《When hell freezes over》


 1.001 - Winter Solstice 1

    Winter was drawing near and Jacob rushed out the door on his way to work, his breath drew wispy clouds as he turned the key in the door behind him.


    Starting a jog he pushed his keys into his coat pocket. He turned the corner and moved on to the bus stop. He arrived there at the same time as his bus. Jacob let out a wispy sigh of relief and entered the bus.


    After having scanned this bus card he found a free pair of seats near the center of the bus and sat down on the window seat. As he gazed out the window his reflection stared into the bus. The brown eyes seemingly fixed on the seats on the other side of the bus in front of him. The thick light brown hair of his reflection was unruly with bits of hair curling in every direction.


    It was still dark outside as the bus was making its way through the city. Jacob got his mobile from his coat pocket and checked his emails. Seemingly nothing serious had happened while he had been away to visit his father. He maintained a strict policy of not checking any emails or responding to messages when he was on holiday. Normally nothing happened, but even if something happened, they would have to figure it out alone. He needed his time off so he wouldn¡¯t go crazy with all the things running through his head demanding his attention.


    It wasn¡¯t as if his job was really important or essential. He was just the guy responsible for archiving and finding lecture for the university. The worst case scenario was that an essential old manuscript was lost or wrongly archived. No manuscripts were allowed to be checked out and copies had to be made or a digital high-resolution scan was handed out to the interested parties.


    He had read many of the manuscripts because honestly most of the time he sat on his hands having nothing to do. With the digitizing project going on the job too easy really, where he only had to find the relevant manuscript in the digital archives and provide a secure USB stick with the relevant documents copied onto it. Very rarely did he have to go into the climate-controlled archives to find the actual manuscripts and bring them to the manuscript study rooms.


    Most of the documents he had tried to read and decipher were old Gaelic manuscripts written in Ogham, a very old script that resembled more a 3-year-olds drawing of a tree than an actual alphabet. Reading those was slow because he had to turn the branches into Latin letters and then translate the old Gaelic words into something he could understand. Not always useful, not always rewarding, but it made the time pass by. He had learned a lot about the old Irish from the hides and stones in the archives, what they liked to eat, where their armies moved, who disputed what claim and what superstitions they held.


    Before he had gone on his visit to his father he had found an interesting manuscript that detailed some ancient curse, but much more than the first outline he hadn¡¯t deciphered yet.


    As the bus passed a well-lit supermarket he snapped out of his thoughts and quickly pressed the button signaling he¡¯d like to get out at the next stop. As he got out of the bus the cold hit him in the face and he pulled up the collar of his coat and quickly stepped towards the courtyard entrance of the university. As he rushed through the cold university courtyard a woman fell into step at his side.She wore a white wool hat with a furry edge and brown wavy hair peeked from below it. Her gray eyes were lined with long lashes and she had a confident aura over her. A red scarf was wrapped around the bottom half of her face hiding her mouth and she had put her hands deep in her coat pockets.


    ¡°It¡¯s really cold right now isn¡¯t it Jacob. Do you think we¡¯ll have a white Christmas this year?¡±


    She asked with a bright voice that was slightly muffled by the red scarf she had covering half her face.


    Jacob slowed his pace a bit adjusting to the stride of the woman at his side.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, the weather reports so far only say it¡¯ll be cold and dry, not a mention of snow for the rest of the week yet. But who knows.¡±


    The woman nodded and looked up at the star-filled sky.


    ¡°Yea, the weather is pretty unpredictable around here and can change at the drop of a hat, but looking at the stars above I doubt that in the next few days some snow will fall¡±


    They had crossed the inner courtyard and entered through a pair of double doors into a large glass building. It consisted out of large rectangular square panes that were put together to form a big glass cube with no discernable joining parts. It had been the work of some architect that had wanted to make a statement about the light of knowledge reaching all corners or something. Jacob really hadn¡¯t paid attention when a colleague from the archeological department had explained it. He had just nodded and enjoyed the sun and the coffee in his hand whilst his colleague had talked about the history of the building.


    It had been built on a collection of old places of worship. There had been a monastery here, a druid holy forest before that and when the university was built archeologists had found traces of old pagan worship of nature spirits. It had seemed like an ideal spot for the university to gather all the knowledge arcane and mundane and to explore the mysteries of the world by the university founders, to keep the sites historical significance instead of having a shopping mall or something else built on it.


