tell you."
The two of them spent the rest of the day walking through the small town, discussing Miles' dream and possible explanations for the appearance of the sword. Adria told him it was possible to teleport objects to different places and to manipulate dreams, but she'd never heard of an object from a dream materializing into real life. After a while, however, as the sun had almost set, they began running short of things to talk about. The two of them decided to part ways.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Miles told Adria, as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah... and Miles?"
"Yeah?" He asked. Her deep blue eyes connected with his. The light from the setting sun outlined her in gold and the wind tossed her hair around in such a way that she looked beyond beautiful.
"Um... good luck with that sword..." She told him. "You know... on figuring out where it came from."
"Oh... Yeah... thanks. Bye, Adria."
"Bye, Miles." The two of them turned and walked their separate ways, both with the same thing on their minds.
☽☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽
As Miles approached his house that night, there was nearly no illumination from the sun left and he could tell something was wrong. Their door was left wide open and no lights were on in the house. He quickly ran up the cement pathway and through the door. Inside the house, there was a horrible odor... one he had never smelt before. On the ground he could feel his feet stepping in something wet. Carefully, so as not to slip, he made his way towards the kitchen. As soon as he entered the room, however, his heart stopped. Propped up in the corner, covered in blood, was his younger sister.
Miles ran to her and held the limp body in his arms. "Myra! Myra!" He called, hoping the sound of her name would wake her from death's touch. It didn't. Tears poured from his eyes, as his mind was lost in complete confusion. What was going on? What happened? He looked up towards the other side of the kitchen. It made things even worse. He saw that the whole room had been covered in blood. The dampness of the floor and the fowl odor had both been cause by the blood... and even worse than finding his sister on the floor, was what else he saw in the room.
Nailed to the kitchen wall, was his mom. Numb to the world around him, Miles stood up, letting Myra fall to the ground and moved solemnly across the stained floor to his mom. Her body was soaked in blood and covered in cuts. Her left hand was missing and an army of nails have been driven into her body, to keep her suspended on the wall. Miles slowly reached his hand up and touched her face.
"Ahhh, I love the smell of fresh blood. There's nothing quite like it, wouldn't you agree?" Miles swiveled his body around to see a man, dressed neatly in a business suit, standing in the middle of the kitchen, playing with a gold ring on his finger.
"Did you... did... did you..." Miles stuttered, not able to form the words he needed.
"D-d-did... did I kill them?" The man asked, mocking him. "Yes, I killed them Miles... and I enjoyed it too." The teenager was absolutely speechless. "Don't worry... they're not gone forever... in fact, it would be very easy for me to bring them back to life. I just need something from you, first."
Miles croaked out, "What?"
"I believe last night you came under the possession of a sword? I would like to have it. And in exchange, I'll bring your family back to life."
"You're a liar." Miles told him. "I can see it in your face. You can't bring them back."
"Maybe I can, maybe I can't... you'll never know if you don't go get me that sword... now, where are you keeping it?" Miles thought of the sword, stowed away under his bed. "Ah, so it's under your bed?"
Miles froze.
"I can read your thoughts, Miles." The man smiled, twisting the golden ring on his finger.
"Who are you... what are you?"
"I'm a demon from Hell, named Cruciatus." Miles wasn't expecting such a straight answer and was slightly taken back.
"You're a... demon?"
"Look at what I did to your family... is that really hard to believe? Now, about that sword... I think it's time you went and got it for me." Miles stared at the demon for a second, then took off sprinting for the staircase. He bolted up the stairs and into his room, then practically dove under his bed, pulling out the black sword. When Miles stood back up and turned around, Cruciatus was standing in his door way, calmly.
"Hand it over, Miles, or I'll have to take it... and if I have to take it, you'll end up like the rest of your family."
"I'd rather die than give in to the man that slaughtered my family." Miles spat, raising the sword before him.
"How honorable... but stupid." Cruciatus raised his hand and a long stream of darkness erupted from it, knocking Miles onto his back. He was suddenly in more pain than he'd ever felt in his life. He screamed as his brain started shutting down, trying to block the unbearable feeling. The last things Miles heard before blacking out, however, were the sounds of Cruciatus yelling and a large crackling sound.
