• Note: Earlier and later chapters are posted in the arena.

    CHAPTER 3


    The camp was the biggest Matt had ever seen and it looked more secure. Guards stood close to the entrance with swords in hand. There were four buildings; three of them small and in the middle was a larger two story building. The biggest one was used for scientific and medical purposes. One of the other buildings was used as weaponry. The last two buildings were used as sleeping quarters. There were never enough beds for everyone but nobody slept at the same time which made sleeping arrangements convenient.

    Matt was sitting in a lobby like area, now wearing clean clothes. The room he sat in was all white. There were chairs lined up all down the room. After an hour of sitting with his eyes closed, he opened them to the noise of an opening door. He looked behind him and saw a man. He was wearing a whit lab coat, pants and a grey shirt underneath the coat. He had slick silvery hair and wore brim eye glasses.
    “I apologize for the wait.” He spoke calmly. “We were doing some work on Zurich.”
    “It’s Crazy damn you!” Came a voice and he ran up beside the scientist, “Honestly, how many time do I have to tell you to call me Crazy?”
    “And I told you before that I don’t do nicknames.”
    Crazy shook his head, “This a*****e is Lex.”
    “And this ‘a*****e’ just gave him a new arm.”
    Crazy held up his new arm, it was silver and robotic. He wiggled his robotic fingers and smiled, “It is pretty awesome!”
    Matt looked confused, “How come you weren’t bleeding to death once you lost your arm? Not that I wanted you to bleed to death.”
    “I can answer that.” Said Lex, “If you are hit by one of those orbs that the Hunters use and if it doesn’t completely kill you, it will just cauterize the wound, meaning it will just seal it off leaving no room for blood to come out.”
    After Lex was finished with his explanation, a tall, muscular man burst through the door.
    The man looked down at Matt, “Stand up boy!” and Matt shot up from his seat, “So this is the new comer?” Lex and Crazy both nodded. The man shook his head, “Pathetic. We’ll never win this war with weaklings like him. How is this scrawny piece of crap going to be of use to us?”
    Crazy shook his head, “He’s not a piece of crap! He saved my life.”
    The man just laughed, “We’ll just see how useful he really is.” He said and walked back out of the building.

    Lex slapped Crazy across the head, “You don’t talk back to him like that. How many times do I have to tell you? Just smile and nod. He took you out of the dark world and he can put you back in.” Crazy opened his mouth, about to reply, but the words didn’t come and he just closed his mouth. Lex then looked to Matt, “So Zurich tells me you’re interested in a certain device.”
    Matt nodded, “Yeah, of course!”
    “Follow me then.” Lex turned around and walked back in the room he came out of. Matt followed him in. “Now we’re going to have to put you out for about twenty four hours, unless of course you want to stay awake, that would hurt though.”
    Matt shook his head, “Nah, I don’t really like pain.” He laughed.

    Hours had past and Matt walked back into the lobby, alone. Crazy was sleeping on a couch with his butt hunched in the air. “I’m back!” Matt yelled in an attempt to wake Crazy up.
    He shot up out of the couch, “I’m awake, I’m awake!”
    Matt laughed and shook his head, “I should now be able to see in the dark.” “That’s great!” Crazy said.
    “Yeah, but my head is killing me.”
    “Yeah, it’ll hurt for a good twelve hours or so.” Crazy said and started out of the building, follow me if you want a place to rest.” Matt followed and once they came out, Crazy gestured toward a smaller building. They went there. Once they entered, Matt examined the place. On both sides of the building there were eight beds, some of which were being occupied. Crazy pointed toward an empty bed, “You can sleep there. Well you can sleep in any vacant bed. No one sleeps at the exact same time; everyone is awake at one time or another.”
    “Thanks.” Matt said and hopped into the bed.
    “Come find me when you wake up, I’m sure the boss will have chores for you.” Crazy smiled and walked out of the building. Seconds later, Matt had already fallen asleep.

