| Garret awoke in a cold sweat. His flabby skin shone in the early morning sunlight filtering through the gap in the curtains. Beside him, his wife Lee awoke, her red hair cascading down onto the pillow as she raised herself onto her elbow; to look worriedly at her husband. "What's wrong, honey?" Her weary voice queried. "Was it the dream again?" Garret's head snapped round on its thick neck, his black eyes glaring down at his wife. "What does it matter? It's just a stupid dream! Why don't you leave me alone about it? Argh! I've got chores to do!" He whipped off the covers in one fast movement, getting to his feet and slamming across the room to the shower. Lee lay back, staring at the ceiling and sighing in exasperation. Garret's mood swings were starting to worry her. Raising her voice above the sound of the shower, she cried out; "What chores?" As Garret soaped himself down, Lee yelled something he couldn't hear from the bedroom. Stupid bitch, his mind snapped. Moments later, he regretted the thought. What was happening to him? Living under the Mother Brain was a simple and easy life, and as far as he was concerned his only "chores" were to put the dishes in the dishwasher and have breakfast. But as the frequency of the dreams increased, the more he began to loathe his wife, his kids, his very life. The rages that boiled up inside him were only offset by the fear he felt at himself when they awoke. It was the same fear he felt whenever he had the dream. The dream itself was disturbing enough. In the bright, sun-filled plains of his youth he would play like a child, without the weight of his responsibilities, without the weight of the extra pounds he had put on once Mother Brain began taking care of all the hard work. But then, a cloud comes over the sun... The grass around him slowly turns a deep black, as if there is a spreading ink stain on the world... He freezes, constant waves of negative emotions washing through him. Fear, agression, lust, rage, hatred, racism, all pass through his being. But the fear, the fear remains constant. Suddenly, the black stain reaches him, and before long, all there is is the darkness, the darkness... And the fear. That's when he wakes up. And everytime it happens, he wakes up even more aggressive and ignorant then before. Stepping out of the shower, Garret felt the fear washing over him again. This time, the fear was caused by his wife, standing in the doorway. She looked mad. A part of Garret's mind assured him quietly that that was good. "I've had enough of this, Garret. The fighting, the yelling, the screaming at the kids; it's got to stop. Where's the man I married? The man I love?" Garret stood stock still for a moment, wearing naught but a towel around his waist. The fear rose even higher in him, but not at the thought of losing his wife and family, but at what his wife might do. He felt totally defenceless in front of her, like he was missing a vital piece of himself. And that scared him to death. He had never hit Lee before, never in their five years of marriage. But as she frightened him, cowed him, he lashed out, all his pent-up rage and hatred unleashed in one single blow. As she fell to the floor, a welt on her cheek bleeding profusely, she stopped moving altogether, and Garret rushed out of the house. The towel fell from him, but the fear didn't; he ran naked through the streets, always holding back a scream. Not at what he had done, but what Lee might do to him should she wake up; what society might do to him if they found out what he had done. When he reached the outskirts of town, he fell to his knees and allowed his fear to come out in one terrible shriek. Rumour had it that the trouble in Mota all started when the people heard the scream. It awoke Rolf* from his nightmares. It caused the Commander of Mota to shake in his boots. It left Nei with earache for days afterwards due to her more sensitive hearing. What the people didn't know, however, was the result of that scream. His hands in the grass, his breath coming in deep heaving gasps, Garret lay face down on the ground, the fear departing for now. But he knew it would return. He tried to cast his mind back to what caused him to scream like that, to what brought him here, but the fear of memory overwhelmed him every time he tried. He wearily got to his feet, but was surprised to find that it was easier then before. It was if he had lost weight recently, but he couldn't remember being anything other than his own, slim self. Brushing down his dark armour (which hadn't been there moments before, but Garret wasn't to know) he headed north, over the bridge, and began wandering in a vaguely north eastern direction. If he tried to turn any other way, the fear would well up inside him, bringing him to his knees, shivering. If he just continued north east, he surmised, if he did what the fear wanted, it would leave him alone. And that's all Garret wanted. In his blank, empty mind, that was all Garret had ever wanted. Garret, it seemed, had been frightened all his life. His abusive father was the start of it all. Back when he was just a skinny little boy, his father had beaten him until Garret knew nothing but the fear of his father, and the fear of what he would do to Garret if he didn't do exactly as he said. Garret's father beat his mother as well, but Garret had no time to worry about her; he had to watch everything he did so as to not infuriate his father. This fear, of failing people, and of getting hurt, carried over to his attempt to get into the Agent's Academy. The Agents were the elite of the Palman people, basically serving as what we would call a police force. Garret's fears, however, had made him a coward. He flinched any time someone aimed a practice blow at him in training. He developed a fear of heights when the Agents had to get basic training in mountain climbing. And finally, his fear of any authority figure, which reminded him of his own father, eventually got him drummed out of the Academy. That's when he got his first taste of hate. Garret was too self-absorbed in his own pity for himself that he couldn't see that it was his own faults that got him kicked out of the Academy. Instead, he imagined a conspiracy against him, but the constant thoughts of that at night eventually made him forget the idea as it frightened him too much. The stories of biomonsters inhabitating the wilds of Mota scared him even more, and so he settled down in his home town and became a blacksmith. With the advent of Mother Brain, however, he became redundant; but found that everything was provided for him. He met Lee a year later. She was an agent, fresh from the Academy, but his sudden love for her overwhelmed any paranoid delusions he had kept about the Academy. So, they fell in love, got married, had children and five years later he killed her. All this information had fled Garret's memory, however. He wasn't even sure of his own name anymore. All he knew, for now, was the pain. He had trudged for a day or so when they attacked. Knowing nothing but rumours about the biomonsters of Mota, Garret could only assume he was being attacked by giant insects. Rather then being afraid of them, however, he felt something else rrise up in him. They were in his way. The fear would be back if he didn't keep moving, and these creatures wanted to stop him... And that only made Garret angry. He let the rage run though him, filling him with a strange power as he faced his adversaries. Feeling the rage flowing, he lifted his hands towards his targets and let his rage fly out. So it was thus, that on the day after Rolf set out on his quest to stop the biomonsters in Mota, the first Black Wave was cast by the first incarnation of Zio, the black magician. The only problem was, no-one truly knew who this evil force was yet... None, but it's creator... Truly, the Dark Force chose his minions well. |
| "A Death in the Family" By Scott W. Gage |
| *Rolf, star of PS2 - haven't I taught you anything? |