Also, You should know now, that its a bit rambley and slow here, but its going to get way better!
Enjoy!
Black Light
Chapter One: The Girl
There was a cool breeze in the small town of Lanek as San sat alone on the stone bench in his front yard. This was unusual because the town lay near the edge of the Great Abyss, which was the emptiness that extended onward from the end of the world. The Great Abyss contained what looked like smoke protruding over the edge for about a mile carrying also an aura of heat extending for about another mile inwards. Not only was the Abyss the border of the world, but the resting place of those who have passed away. The priests who inhabited the world of Sornalgon believed it to be the world of the dead. Spirits lay there as well as San’s mind whose parents had been killed by Sornalga’s army.
Sornalga was a dragon who was worshipped by many and was named after Sornalgon itself because her followers believed she would someday become the new Queen of the world. She was said to have leathery red skin. She would seem like the typical dragon from the fairy tales but her size surpassed that of any other dragon. She was about twelve yards in length with a wingspan twice her length. This actually was fairly large for a dragon considering the fact that a normal adult dragon would only be about half her size. Most dragons only live from two hundred to three hundred years before they die, but, according to the Great Archives in Tyrnoss Castle, Sornalga had lived for about two thousand years and was still alive. This made the priests think that she was a demon as well as a dragon, but the one thing the people of Sornalgon feared most about her was her eyes. They were bright yellow snake-like eyes that cast a deadly curse of pain and madness on all those who look upon them, but this had never really been proven true. It may have just been fear that caused the madness, fear of death.
Sornalga’s army had raided the town of Bornyl and San was taken away by his aunt Sara in the evacuation. He saw his parents dying and Sara knew it so she didn’t have to tell him and they never spoke of it. But San had sworn to himself that very day that he would fight and he wouldn’t stop until he had slain the Dragon Queen Sornalga and avenged the Garrick family, his family.
“San, dinner is ready!” Aunt Sara called from the steamy kitchen. San had actually fallen asleep thinking about his parents, with his elbows on his knees and his palms on his forehead. “San, if you don’t come in you’ll get sick from the cold!” He was awake now and he was starting to feel rather cold now that his aunt had mentioned it. So he picked himself up and quickly strode inside for he was hungry as well as cold. “Actually, San, we’re out of fern salt. So if you want some on your fish, you’ll have to borrow some from the Elmonts.” Fern salt was a kind of salt that came off from ferns in the oases, and San loved it immensely. “They’re just a couple blocks down-” “I know, I know,” San interrupted her. Sara looked at him lovingly and smiled. He was her responsibility after all and she had chosen this responsibility herself. “Please be careful,” she pleaded. “Okay,” he smiled back at her as he made his way back out through the door.
San was fourteen years of age, so Sara didn’t have to worry so much about him getting lost or hurt. He even looked older. He was about six feet tall with dark brown hair that extended just far enough to cover his ears but not his eyes, which were a dark, solid green. Everyone in Sornalgon had tan skin because of the light that shone during the day. There was no sun to provide light, but it was there during the day and slowly disappeared into each night for reasons unknown to anyone. This light, although strong, wasn’t warm at all. In fact, the air was always cool except near the abyss, which made it strange for San to be trudging in what was now snow half a mile into the Abyssal heat aura. Something was happening that wasn’t good news. Everyone thought so, but, at this point in the war, no one was too surprised to see such an unusual thing.
It was about halfway to the Elmonts’ house when he began to think about the bizarre weather instead of his parents, whom he thought about nearly every minute when he wasn’t at school. In a way, he liked the cold, but it was the snow that bothered him. It was hard to move in and it made his feet numb. This made him resent the fact that everyone seemed to act indifferent towards each other. Paranoia had cursed nearly everyone who has lost a loved one in the war or who has even seen any death caused by Sornalga’s army. The Elmonts and his parents had been friends since they were young and San was always welcome to visit. But that didn’t help the fact that he was hiking such a distance through knee-deep snow merely to borrow some fern salt.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. The Elmonts were a family of four. Mrs. Elmont usually had her dirty-blonde hair tied back and always seemed to be working with no complaint. She was a kind middle-aged woman whose cooking San secretly enjoyed eating more than his Aunt’s, but he never once considered living with the Elmonts instead of with Sara. He and Sara had a strong bond, even though she wasn’t his real mother. Mr. Elmont was a soldier for the Tyrnoss Republic and he hardly ever came back except for once every few months. That is, unless his company, Zethyr company, was scheduled for a raid against Sornalga. The raids lasted unpredictable amounts of time. It usually depended on where they were going, what their goal was and, most of all, the supplies they carried. Sometimes, Zethyr would be scheduled for a raid just before or even during a visit with his family. It was very stressful to have such little time with his own family, and just as stressful for the family itself. There were no laws stating that a soldier must be allowed to have any time to go home to his family unless he resigned, but everyone was given plenty of food and rest, and Mr. Elmont was almost always able to write home once a week.