    Jack looked at the oncoming orb. So this would be the day he finally dies. But he couldn’t. Today didn’t feel right for him to die, there was still so much left for him to do. Jack quickly rolled forward in the nick of time; a second hesitant thought and he would have been a goner. Jack then quickly kicked the hooded man in the groin and he fell to his knees, groaning. He rushed off out of the alley way and kept on running, till he saw Matt. He came to a stop.
    Matt looked at Jack confused, “Who are you? Where am I? I’ve seen you once before in a dream.”
    “And I’ve seen you.” Jack said. “You found my journal.”
    “What does that have to do with anything?” Asked Matt.
    “It has to do with everything, it knows everything. I’ve had many dreams of you; you are the one who rids the world of this darkness. I failed, but you can succeed!” “What must I do?”
    “That is something you must learn on your own. I’m sorry, my time here is short. I must go!” He said and started off, disappearing into a thick fog.
    “Wait!” Matt screamed.

    “Wait damn you!” Matt looked around, realizing he was now awake. He had woken everyone up; including himself “I’m sorry.” Everyone mumbled angrily at him. Matt stood up and walked out of the building, “Was I actually talking to the dead this time?” He asked himself.
    “Hey!” Crazy called from a distance.
    Matt slowly walked toward him, “Hey, we need to talk.” Said Matt.
    “Oh yeah? What about?”
    “I’m leaving.”
    Crazy looked shocked, “Leaving? But you just got here!”
    “Yeah and now I’m leaving buddy. It was nice meeting you.” Matt turned away from him and started toward the gate.
    “Hey, wait!” Crazy yelled, grabbing Matt’s shoulder, “Where are you going?” Matt stopped and turned back around, “I think I can help stop all this.”
    “All what?” Matt pointed at the sky, “This darkness.” Matt started off toward the gate again and Crazy followed,
    “This darkness? No one can stop this darkness. There have been many attempts before. You’re crazy.”
    Matt laughed but kept walking, “No, you’re Crazy.”
    Crazy then stopped and crossed his arms, “Well, then I’m coming with, you can’t do this without your old pal Crazy! You’re going to need my brains anyway!”
    Matt turned around, smiling, “Great! Don’t you want to say your goodbyes then?” Crazy shook his head, “Nah, no one cares if I leave this place or stay.” Matt shrugged and with that they set off out of the gate without saying a word to anyone.

    After hours of endless traveling, they both agreed on making camp. It was cold and they had nothing to make a fire with. All they had to sleep on was the solid ground. Starvation started to kick in, “Why didn’t I think this through first?” Matt asked himself, “We should have packed food, I’m starving.”
    “Yeah, we should have.” Crazy agreed, “Let’s just get some sleep. Maybe we’ll forget all about hunger.” Matt nodded in agreement and they both laid down. Within seconds, Crazy had already fallen asleep, but Matt couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking of what might happen if they failed. If Crazy died, it would be his fault for letting him come along. He shook these thoughts off and slowly fell asleep.

    Matt woke up hours later, “No dream this time? Damn, I was hoping for more information.” He said to himself and stood up, looking down at the still sleeping Crazy. “Wake up!” Matt yelled, kicking him softly in the leg.
    Crazy woke up and looked around, confused, “Oh come on, can’t we travel later?”
    Matt shook his head and kicked him harder, “Nope. Let’s go. You’re the one who wanted to come with.”
    Crazy sighed and stood up, “What’s your hurry?” Matt ignored him and started off, Crazy followed.

