|
Home About Me Computer Games Music Online Journal Stories Links Sign Guestbook View Guestbook E-mail me! |
A New Dawn It was a heavily industrialized town. Everything everywhere was made of metal. There was almost no wood or brick. Giant factories sat all over the city. It was nearly impossible to go half a mile without passing several. This was Neo Aurora. Vince had just arrived in this city. It had been nearly a week since he had left Rheasville. For the first few days after the Rheasville incident, Vince was in shock from the first kill. However, as the days passed, Vince pushed it to the back of his mind. He wanted to forget all about it. Although it permanently marked his soul, he wanted to erase it from memory. Yet, he never could remove it completely. No matter how hard he tried to forget, the memory of thrusting the sword through the face of the Death Knight--the Death Knight who had been so friendly to him during his stay at the Shadow Lodging-- haunted him in his nightmares. During the bus ride to Neo Aurora, Vince hadn't encountered Ragnarok, but only because he had strung the Shadow Disruptor on his necklace. Vince hadn't arrived in Neo Aurora by chance, though. His intuition had led him here. There was a Dark Fiend in the city. However, Vince was tired after the long bus ride, so he went to a hotel. "New Dawn Hotel," Vince read off the sign. "Interesting name." After he entered the building and spoke to various people, Vince learned why "New Dawn" was an important name. Neo Aurora meant "new dawn" in an ancient language. It was so special to everyone in the town that all the businesses had tried to adopt it to attract customers. However, only one company survived with the name--New Dawn Industries, called NDI for short. NDI was such a huge mega-corporation that they made practically everything. They made electronics, furniture, food, even airlines and hotels, such as the one Vince had entered. This, however, was not important to Vince. As soon as he got to his room, the first thing he did was use the computer--something he hadn't had the chance to do since he left Rheasville. He wanted to tell Steph tragic news about Chrissy, but first, he wanted to read his new e-mails. Steph still hadn't replied to his first e-mail regarding Chrissy. In fact, all but one of his new e-mails were junk mail. To: redvincent0@viltris.com From: cuteelfgirlalicezeng@viltris.com Oh, you cheated on Stephanie with a WHITE GIRL! She's gonna be SO mad at you when you get home. Maybe you might want to stay away for a few more years. Alice Angrily, Vince wrote a reply. To: cuteelfgirlalicezeng@viltris.com From: redvincent0@viltris.com Shut up, Alice. I did NOT cheat on Stephanie. I didn't even like Chrissy. Plus, she's dead. She got killed by Ragnarok, so what does it matter? Vince After that, Vince sent an e-mail to Stephanie, a carefully constructed e-mail regarding Chrissy's death and the circumstances it would bring. To: lady_stephie816@viltris.com From: redvincent0@viltris.com To my beloved Stephanie, It makes my heart ache when I check my inbox only to see that you haven't replied to my e-mail. I know you're probably mad at me about Chrissy, but please understand, I do not nor did I ever have any feelings for her. You're the only one I love, Steph. You're my only angel. Please understand that. Besides, Chrissy is dead, killed by Ragnarok. She's gone, so let's try to forget this whole thing. I never wanted to hurt you, and I'm sorry if I did. I was most certainly in the wrong. You're the sweetest rose I've ever smelled and the most beautiful blossom I've ever seen. I don't want our relationship ruined over something silly. Please, talk to me. Apologizing with all my heart, Vince Vince sent it off, hoping that it was enough. However, he was tired, so he climbed into the bed and slept. The next day, Vince explored the city with a fresh mind and a rested body. He was searching for the Dark Fiend, but his mind was divided. Maybe Alice was right. Stephanie must have been mad at him, or she would have replied by now. The mere idea of this scared Vincent. He and Steph had never had any problems in their relationship before. He didn't know what to do. Arriving at the front door of an NDI office let Vince forget his problems for a moment. He entered, then rode the elevator to the top floor, the 12th floor. The twelfth floor was a single corridor that led around a corner, then into a small room with a single door. A secretary sat behind a desk, busily typing on a computer. After a moment, she looked up and apathetically asked, "How may I help you?" Vince wore his sunglasses so that no one would be able to recognize him. "I'm doing an investigation