John was the older sibling in the family. He was seventeen years old and half a foot taller than San was. He had short black hair and yellowish green eyes, just like his father. John never seemed to trust San. He always thought San was looking for trouble, which wasn’t always true. But he had in fact spent many hours at their house tossing pieces of cereal into an open air vents, sometimes causing them to shoot out on another side, hopefully where John was. San always tried to be kind around the Elmont family; he had also made friends with the daughter of the family, Ellen. John thought that San would be a bad influence on her, but San met Ellen when he was four years old and she was three. They’d been friends ever since.
She was the same height as San despite their age comparison, and she had long blond hair with white tips. This was strange because no one in her family had blonde hair. San had seen many things in his life at even the age of four, but what had really amazed him the second he met Ellen was her eyes. They were a bold yellow with blue flecks scattered about the pool of gold. Yellow and blue eye color had run in the family for a long time, but flecks were very uncommon and weren’t hereditary. Scientists had been researching this trait for many years, but they had decided that it was a birth defect, although no one would even think to consider it as a “defect”. It was a blessing. In fact, many believed that it had a significant connection to a particular disease that transferred through thoughts: Dronic thoughts.
“Hi, what brings you here?” San looked up. He had been thinking about his parents again. He considered how Ellen figured he was at the door, but then he began to notice a late, slight pain in his forhead. It was probably from his head knocking into the door. It’s a wonder he even made it to the Elmont’s house without getting lost.
“Hello, Ellen,” San responded, now noticing he was shivering, “Sara sent me. Well, I didn’t have to. I didn’t have very much to do anyways…” He paused, realizing that the second reason he was shivering was because he was nervous. “Actually, do you have any spare fern salt?” Ellen was staring directly into his eyes, although her stare was still quite vacant. Then as if someone pinched her, she snapped back into focus. “Oh,” She responded, “Sure, come in, come in! You must be freezing.” She gestured for him to enter and pulled a large thick quilt off of what looked like a rack specifically made for quilts, as if they were disposable as tissues from a tissue box. There were layers upon layers of quilts stacked neatly. It seemed this family was not as used to the cold as San was. Ellen did not seem to be as affected though, seeing as she only wore what looked like a wizard’s robe, only pink and made of silk. She wrapped the soft blue quilt around him, and led him through a hall to the left. “We are actually about to eat our own dinners,” said Ellen glancing at San as they walked. “Oh, I didn’t realize,” he responded. Ellen sped up slightly and turned her head more towards him. “No, it’s not a problem. There hasn’t been a single night when we haven’t been interrupted during-” a knock on the door interrupted her sentence. “We having two guests tonight?” said a voice from the kitchen. Ellen jerked her head forward seemingly too late to avoid a large iron door to the kitchen which, to her knowledge, was not closed last she saw it. But it wasn’t too late. Her nose was an inch away from slamming into the door when she jerked her head back again and stopped. “Whoa, that could have ended badly.” said Ellen, as she let out a soft laugh. Ellen was known to have incredible reflexes. Her parents believed that her eyes, hair and reflexes had a significant connection, but their only beliefs were that she was gifted. Although, she was “blessed” with these reflexes, she was also known to stop thinking during these moments. San was in pain. He had been paying even less attention than Ellen. He was sitting up on the floor, one hand behind on the soft warm carpet for support, and one on his nose. He even looked more confused than in pain. Or maybe it was both. Ellen’s face was almost as red as San’s nose. “Sorry,” Ellen said as she helped him up. “Just go into the kitchen and ask my mother. She will get you some fern salt.”