    The university was a big circular building with an opening to the street, a massive courtyard in the center and the opposite of the street courtyard entrance a big glass cube cutting the halves of the circle in two. When the sun would rise on the morning after the winter solstice you could see it through the street side entrance. If that hadn¡¯t been blocked by the big supermarket on the other side of the street. The sunlight would refract spectacularly in the glass cube giving it the impression as if it was a cube filled with raw primal fire. The supermarket was an addition that was built five years ago, the university had protested, but the city had ignored the protests stating that the supermarket would help more than a fancy light show once a year.


    Right now the light of the stars was blended out by the harsh light from the led bulbs that were put in modern chandeliers. It wasn¡¯t to his taste, but who was he, just a simple archive manager.


    The woman closed the door behind them and turned to Jacob.


    ¡°So, will you come to the winter solstice celebration tonight in the woods? There will be a nice bonfire?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know Briss, parties aren¡¯t really my thing, but I guess I can show up,¡± Jacob replied to Briss with a noncommittal shrug.


    The winter solstice celebration had been an idea from some students who really wanted an excuse to party and start a big bonfire whilst being dressed up. Jacob didn¡¯t really care that much about going to that celebration. It would most likely be cold, loud and frantic, all things that he really could do without. But Briss looked at him expectantly and she was one of the few people that actually sought him out and talked with him. He didn¡¯t really have that many other people he talked to at the university.


    ¡°But I won¡¯t make it late though, I still have to work tomorrow.¡± He said hesitantly whilst opening his jacket.


    ¡°Nice, then I won¡¯t be all alone at the party!¡± She answered with a wink.


    She turned around and went towards the elevator. He looked at her as she moved away and had a little smile around his mouth. Then he rubbed his hands, blew in them and started moving to the stairs on the left. He could take the elevator too but he wanted to get in some exercise by taking the elevator. He hated going to a fitness studio when you could just as easily just walk and use stairs to stay moderately in shape and the archives were just two floors down. This had the added benefit that no well-meaning fitness trainers came over giving pointers about how you were using the devices wrong.


    He opened the door to his workplace and stared into the large dark room. All that was visible was the lit shape of the door on the floor but the rest was so dark he felt he could cut it with a knife. Normally some computer would be running and illuminate other parts of the room, but he had turned everything off before he went on his visit. Save the planet and whatnot. He did his small part. He fumbled in the dark for the light switch and clicked it. With blazing fast speed, he saw how the soft led lights on the ceiling spring to life. If you¡¯d pay attention you could see the speed of electricity as it found its way to the individual lights.


    How good it was to live in the modern era with modern marvels with easy lighting and heating.


    He didn¡¯t have to turn on heating, the climate in this room was carefully controlled to make sure the hide, papyrus, wooden and all other kinds of materials manuscripts could be handled without large risks. Of course, some manuscripts needed special conditions for permanent storage, but the occasional retrieving of it, to study it or digitize it the temperatures and humidity here were sufficient. For really special manuscripts they had a special room that could be set to really specific conditions, and even a special container that could be flooded with water of a specific temperature and salt level to be able to study documents that had been submerged and would deteriorate fast if dried out without the proper procedures. But time limitations, expertise, and costs usually ended up them being stored submerged in specially balanced fluids to keep the manuscripts from deteriorating.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    He hung his coat on the coat standard next to the door and went over to his work station. After nudging the power button to wake up his computer he went to the coffee machine in the hallway and tapped the screen on it to wake it up too. After waiting around for a minute the coffee machine had woken up, heated itself and he could get a black coffee from it.


    With fresh coffee in hand and a nice coffee aroma filling the area around him he went back to his work station and got back to work.


    He looked at his appointment schedule for today. No-one. Not that he expected anyone to be interested in visiting the archives so shortly before the Christmas holidays. People had better places to be. That suited him fine really, that way he had more time for his hobby, trying to interpret the old ogham manuscripts. He felt as if he was scratching at the history, learning old secrets, as if a window to the past opened and gave him a glimpse of how life was back then. It was a place where it seemed that trolls, goblins, dragons, elves and all kind of mysterious creatures still lived.