of the Dark Fiends," he half-lied. "Have you seen any Dark Fiends in your area or noticed any strange, Dark Fiend-like behavior anywhere?" The secretary gave a frown. "If that's what you're here for, then go away," she replied looking back at her work and away from Vince. Vince tried to ask again, "Have you noticed any Dark--" "Go away!" the secretary interrupted loudly. Because of his extra-sensory intuition, Vince knew that she was a Dark Fiend. He took a quick look at her. She looked about the age of a recent college graduate. Her dull grey dress shirt and skirt contrasted with her blue eyes and her dirty blond hair, tied up in a loose ponytail. A nameplate on her desk read "Sally Jennings". "Please, this is an important investigation," Vince pleaded. "Have you noticed anything, anything at all?" "No, I don't know anything about the Dark Fiends," Sally said with frustration. "Unless you have any NDI related business, I ask you to leave now or I'll call security." Vince hesitated a moment, then left. Back at the hotel, Vince decided to watch TV and caught some interesting news. "In Rheasville, the anti-Shadow government group Ragnarok seized 243 followers of the Shadow Cult last night. Alliatus Mystics claim that their locator spells had suddenly detected them, inciting them to go on a raid. It is suspected that a third party intervened to cause the Shadows to appear. The Shadows appeared to have taken residence in the apartment complex called Skias Real Estate. However, the owner of the complex, Johnathon Rousseau could not be found. Rousseau is suspected to be a follower of the Shadow Cult. In other news--" Vince turned the TV off. Rousseau, the intelligent, charismatic elder of the Rheasville House of the Shadow, was alive. He was the only Shadow from Rheasville who was still free to act, and Vince suspected that he would come after the "traitor". "Well, I guess I'll have to be ready for him," Vince thought. After a good night's sleep, Vince woke up to a bright, sunny day. He quickly checked his e-mail. Stephanie still hadn't replied. "I hope she's just been busy," Vince said. "I hope she's not mad about Chrissy." After eating a quick breakfast and getting himself cleaned up, Vince decided to head back to the NDI office building. Sally Jennings was definitely a Dark Fiend. He could feel its truth, and his psychic feelings had never been wrong before. Thus, Vince entered the NDI building and rode the elevator to the top floor. However, just before he rounded the corner to Sally's workspace, he heard a conversation. "--not just bad for the company, but also illegal," an older man's voice said. "But, boss, you don't understand," Sally's voice pleaded pitifully. "I wasn't doing anything like that." "Yeah, you were," the boss replied. "I have records that prove that you've been embezzling company money. Now, I'm calling the police on this. Wait. W-what are you doing?" Vince heard the noise of something sliding across the table. Then, he heard Sally grunt, a loud slamming noise, and the man yelling in pain. Vince darted around the corner and saw Sally bashing her boss in the head with a "Secretary of the Year" trophy. The boss now lay on the floor. His head had been completely busted open. Blood spilled all over the ground. Quickly, Vince knocked the trophy out of her hands. "Stop that," Vince said. "What are you doing?" Sally quickly ran over to her desk and hit a button. "Security!" she called out. "Somebody came in here and killed the boss." "What the hell?" Vince asked the empty space before him. Suddenly, Sally sprinted past Vince, down the corridor, and around the corner. Vince chased after her. However, upon turning the corner, he saw the two uniformed men blocking his path. Sally stood behind them. "Over there!" she yelled frantically. "That's the one that killed the boss." Then, she ran into the elevator. With a push of a button, the elevator doors closed, and she was gone. The security guards rushed toward Vince, trying to detain them. Vince, however, did not let himself be caught. He ran back to the secretary's office, leapt over the dead boss, and dashed through the door into the boss's office. The office was dimly lit. A large wooden desk with a rotating executive chair decorated the room. On the desk sat a computer, whose display showed a word processor and an open document. This, along with loose papers sitting on the desk, made it appear as if the boss was in the middle of work before the fatal incident. Then, Vince saw an enormous window behind the executive chair. Before the security guards could reach him, Vince dove through the window, shattering it. Falling from the twelfth floor, Vince spread his