“Okay, thanks,” San replied. “Oh, and San,” Ellen turned to get a last word in. San turned around to listen. “That looked really funny.” The redness in San’s nose suddenly spread to his cheeks. She let out a giggle and turned around. Her long blonde hair whipped behind her as she walked back towards the door.
Chapter Two: The News
Looking over the kitchen counter into the dining room, San could tell the family was in fact expecting a guest, though John did not show it. “Hello, San. How nice of you to drop by,” Said Mrs. Elmont, with a very warm smile on her face. “If there is a problem back home, I would be happy to whip up another helping for you.” San looked at the meals that were set out on the table. They looked like the kind of meals that only the rich folk could afford. “No, I can’t stay,” San replied, beginning to hate himself for turning such a meal down. “I just came to ask for some fern salt.” Mrs. Elmont shot up like a bullet and made a casual run-walk past him and into her enormous pantry. “Let me see if I have any,” she spoke while sifting through some bottles and jars. San wondered to himself why she even bothered considering if she had it. The pantry she was now standing in was the size of a bedroom. Shelves lined each of its four walls and more hung from the four aisles lined up side by side in the middle. In addition, it was all alphabetized.
“Ah, here it is,” Mrs. Elmont finally declared, as a couple of “hellos” were exchanged in the dining room. “Oh, that must be Mr. Connors. He’s here every night for dinner.” “Who?” San replied curiously. He just realized that he had never been over for dinner. He had only eaten breakfasts or lunches at this house, although Mrs. Elmont still spent the same time and effort as she would on dinner. Mrs. Elmont handed him a bag of fern salt, “Mr. Connors is the man who brings us the news about the war.” She grabbed his arm and gently turned him around. “Come, let me introduce you.” San followed her into the dining room. Standing just inside of the large iron door and beside Ellen was a short round man with a light brown trench coat, a matching top hat and a cane with a little silver lion’s head for a handle. He had smoky black hair and a long curly mustache. “Hello, Mrs. Elmont,” greeted Mr. Connors. “It is wonderful to be in this house again. I may be here every day but I must say that this is what I look forward to most in the mornings.” “It is always a pleasure to have you around,” Mrs. Elmont replied generously. “And who might this be?” Mr. Connors turned his focus to San. Before San could answer, Mrs. Elmont did it for him, which didn’t surprise him. She seemed to do everything for him when she had the chance. Mr. Connors smiled and held out his enormous hand. San shook it politely. It was warm and it felt good on his still freezing palm. He didn’t even understand why he was so cold. Maybe he had been walking slower than he remembered to the Elmont’s house.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Garrick. I suspect you’ll be wanting to hear the big news?” San didn’t notice John standing across from him until he spoke, “Big news?” John emphasized on the word “big”. Mr. Connors turned more towards John yet he still projected himself to the whole group. “Well, I wouldn’t call it good news nor bad news. But, yes, it’s big news.” Mrs. Elmont interrupted him. “Why don’t we continue this at the table? Mr. Connors, I already set your place. San, I’ll start on yours.” Mr. Connors picked up his plate. “Oh, nonsense, I don’t want to be a bother. Mr. Garrick can have mine. Besides, you’ll want to be listening when I tell you this.” He handed it to San who immediately thanked the man in response. He sat down at the table without even thinking.
As everyone sat down at the table, Mr. Connors began explaining things that the Elmonts already knew. “As you’re all aware of, Dronin forces have already been invading Zethyr company’s main outpost.” He paused and looked about the table for the nods of acknowledgement. “And, as I’m sure you’re all aware of, they have been failing to make even the slightest dent in their defenses.” Everyone let out a small laugh except for San. “Who are the Dronin?” San asked, but somehow he felt as if everyone was wondering how he didn’t know. Mr. Connors paused again and looked at him. “They are the ememies we have been fighting.” He made yet another pause noticing how pitiful his definition was. “Well, I can explain that later. Anyways, I received late word today that they had, in fact, broken through Zethyr’s gates.” The impossibly silent room seemed to be leeched of any remaining noise. “Luckily this happened yesterday when your father was on scout patrol to the east. Anyways, they broke inot the gate, but they did not manage to kill anyone. They didn’t seem to try either. What I heard was that once they had broken through the gates, they stopped. All they did was stare at the oncoming soldiers. The only thing that went through the soldiers’ mind was that their enemies were scared out of their minds from the sight of Zethyr company. They slaughtered every last one of the Dronin forces without any resistance whatsoever.”