    He knew that it was the way of the people then used to explain why structures suddenly failed, or entire villages were decimated when they couldn¡¯t find another explanation. Who would think roving army band when a farm burned down to the ground and the inhabitants brutally were torn apart. You would, of course, think a dragon did that. Better to give the unknown an explanation than an uncomfortable truth that would force your hand in acting instead of ignoring it. He could understand that. It was a simpler life, and little fairytales would give a nice excuse to not having to act on a marching army band you knew full well that would bleed your resources when met in battle.


    But it was nice to pretend dragons had existed. The writers of the manuscripts had believed in them at least and had written warnings of dens and routes where to watch the skies. It must have been a scary life back them, constantly being worried about elves trying to trick you, dragons swooping down to gobble you up and goblins trying to steal your shiny things and slit your throat.


    Jacob leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. Compared to nowadays that life seemed so exciting. Having to share the world with other intelligent creatures, having to outwit them, trap them, conquer them. Nowadays the only battles that were waged were humans against humans and those were mostly far away and over things that didn¡¯t influence him.


    He sighed and bent over to his computer and called up his last work file. It was a picture of an old calcified tree trunk that was scratched with what seemed like a lot of random cuts from top to bottom, as if someone had been using the tree as a calendar to count the days, with each notch being a day. This was however far from the truth. It was an old Gaelic dialect called Ogham. Even though he had translated more than a hundred manuscripts in Ogham he still couldn¡¯t read it from just seeing it. It was too different from what he was used to and to top it off you had to read it from bottom to top. Then if you could interpret it you still had an old Gaelic text that had to be translated in something he and others could understand.


    Technically it wasn¡¯t his job, all he really had to do is be here, take care of the room and provide help to those who wished to access the manuscripts stored here. He could play games on his phone all day if he wanted and nobody would bat an eye. His predecessor had even held dungeons and dragon sessions here for the students who had time off and spent most of his time making little builds to spruce up his game maps.


    He, however, had taken this job because history fascinated him, but he could never bother himself to sit in the lecture halls to get a masters degree or PhD in some history related study. Too many people and too much fluff going on there that didn¡¯t interest him like writing papers and such. He didn¡¯t care about the prestige that went with academic publishing and really could do without the pressure of having to publish to build a name for himself. All he really wanted to do is study old texts and catch glimpses of the past. A really simple wish but hard to make a living of. He had spent time working at the frying station at McDonald''s before he got this job, logging on to the university website to look at the catalog of texts they had published on their website, but they never published everything, just enough to get people interested and have them pay for access to the quite formidable collection of ancient texts.


    That¡¯s how he had gotten wind that this position had freed up when his predecessor had plans to leave this job. When he had first seen the job opening posted in the university newsletter he hadn¡¯t believed his eyes. A job opening where he would have access to more ancient texts then he would ever be able to read, and he would get paid for it too. Granted the job didn¡¯t pay much, but he could rent his small apartment, pay for essentials and his bus subscription, so all in all he had all his heart desired.


    When he had applied he had been able to convince his interviewer that he was the man for the job and had in great length detailed his passion for old texts and how excited he was for this opportunity. He had even spent a little over a hundred euros of his small McDonald''s wage to buy a cheap suit to look at his best for the interview. He had really wanted the job and done his best to prepare for the interview of a lifetime. He had read and tried to apply all the tips that he found online to be able to close the deal on the job interview.


    He had been so nervous when he left the university after the interview and to his surprise, he received a call an hour later that he had gotten the job. He had felt so thankful for having prepared so thoroughly and impressed them so much that they made the decision so quickly.


    It was only later that he had found out that he was the only applicant and that they were in a rush to find a replacement and that they would have hired a monkey if they had believed it could do the job. But that was later and he still remembered celebrating having gotten the job of his dreams.


    But now he had this job and somehow word had spread about his enthusiasm for ancient manuscripts. Most people here just ignored him as if he was just a mindless fan of real studying people, who went around with big words and big talk to pretend he belonged with it but in essence was still a burger flipper who got lucky with an easy job that involved just sitting behind a pc all day. Now his predecessor that had been a guy. They still talked about the epic Dungeons and Dragons sessions he held in his cellar, the battles and wars waged. Compared to the old archive master the new guy was just boring.


    But one professor had taken interest in him and asked him to help him with a tedious task of translating old Ogham texts into something more readable for a side project he was doing. Happy to be able to help Jacob had gladly accepted the guidance the man gave how to read it and what tools to use to translate the texts into something more readable by the masses.