limbs to catch the air. Then, the air burst into flame as he came near to the ground. The Dark Fiend of Fire landed on his feet on the street in front of the NDI building. Then, he ran away before anyone could chase him. In the NDI parking garage, Sally Jennings hastily stuffed her purse and papers into the trunk of a cheap blue car, whose paint was peeling heavily. "Come on, Jennie," she nervously spoke to herself. "You've been through this kind of thing before. All you have to do is change your name again, fake new credentials, move to a new city, and embezzle someone else's money... except I've never killed anyone before." She fumbled with a large suitcase, trying to fit it into the trunk. "Oh... I just better get out of here before they find out I'm the real killer." She slammed the trunk closed, hopped into the driver's seat, and drove away. As she drove out from the parking lot, the Dark Fiend of Fire watched from the second floor, perched on guardrail. Then, he ran to the other side of the parking garage, jumped off the edge, and ran down another street in an oblique direction. The blue car sped down the highway at over a hundred miles an hour. Sally was in a serious panic. She feared for her life and wanted to escape from Neo Aurora. She looked forward and saw the bridge that marked Neo Aurora's city limits. All she had to do was cross over the gorge and Neo Aurora would be behind her. Suddenly, something black landed on her car. Sally freaked out and the car went into a swerve. It smashed through the highway's guardrails and onto the dusty earth beside the highway. It was then that Sally saw what had hit her car. The Dark Fiend of Fire knelt on top of the hood. Sally pressed the gas pedal all the way down. She spun the car left and right, trying to shake the Fiend off her car. When that failed, she zoomed straight towards a tree, trying to crush the Dark Fiend. Vince turned and saw the tree, so he jumped. The car slammed into the tree at well over 150 miles an hour. The engine crumpled. Sally had been saved solely by her seat belt and her air bag. Vince, because he was thrown into the dirt, suffered from heavy cuts and scrapes in his black hide. Vince stood up and ran to Sally's car. Inside the crumpled car, Sally sat, injured. There was a bruise covering her face, and she was bleeding from the forehead. Vince paid no attention. Instead, he tore off the door, ripped the seat belt apart, and seized Sally by the neck. "You're going to go back to Neo Aurora and confess to killing your boss and clear my name," Vince said with quiet rage. "If you don't, I'll kill you. Understood?" Sally groaned and struggled, kicking at Vince to free herself. Vince looked toward the nearby gorge. Then, he carried Sally over to it by the neck. He thrust her over the crack of the earth, holding her high above the rushing waters below. The only thing preventing Sally from falling to her watery grave was Vincent's grip on her throat. "Understand?" Vince yelled a second time. Sally was sweating with cold fear. She screamed, "Help me!" over and over. Suddenly, a swirl of water materialized and engulfed Sally's body. The water slammed into Vince, knocking him back and forcing him to drop what had been Sally Jennings. In the same movement, the water mass landed on solid ground. Then, the water burst outward in an expanding wave. Sally Jennings was gone. In her place was a dark humanoid creature, with smooth, feminine curves. Her hide was dark black, just like Vince's. Her hair, like Vince's, was also long and tangled, except it was blue. "The Dark Fiend of Water," Vince acknowledged aloud. His suspicions proven correct, Vince attacked. He began by throwing a volley of fireballs at Sally's new Dark Fiend physicality. However, she simply shot small jets of water toward each of the fireballs, extinguishing them effortlessly. Vince then threw a blazing flame toward her, but Sally replied with a large stream of water. The water stream easily wiped out the flame and continued forward. Before Vince could react, the jet stream pushed him back a distance and pinned him against the tree. The Dark Fiend of Water unrelentingly sprayed water at Vince. The water was devastating to the Dark Fiend of Fire. Vince felt as if the water stream was extinguishing his very life force. The water is, after all, the natural enemy of the flame. An excruciating pain permeated Vince's whole body. It became so intense that Vince felt his limbs go numb and his muscles lock up. This was pain Vince hadn't felt since his fight against Motarius, then since his first fight with Lydia against the Mystic in Trioustan. Vince was dying, and still, Sally refused to show any mercy. |