    For hours, they didn’t say a word to each other. They just kept walking; both of them were starving and starting to get dehydrated.
    “I hope none of those big creatures attack us.” Crazy said, breaking the silence. “Yeah, what was that thing anyways?” Matt asked.
    “Well I’m not exactly sure. But I have heard of them and from the description, that thing matched. They’re called Ravagers, creations of the Empire. They supposedly used to be people, like us. People against the Empire, but were mutated and transformed into those things.”
    “Wow.” Matt said.
    “Yeah,” Crazy laughed, “What a lame name they have huh? I would have called them something cooler like eh; never mind, I don’t know what I’d call them” They both laughed but their laugh was cut short by a snapping of what sounded like a twig. They both sopped in their tracks, “What was that?” Matt asked.
    “It was probably nothing.” Crazy assured, “The dark lands can play tricks on your mind.”
    “Then how did we both hear it?” Crazy didn’t have an answer for his question. “Hey!” a loud girly voice came from behind them.
    They both turned around, “What was that?” Matt asked, and then came a girlish giggle.
    “Ok, now I’m just freaked out.” Crazy said.
    “Whose there?” Matt asked.
    “How about we run?” Crazy suggested and they both turned around, starting to run the other direction.
    A tall skinny woman, with stringy black hair looked into Matt’s eyes, “Boo!” She giggled and stabbed him in the stomach with a small knife. Blood started to trickle out of the wound as she pulled it out. Matt blacked out right after he saw her swing at Crazy.

    Matt woke up to the sound of the woman singing. She was holding the journal and flipping through the pages.
    “Ugh.” Matt groaned. He was blindfolded and hanging upside down. His feet were tied onto a rope. Crazy who was not to far away from him was also dangling upside down. Matt felt where he had been stabbed, there was no wound, it was gone. “Let me go!” Matt yelled. The woman slashed at the rope with her knife and he fell to the ground. She took the blindfold off and smiled, “One of my toys is awake!”
    She yelled with excitement.
    “Who are you?” Matt asked and looked at Crazy; no wounds seemed to be on him either. “What’s the magic word?”
    Before he answered he looked at his surroundings. The room was small, no windows. It looked like it might have been badly made by hand. Behind her lay his only escape, a door which was slanted at an angle, it looked like it was about to fall off.
    “Who the hell are you?” The woman looked shocked and smacked him in the face, “Bad, you said bad word!” She acted almost like a little kid but from the looks of it was obviously in her 20’s.
    “Can you please tell me who you are?” Matt asked, rubbing his face.
    “Umm, okay!” She giggled, “My name is Sandra, who are you?”
    “I’m Matt. Where am I?”
    “You’re in my house. I live here all alone.”
    Matt untied the ropes that were still attached to his feet and stood up, “Well it’s nice to meet you, but I need to get going.”
    Sandra smacked him, “You’re not going anywhere! I’m lonely!” She pointed her knife at him.
    “Please.” He begged, “I need to leave.”
    “Hmm, well if you need to leave so bad then take me with you!” Matt thought of it for a few moments.
    He didn’t want to lead her into danger but she was his only path out, “Okay, you can come.”
    She screeched with excitement and Matt covered his ears, “I’ll finally have people to talk to! I won’t have to talk to myself anymore!” She skipped off toward the door, waving the blade around, slicing through Crazy’s rope. He fell with a loud thud and she jumped out of the house. Matt walked over to Crazy and smacked him a few times to fully wake him up, untying the rope on his feet and taking off his blindfold.
    “Are you okay?” Matt asked.
    Crazy opened his eyes, “Oh yeah, I’m just perfect.” He said sarcastically, “Where are we?”
    “Remember that girl who stabbed us? We’re in her house.”
    Crazy jumped up to his feet and put his fists out, “Where is she? Let me at her!” Matt forced his fists down, “Calm down, she’s coming with.”
    “Coming with?” Matt nodded and walked out of the house.
    Crazy scratched his head and walked out; pushing on the door and it fell off, “Woops.” He said as he looked around his chest, “Hey, where’d my wounds go.”