    Normal work had to come first of course, but usually, normal work just revolved around being there and available. It rarely happened that new manuscripts were checked into the archive for digitizing and storage, but when that happened it was exciting to be here. There would be Conservator-restorers, students and a whole lot of tech to help with preparing, preserving, scanning and digitizing the manuscripts. But after that was done and the students a bit of handling old manuscripts experience richer the quiet would return to the archives with the occasional student or professor dropping by to check on a document or getting a high-quality digital copy from the archives.


    The university required all copies to be stored on a sturdy encrypted USB stick with protocols present about where and how the documents could be transported and published. The university spent a lot of money building up the digital database and was very cautious about protecting its hoard of digital scans. Some people who had been careless had been mercilessly dragged to court by the university for releasing its data into the world without consent by accidentally uploading it to the cloud on their PC''s. There were strict rules that had to be followed to be able to look and manipulate the digital documents.


    The first one that copies had to be fetched personally or by courier. They were not shared on the net but stored on an air-gapped file server where only Jacob and some important people in the university had access codes too. Any internet or network access on the file server would make it vulnerable to theft of the precious documents stored on it.


    For manipulating the documents it had to be done on a special pc that had no network connectivity whatsoever. This was enforced by physical checks, spot checks and an ironclad contract outlining the consequences of the files ending up on the internet. Adding to that all images were protected with an invisible unremovable watermark that would allow the university to find out who had checked out the file that had ended up on the internet.


    Most university professors and students reserved special notebooks with wifi cards and antenna removed and the ethernet slot soldered free from the motherboard to work with the images and had a different pc where they could make notes and work on their papers.


    It had seemed like overkill at first to Jacob, but as he heard that each lost image would cost the university roughly twenty thousand euros in lost revenue per decade he agreed it was in the universities best interest to protect the images as best as they could.


    These images paid in great part for the steep fees the journal publishers asked for access to their papers. The university would probably provide access to the manuscripts for cheaper or free even if those journal subscriptions weren¡¯t so expensive.


    Since he had started this job he had translated or at least did his best to translate the documents in Ogham. So far he had translated 142 manuscripts stored in the digital database. They went from the mundane from road signs or territory markers to warnings about dragons in the sky. The professor had been very grateful for his help, even if his quality wasn¡¯t that of a student or a professor, but it saved the man a lot of time he said to know on which manuscripts to focus and which ones to leave there. He seemed to be looking for something specific, but he wouldn¡¯t say what he was looking for as not to influence his most favorite Ogham translator. He needed objective translations. Jacob didn¡¯t care much about the motivations of the professor. It was interesting to work and it showed a lot about how the world worked back them. That¡¯s all he wanted really.


    Jacob took a sip of his coffee, moved his neck, stretched his arms, and set to translating the mysterious warning about a curse text. He wondered who got his cabbages cursed this time.

 1.002 - Winter Solstice 2

    After an hour of painfully copying dashes and stripes on the image to Unicode characters in a text document, Jacob stretched himself out and let out a deep sigh. A quick glance at the clock let him know it was 8 o¡¯clock. It was almost time for sunrise. Even though through the addition of the supermarket the big light show was greatly diminished, there was still a three-minute window where a remnant of the effect would be visible as the sun rose over the supermarket.


    He saved his work and locked his computer. Taking his coffee mug and coat he made his way to the coffee machine and got himself a new cup of coffee. Whilst the coffee was being brewed by the machine he put his coat on. He checked his mobile for the time, three minutes past eight, the sun would rise in eleven minutes. Grabbing his coffee he made himself on the way to the stairs. He saw the elevator moving up in the glass shaft. Almost everyone wanted to see the fiery spectacle that happened once a year.


    When he got in the glass lobby he saw that the sky was noticeably lighter than when he had arrived for work, dawn would quickly be here. He took a seat on one of the seating spots in the lobby to let the last minutes pass in warmth before he would go out there in the cold. No use going out in the cold to freeze there for ten minutes when you could let the time pass comfortably from the relative warmth of the lobby.


    A lot of eager people were already streaming outside the lobby doors letting the cold outside air inside the lobby. Jacob could see the courtyard filling up already with university regulars and tourists that came to see the Solstice spectacle. A lot of the tourists that were there would afterward come in the university to have a guided tour of the Solstice event and the history of the university. Every year the same display would be put up and people could see the universities history, ties, and the mission.