~R. Buckminster Fuller
1895-1983, American Inventor, Designer, Poet, Philosopher
Miles found himself lost in a world of uncontested darkness. Everything that surrounded him was completely black. He couldn't see the ground he was standing on, or even his hand in front of his face. It was as if the world around him had been blanketed with starless heavens. Not being a coward, however, Miles ignored the fact that he was entirely vulnerable and took a step into the abyss before him. His foot landed on more solid ground and his confidence grew. He took another step and another, hoping to find his way out or at least come to a light that would provide for him some guidance. He had no such luck, however, as his next step landed in only empty space and he was sent falling down through an eternity of darkness.
He was suddenly not alone, either. All around him he could feel the presence of others -- evil creatures -- watching him as he fell; whispering words of a foreign tongue into his ears. Then he felt them. The hellish creatures grabbed at his clothes and scratched his sides, all while growing louder and louder in their whispering and hissing until Miles couldn't take anymore. He started screaming and cursing and thrashing about, with tears rolling down his face. He'd never felt this afraid before. At that moment he would have given anything to make it stop, but he didn't need to... because as quickly as it had begun, it ended and Miles landed safely and softly on the ground below, although still alone in the darkness.
His breathing was slowly returning to a normal rate and Miles could feel his body covered in sweat. Wanting to move past where ever he was, he quickly stood up and was about to start walking off again, when he saw a light. It came from above and illuminated a column of space, only a few feet from where he stood. Inside the column, floated what appeared to be a sword, held up by some invisible force. As Miles approached the light, he examined the weapon closely; it had a long, slender, black blade, with a black hilt. The cross-guard was in the shape of two bat-wings and the grip had the word "Animositas" engraved in elegant white lettering.
Not knowing what else to do and feeling somehow drawn to the sword, Miles reached his hand into the column of light and grabbed handle. Instantly, the light shining down turned a fierce red color and in the center of the hilt, an eye opened. Miles fell backward in surprise and tried to release the weapon, but couldn't. He was mesmerized by the eye. It was blood-red, with a snake-like slit for a pupil and rapidly flashed around, trying to take in its surroundings.
Finally, it settled on Miles and their eyes locked with one another. Miles felt as if the sword was trying to divulge something; just from looking into the eye he could feel pain and anger and power and purpose... and he saw frightening images -- images of demonic creatures -- the kinds of creatures he had felt all around him only a few moments prior. After just a couple seconds of this, it was as if Miles' brain couldn't take it anymore. The dark and empty world around him grew fuzzy, then flashed with bright lights. A light-headed feeling overcame Miles and he passed out.
☽☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽
As he awoke roughly and suddenly from his dream, the first thing Miles noticed was the sword. It lay across his body, held tightly by his right hand. In a way, he wasn't surprised to see it. The dream had been so realistic, it might have been more shocking to realize it wasn't true. Knowing that some kind of magic was probably the cause of it, it didn't change the fact that he'd still never heard about anything like this happening before. He decided to ask his friend Adria about it when he got to the academy later. Adria was part of a select few people whom had been gifted with the ability to use magic and was soon leaving for the main-land to start apprenticing as a mage.
Thinking about talking with Adria suddenly reminded Miles that he was probably going to be late for the academy today. A quick glance at his digital clock told him not to bother, however. He was already six hours too late. The dream had caused him to drastically oversleep. Knowing he needed to leave the house before his mom discovered he'd been sleeping all day, Miles rolled out from under his covers and stashed the sword under his bed.
He then pulled his academy uniform from his closet and put it on: a button-up, tunic-style shirt with black pants. He snapped matching leather bracelets to his wrists as well, and donned a simple necklace. After getting dressed, Miles proceeded towards the bathroom, to check his reflection. His green eyes were blood-shot and stood out oddly against his pale skin. He yawned and rubbed them sleepily, knowing that wouldn't help at all, then smoothed out his messy black hair and ran out of his home.
On the way to the academy, Miles shop-lifted an apple from a merchant's cart and proceeded to eat it as he kicked back on one of the benches lining the walkway up to the large building's front doors. After a few minutes, the last bell rang and students proceeded shuffle out into the hot sun. When Miles saw Adria passing, he called her over and she sat down on the bench next to him.
"Where were you all day?" She asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
"At home." Miles replied casually, taking another bite from his apple.
"Why'd you stay home?" She questioned.
"I was sleeping." Miles told her.
"You slept all day?"
"Yeah, and I had this really weird dream..." He began, but Adria continued.
"You know, you're never going to graduate at this rate. You skip classes so often I'm surprised you made it to your final year... you know I'm leaving to the main land in a few weeks and won't be around to help you skate by." She reminded him, pushing strands of her long, black, silky hair, away from her face.