    They had now set off once more. The house had become nothing more than a mere spec in the distance.
    “Okay, so how did my wounds heal so fast?” Crazy asked.
    Sandra tilted her head, “Well, you never had any wounds. They were just illusions, a mind trick.” Crazy gave her an odd look as she continued, “I can make people see things that I want them to see and I can make people feel pain. Only works on the weak minded though.”
    Crazy rubbed his chin, “Hey, wait a minute! I’m not weak minded!”
    “Sure you’re not.”
    Crazy gave her an angry and decided to change to subject, “So how can you see out here?”
    Sandra giggled, “I can see out here?” She said and skipped ahead.
    “Hey, Sandra, don’t go to far ahead. It’s dangerous out here.” Matt said.
    Sandra stopped and turned around, rolling her eyes, “Well you guys are too slow!” She whined. Then suddenly the ground started to shake and Sandra fell backwards.
    “Sandra! Get over here now!” Matt yelled. Sandra got up and ran toward Matt, trying not to lose her balance. But before she could run even ten feet the ground before her started to sink in. A Ravager burst from the ground, screeching its hideous screech. Another one burst from the ground behind Matt and Crazy. These two Ravagers were smaller than the last, standing six feet, but still hideous looking. “
    Crap!” Matt yelled and felt around his waist, “The orbs, I left them at the camp!” “Gee, how smart!” Crazy screamed. The Ravagers let out more hideous ear shattering screeches. Crazy and Matt turned around, looking the Ravager in the eyes. Crazy put up his fists in a fighting stance.
    “What’s that going to do?” Matt asked. Crazy shrugged and punched the Ravager in the face. But that just seemed to piss it off. The Ravager screeched and jumped on Crazy pushing him to the ground.

    Sandra had started to cry and Crazy seemed to be screaming almost louder than the Ravager. Sandra stabbed the Ravager attacking her in the face; it screeched and fell over, dead.
    “Matt!” Sandra cried, “Catch!” She tossed the knife and Matt barely caught it. Crazy tried to keep the Ravager’s head up so it wouldn’t bite him. It was chomping loudly, wanting its feast. Matt quickly stabbed it in the back and it screeched in pain as blood started to drip. The Ravager turned its head toward Matt and wrapped its tail around Crazy’s arm. It jumped off Crazy and started to run off dragging Crazy behind. “Not again!” He cried. Matt started to chase down the Ravager. It was very fast and seemed it would be impossible to catch. He had to take his chances with throwing the knife and he did. The knife flew and stabbed the Ravager in the back of the head. It crashed to the ground, sliding twenty feet before going to a complete stop. It just had to be sheer luck. Matt ran over to Crazy and cut the tail off of Crazy’s arm. Crazy was bleeding every where.
    “Are you okay?” Matt asked.
    “It’s better than being dragged naked.” Crazy said and passed out.
    Matt picked Crazy up and put him over his shoulder, “Damn you’re heavy.” He said and walked back toward Sandra.
    “Is he okay?” Sandra asked.
    “It’s better than him being dragged completely naked." Matt laughed.

    CHAPTER 4


    “Can we rest?” Sandra asked.
    Matt nodded, struggling with crazy, “Minus well wait till he wakes up. I can’t keep walking like this”
    “Good, I’m tired!”
    Matt smiled and laid Crazy on the ground. His smile became a frown after he checked his pockets and found he only had Sandra’s knife, “Where’s the journal?”
    “Um?”
    “Where is my journal?” Matt half yelled, starting to panic.
    “Was that the book I took from you? I think I still have it…” Sandra said softly and checked her pockets, “I…I had it when we left, but now I don’t. It must have fell into one of those holes those monsters came out of.”
    Matt stared at her for a few moments, speechless, and walked toward her. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that…?” Suddenly something beneath him snapped and his leg became stuck in the ground. He was standing on what seemed to be wooden boards. They weren’t very steady, “Help Sandra!” He demanded. But before Sandra could help, the rest of the boards holding him up snapped and he fell twenty feet with a loud thud, Sandra almost fell with but kept her balance. For a few minutes, Matt couldn’t breathe from the impact. But his breath came back to him and he soon recovered. Surprisingly he had no big wounds or broken bones, just scratches.