Mr. Connors waited to let the family think, and continued. “Later that night, twelve men died from unknown causes. It was reported by some of the others that these twelve men had been bragging about seeing the fear in their opponents’ eyes before killing them.” Mr. Connors looked at Ellen. She, of course, was already looking back. “The only serious clue they found was a pair of eyes on each of the dead soldiers that looked exactly like the ones in your head.” Mr. Connors pointed to Ellen. Ellen’s eyes grew wider as if to let everyone see what Mr. Connors was talking about. Mrs. Elmont let out a very small gasp. “What does it mean?” She inquired while looking at Ellen. “Ellen’s eyes have been that way for as long as we can remember.” Mr. Connors rubbed scratched his head for a moment. San’s best guess was that he didn’t have an answer.
He was right. “I told them about Ellen and they couldn’t make anything of it. But one thing is for sure. These deaths were definitely caused by the disease we’ve been studying all these years. San had just noticed that he had not eaten any of his food. He picked up the bag of fern salt and stood up immediately. He had forgotten about Sara and that she was waiting for him to came back for eat what she made for dinner. He almost ran off without telling everyone what was going on. “I have to go home. Sara was expecting me home a while ago.” Mrs. Elmont almost sounded ashamed of herself. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry I got you sidetracked.” San took off the quilt the quilt that was around his shoulders and handed it to her, but she insisted that he keep it. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Connors,” said San trying to remember to be polite. “The pleasure was mine,” he replied letting out his hand again. San shook it again, relieved to feel the warmth of Mr. Connors’ hand once more. As he walked out the door, he took one last, deep look into Ellen’s eyes as she smiled softly and closed the door.
Chapter Three: Unknown Faces
A thick fog covered the icy streets as he made his way back home. There was a blanket of dark blue cloud hid the moon. He was now having to guess what the Dronin were like because he forgot to ask before he left. Even worse, his aunt Sara would be furious that he stayed out so long. San wasn’t going to lose his train of thought this time though. He was wide awake and he had one thing on his mind. He tried to imagine what they might look like. He guessed that they were more like animals, with claws and teeth, only with enough of a brain that they could work in squads and armies. He imagined them as humans, only with dragon-like features. With eyes like Sornalga’s: deep yellow with slits for pupils. Perhaps they had tails and a snout. The way San imagined it in his head looked very ridiculous. He felt ridiculous for even trying to imagine them without any clues. Why did he even care?
He began to think about what Mr. Connors had mentioned. How twelve men had died from a telepathic disease, and that their cold, lifeless eyes had every similarity with Ellen’s eyes. What could that mean? Ellen has had those eyes as long as he had known her. Does it only kill men? San pictured those two unusual eyes. What does it mean? San felt his legs grow weak. He looked down, but he couldn’t see the ground, he couldn’t see anything except those two eyes staring back at him. His legs turned numb and he was sure he must be falling. He tried to put his arms out in front of himself to break his fall but they went numb as well. He screamed for help but he couldn’t even hear his own voice. The last thing he saw were those golden eyes staring straight into his. The blue flecks seemed to grow larger and darken. Then he could only see darkness. He couldn’t even feel the icy snow on his body. His mind was frantic. He could remember dropping the quilt just before he turned numb. What if nobody found him until the morning and he froze to death? His heart began to hurt. He wanted to cry. He wanted to think about everything that had happened in his life. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t remember anything.