"I know, I know... but listen, I've gotta talk to you about this dream... something really weird happened."
She seemed a little more interested, now. "Weird how?"
Miles stood up, "Come with me, I'll tell you."
The two of them spent the rest of the day walking through the small town, discussing Miles' dream and possible explanations for the appearance of the sword. Adria told him it was possible to teleport objects to different places and to manipulate dreams, but she'd never heard of an object from a dream materializing into real life. After a while, however, as the sun had almost set, they began running short of things to talk about. The two of them decided to part ways.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Miles told Adria, as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah... and Miles?"
"Yeah?" He asked. Her deep blue eyes connected with his. The light from the setting sun outlined her in gold and the wind tossed her hair around in such a way that she looked beyond beautiful.
"Um... good luck with that sword..." She told him. "You know... on figuring out where it came from."
"Oh... Yeah... thanks. Bye, Adria."
"Bye, Miles." The two of them turned and walked their separate ways, both with the same thing on their minds.
☽☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽ ☼ ☽
As Miles approached his house that night, there was nearly no illumination from the sun left and he could tell something was wrong. Their door was left wide open and no lights were on in the house. He quickly ran up the cement pathway and through the door. Inside the house, there was a horrible odor... one he had never smelt before. On the ground he could feel his feet stepping in something wet. Carefully, so as not to slip, he made his way towards the kitchen. As soon as he entered the room, however, his heart stopped. Propped up in the corner, covered in blood, was his younger sister.
Miles ran to her and held the limp body in his arms. "Myra! Myra!" He called, hoping the sound of her name would wake her from death's touch. It didn't. Tears poured from his eyes, as his mind was lost in complete confusion. What was going on? What happened? He looked up towards the other side of the kitchen. It made things even worse. He saw that the whole room had been covered in blood. The dampness of the floor and the fowl odor had both been cause by the blood... and even worse than finding his sister on the floor, was what else he saw in the room.
Nailed to the kitchen wall, was his mom. Numb to the world around him, Miles stood up, letting Myra fall to the ground and moved solemnly across the stained floor to his mom. Her body was soaked in blood and covered in cuts. Her left hand was missing and an army of nails have been driven into her body, to keep her suspended on the wall. Miles slowly reached his hand up and touched her face.
"Ahhh, I love the smell of fresh blood. There's nothing quite like it, wouldn't you agree?" Miles swiveled his body around to see a man, dressed neatly in a business suit, standing in the middle of the kitchen, playing with a gold ring on his finger.
"Did you... did... did you..." Miles stuttered, not able to form the words he needed.
"D-d-did... did I kill them?" The man asked, mocking him. "Yes, I killed them Miles... and I enjoyed it too." The teenager was absolutely speechless. "Don't worry... they're not gone forever... in fact, it would be very easy for me to bring them back to life. I just need something from you, first."
Miles croaked out, "What?"
"I believe last night you came under the possession of a sword? I would like to have it. And in exchange, I'll bring your family back to life."
"You're a liar." Miles told him. "I can see it in your face. You can't bring them back."
"Maybe I can, maybe I can't... you'll never know if you don't go get me that sword... now, where are you keeping it?" Miles thought of the sword, stowed away under his bed. "Ah, so it's under your bed?"
Miles froze.
"I can read your thoughts, Miles." The man smiled, twisting the golden ring on his finger.
"Who are you... what are you?"
"I'm a demon from Hell, named Cruciatus." Miles wasn't expecting such a straight answer and was slightly taken back.
"You're a... demon?"
"Look at what I did to your family... is that really hard to believe? Now, about that sword... I think it's time you went and got it for me." Miles stared at the demon for a second, then took off sprinting for the staircase. He bolted up the stairs and into his room, then practically dove under his bed, pulling out the black sword. When Miles stood back up and turned around, Cruciatus was standing in his door way, calmly.
"Hand it over, Miles, or I'll have to take it... and if I have to take it, you'll end up like the rest of your family."
"I'd rather die than give in to the man that slaughtered my family." Miles spat, raising the sword before him.
"How honorable... but stupid." Cruciatus raised his hand and a long stream of darkness erupted from it, knocking Miles onto his back. He was suddenly in more pain than he'd ever felt in his life. He screamed as his brain started shutting down, trying to block the unbearable feeling. The last things Miles heard before blacking out, however, were the sounds of Cruciatus yelling and a large crackling sound.