    “Matt? Are you okay?” Sandra called down.
    “Yeah, I’m fine. I just got the wind knocked out of me. And I don’t think I can get back up. I’m going to find another way out. It looks like there’s another path down here.”
    “Okay.”
    “Tell Crazy when he wakes up that I’ll be back.” He said and started down a narrow tunnel.
    Lanterns lit his path down the tunnel and he soon led himself into a large room. He could tell he was far below the surface. This whole room was made from the earth. Except for the tree closed iron doors before him which were all lined up in a row. He slowly walked deeper into the room till he reached the middle, taking in his surroundings. But suddenly the way he had come from was sealed off with yet another iron door. He turned around and scratched his head, “Eh, well that can’t be good. Can it?” His own question was answered once one of the iron doors started to open. He turned back around and watched as dirt poured out of the cracks. The door was opened. In the door way stood a hysterically laughing man. He was on all fours, looking up at Matt, smiling a hideous smile. All he wore was a loin cloth and knives dangled from it. The man took one knife attached to his loin cloth and balanced the point of the blade on his finger, “Prepare to die dark reaper!” he screamed as he tossed the blade at Matt. But he quickly rolled out of the way and stared blankly at the man, “Wait! What the hell is a dark reaper?”

    “Don’t play dumb with me.” The man said as he took another knife into his hand.
    “Who’s playing dumb? I don’t even know what the hell is going on lately! First I find this journal which was written a few hundred years ago and…”
    “A few hundred years? You have the diary?”
    “Well…One of the people I was traveling with kind of lost it…”
    The man’s eyes grew wide. “If you truly are not a Dark Reaper…Then you’re just an idiot!” He growled and tossed the second knife toward Matt’s head but he jumped to his side. He had missed death by an inch. Matt quickly pulled out the knife given by Sandra and held it up, “What’s so important about this damn diary?”
    “Have you even read it?”
    Matt nodded, “Well yeah…A few pages.”
    “Then you know nothing.” The man reached toward another knife but before he could grab another Matt quickly threw his knife toward the man. The blade hit him straight in the chest. The man slowly looked down at the blade in shock as blood started to trickle out of the wound. It started to form a small puddle of blood at his feet. He grabbed hold of the knife and groaned in pain as he ripped it out. Blood started to rapidly pour from the wound now. After a few seconds, he landed face first into the ground. But he wasn’t dead...yet.

    “I can’t believe I just did that.” Matt said to himself. The man tried to push himself up with his hands but slipped back down from the bloody mess. Matt slowly walked up to him and snatched up the bloody knife. The door the man had come out of started to close shut but the one on the other side of the middle door started to open, “What now?” Matt asked himself. A tall man appeared in the doorway. He had long golden hair and wore a black cowboy hat. Unlike the last man, he was fully clothed. The man looked down at his dying ally and took out a thin disc like object from his pocket. He glared at Matt, “You will pay the price…”
    Matt put his hands up, “He attacked me!”
    “And now I attack you.” The man through the disc at Matt, blades extended all around. The object made a whistling sound as it flew toward him. But he ducked just in time and the deadly weapon flew right past him, but started to curve back around. Matt quickly charged his enemy, grabbing him and pushed him in the way of the oncoming weapon. The man screamed as the blades sliced through his arm like butter. It was still heading toward Matt so he quickly ducked once again and it flew into the doorway the man came out of. The door soon closed again. The man was still screaming, blood pouring to the ground, his arm, not intact.

    Matt decided he wasn’t going to kill the man. It already looked like he was in shock and killing him didn’t seem like the right thing to do, at least not now. Matt turned toward the last door and sure enough it started to open. Suddenly a large man came bursting from the door, taking part of the dirt wall with him for he was slightly bigger than the door itself. Matt looked up at the man in shock, “Someone really wants me dead…”