The pain in his heart became greater and greater still. Then suddenly, the shroud of darkness around him disappeared. He thought he would surely be blind from the light, but the next thing he saw was a very distraught face looking down at him. It was a woman’s face. She had red-brown hair that was mangled beyond belief, a gaunt, boney face that was soaked with tears, and a small, perky nose. “San! Oh, thank God you’re awake! Are you okay? What happened?” San made a great effort to open his mouth. “I don’t remember…” He still couldn’t move his arms or legs. “Who are you?” he asked. The woman’s eyes grew wider. She looked relieved that he was able to use his senses. “It’s me, it’s me! It’s Aunt Sara. It’s okay, you’re alright,” she hugged him and he felt her warmth. Then, when she put her head up again to look at him, he replied, “Who?” Her eyes widened. She fell silent. San worked up enough strength to pick himself up.
He noticed three things. The first thing he noticed was that he was inside a house. The second thing was that he was on a very comfortable couch that looked like it was made for a cow to sit on. And thirdly, this woman was not the only other person in the house. There were about ten other people standing around the room, all watching him. One was a woman with dirty-blonde hair who was holding a plate of what looked like a fancy dinner. Another was a boy perhaps two or three year than him. He didn’t look at San but he could tell the boy was as worried as everyone else. Then there was a tall man with black-brown hair like the boy. He was in dark blue military uniform. It was composed of a chest plate, what looked like a kilt, segmented vertically for easy leg movement, covering his waist and upper legs, shin guards, and arm guards. All of the armor seemed to be made of tough, hardened leather. The armor had no tag but on the upper right of the chest plate was a name painted in white that read “Elmont” and had a “Z” under it. He was accompanied by six other men in military uniforms, but instead of a “Z”, each other soldier had a “G” The last person he saw was a pretty girl with blonde hair and white tips. Next to the woman who claimed to be his aunt, she had the most devastated face of all. Unlike the rest of the soldiers, the tall man named “Elmont” had his dark blue leather helm off and was stand with the boy and the woman with the food. He could only assume that these people were a family. But he noticed that the blonde haired girl looked nothing like the other people. Everyone in the family of three had black or brown hair with yellow eyes, but she had blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Who was she? San’s heart began to hurt again. His vision became blurry. He turned away quickly and realized his arms were hurting from holding himself up for so long. He got up off of the couch slowly, pushing a mountain of about five heavy blankets off of his legs. The whole house was silent. Then, his feet touched the floor.
The next thing he heard was screaming and a loud click. He stopped. His heart pounding, San looked to the left to see what made the clicking sound. Right behind the couch was a large man and a tall skinny man who wore what looked like a black doctor’s suit with a mask, and a visor. The large man wore the same armor as the other soldiers, but green and with a large triangular pauldron on his right shoulder. It also seemed as if his armor was larger and didn’t even show his neck. The other soldiers’ helms were made of hardened leather, a black, one-way visor, and had a cloth mouth guard. His helm, however, had a silver star in the middle, a white, one-way visor, and a hardened leather mouth guard. The name on his armor read “Krane” and had a “G” under it. His visor was down so he could not see the man’s face. But what that really caught San’s attention was the thing in his hand. In Krane’s hand was a large, silver pistol with a barrel as big around as San’s lower leg, and as long as two glass bottles. It had two quarter-sized lenses on top, one in front of the other, and an etching along the side of the barrel read “TR-G”. It was pointing right at him and San realized why there was screaming. He looked behind him where he saw the blonde-haired girl having her hands tied together and being forced across the room by two soldiers. Soldiers began to aim their weapons as a dozen more came in. San heard Krane speak for the first time. “I want the two children in one carrier, the adults in the other…” He felt his hands being pulled behind himself and tied together. He was too afraid to struggle. “…and Elmont…” Krane continued, “…you are no longer a soldier of the Tyrnoss Republic.”
Elmont looked as if he would cry. “Now, take them to quarantine. We may not be able to stop the disease, but we can protect the world from it.” San stared at the ground confused as he and the girl were guided into a large metal wagon with a hard, leather cover. On the bottom were large skis made of steel. In the front of the wagon, stood a black wolf that was about the size of a horse if not bigger. It had steel armor plating that was white, like the rest of the wagon, and reins of thick chain connecting the wagon and the headpiece. Inside the wagon were two metal benches on either side. The girl sat down on one side and San on the other. When they were both in the wagon, a man closed a large metal door on the back and locked it. The wagon started to move. As it got farther and farther away from the warm little house, the two children could hear distant screams of grief and dismay.
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