    This man was huge. He stood seven feet tall and he was six feet wide. He held a war hammer with both hands. He snorted like a like a pig and brought the hammer up then swung it down. Matt quickly rolled out of the way and the hammer hit the ground with a smash. Dirt started the pour from the ceiling. “This place is going to collapse you idiot!” Matt screamed.
    “I squash you like bug!” The man brought the hammer up and swung down toward Matt again. He quickly shot underneath the man’s legs and into the middle door. The room behind him started to collapse with dirt. The man screamed as he was covered in dirt, the whole room had filled up and the doorway was now sealed off. There was nowhere to go but forward. Matt started off down the creepy hallway, “I hope Crazy and Sandra are okay.” He said to himself.
    “They’re just fine, for now.” An eerie voice came from nowhere it seemed.
    Matt stopped and looked around, startled, “Who’s that?”
    “I could be your friend, maybe your enemy. The choice is yours to make.” A man appeared behind him, “But so far since you killed three of my men, you’re leaning toward enemy.”
    Matt quickly turned around and looked at the man now standing before him. He had short brown hair and dark red eyes that could kill. There was a hideous scar across his left eye. He looked like he was in his early 20’s. He wore a black trench coat which hung all the way to the ground and he held a short one handed sword in his right hand. It was blood red. A sheath hung at his left side.
    “So who are you?” The man asked and pointed the tip of his sword at Matt.
    “My name is Matt and ending up here was an accident. I meant no harm; I was just trying to defend myself.”
    The man nodded and pulled his sword away from him, sheathing it, “I would have defended my self as well if I were in your shoes. My name is Xero.” Xero started down the long hallway, “Follow me.”
    Matt nodded and followed.

    They ended up in a large empty room, a single light hung in the middle of the ceiling. Sandra and Crazy were both sitting at the end of the room up against the wall. There was one door on each of the four walls. They were made of iron like the others. Another man he did not know lay in the middle of the floor. He had black spiky hair and goggles on his forehead which allowed him to see in the dark when he was in the dark lands.
    He put his hand up, “What’s up new guy? I’m Ace.”
    “Matt.” He replied and looked at his friends who both looked confused, “So, who are you guys?” He asked and looked at Xero.
    “We’re the Brotherhood.”
    “What do you guys do? And what is a Dark Reaper? One of your allies called me that.”
    “A Dark Reaper is a man…Or woman who has been consumed by darkness. They work for the Empire. They feed on the dark; darkness is what gives them their power. Anyone can become a Dark Reaper, even you. We are trying to take down the Empire and these Reapers who are controlling the lands above. We have been fighting against the Empire since the Darkness started; I’ve lead the Brotherhood ever since our former leader Jack vanished.”
    “Ever since Jack vanished? The same Jack from the diary I found?”
    Xero’s eyes widened, “You found his diary?”
    “I did. But, Sandra took it and lost it.”
    Xero looked at Sandra and she gave a look of ‘I’m sorry’ back. Xero looked back at Matt, “Well, that diary is the only record of their ever being light. It says what the Empire was doing and what it plans to eventually do. Jack knew everything, he told me about his diary but when he vanished, so did that book. But we can find it later”
    “How did you know Jack?” Matt asked.
    “I’m over 300 years of age. Years ago, we discovered a cure for aging.”
    “Cure for aging?”
    “Yes, aging is nothing but a disease that should be stopped. Now that’s enough questions from you. How would you like to join our Brotherhood?”
    Matt nodded, “Well, I suppose joining a large group that is against the Empire would be a smart move. I’m sure us three by ourselves probably can’t do it.”
    “No, you couldn’t. My sister tried to take the Empire down alone.”
    “Sister?”
    “You’ll all need training before you take them down.” Xero said, ignoring Matt. Xero unsheathed his sword, “You will be training with blades. I’ll start you with wooden swords.” He sheathed his sword back and started toward a closed door which slowly opened. Xero walked through the doorway.

    Ace smiled and jumped to his feet, “Dude Matt, never ask Xero about his sister. She died fighting the Empire.”
    Matt nodded understandingly, “I meant no disrespect.”
    Ace shrugged, “Hey, just letting you know.” He said and went through the door Xero had gone through. Matt looked at Sandra and Crazy, “You guys okay?”
    Crazy nodded and stood up, “I’m ‘A’ okay.”
    Sandra smiled and stood up, “I’m tired.”
    “Maybe we can get some rest. Let’s go.” Matt said and walked through the doorway. Sandra and Crazy followed.

    © 2009 Zakary Shupe