    Jacob had followed the tour last year when he started to work here. It outlined that the building was inspired by the solar cycle, that the building was modeled after Stonehenge. If you would squint your eyes really hard you could see the similarities. The buildings surrounding the courtyard had 5 thicker tower-like structures connected by inset lower buildings. There were big glass panes around three floors from the top of the buildings that would allow you to look through it from the opposite tower. An artistic license would allow it to be a Stonehenge inspired building, but if you would look at it from the top it would look more like a watch dial.


    The university was dedicated to Archeology and related matters. It was an independent university, but many people still thought it would part of the larger university in the city. The university had been started twenty years ago by a couple of rich donors who felt the current university climate was too stifling for fresh ideas that would not fit the conventional generally accepted wisdom. Whether that¡¯s true or not that was a matter of debate, but it was the perception of the founders at least. It had taken the founders several years to find the staff and getting all paperwork in order. Ten years ago the building had completed construction and the university had started to grow. Archeology was made the main focus and the study of the past cultures, most of the staff had been hired in those and related fields. They had their own particle accelerators in the basement to do carbon dating, several experts on cultures and religions and much more.


    In the last ten years, the university had grown as a known name in the field of archeology and many people who wanted to study archeology or learn of the past would choose to study here because of the expertise of the professors here and the many chances to study in fields that would interest the student.


    If a student had a fascination with a certain moor or field the university would do all it could do to accommodate the student to study it and explore all avenues. Even if nothing was found that was good too, it was still a learning experience for the student and it gave another plot of land that could be marked as explored but nothing of significance found helping future students and archeologists to look at the data gathered so they wouldn¡¯t have to do the same work twice, or they could explore an avenue that hadn¡¯t been looked for the first time around.


    Alternative theories of how things might have been would not be instantly be dismissed but explored and then a paper was written why such a theory could hold merit or no merit at all. The main focus would be that something would be learned from it. They tried to steer away from the publish mentality and the more papers published the better it was to a focus on the learning and improving oneself, to not discard anything beforehand, but to study why something could not be or could be.


    The university wasn¡¯t rich, it lived mainly from donations from the main donors and what it could make by selling access to its trove of historical documents and papers and archeological databases.


    Access to those items was free for faculty members, but other universities and institutions would have to pay for access to the trove of information held.


    There had been debates initiated by students and other faculty members that access to information should be free and not hidden behind a paywall, but it came down to that the university didn¡¯t have that many sources of income and the university would go bankrupt if it wouldn¡¯t sell access. They didn¡¯t publish in the big magazines like Elsevier to keep costs affordable for other universities, their papers were cheap compared to the fees Elsevier would charge for access. They didn¡¯t have any fancy patents they could use to generate steady cash flow, and not a lot of people had graduated from the university, so donations from alumni were sparse too.


    It did cost what extra in the management of the documents and making sure the peer review would happen by external experts, but that was a small fee to pay for making sure access to the gathered universities knowledge would stay affordable and accessible.


    This all was of course also explained on the tour and was a source of pride of the university that they were independent and could decide their own course and explore interesting avenues without the pressure of having to find something that would be ¡°publishable¡± material. Knowledge gathering first was the theme that would be shown throughout the tour. At the end of the tour, the suitably impressed people would end in the small museum where some archeological artifacts would be on display and of course offered to become a donor to the university. You would get a free t-shirt if you¡¯d sign up to donate monthly or yearly to the university. Jacob had declined to become a donor, it would be strange in his mind to give back from the salary he received to the university. He would donate by doing his best at his job and helping the faculty staff out if they¡¯d require his assistance.


    Taking a sip from his coffee he looked outside and saw that the supermarket had a golden orange glow around it. It must almost be time. He got up and sauntered outside to join the throng of people gathered to watch the spectacle. As he reached the crowd a bright orange-gold sliver was visible over the supermarket.


    He turned around and saw how the light struck the glass cube and started reflecting and refracting within the cube and as the sun rose higher it was as if the cube was filled with blazing golden fire radiating with primal power as if it were to melt the world around it so hot.


    Many people would shield their eyes with their hands against the warm intense light, others had come prepared and put some sunglasses on.


    If you¡¯d put on the sunglasses the fire would seem to be alive. The architect had ordered a special type of glass that had microscopic artifacts embedded in it that would make it look as if the fire was moving as the sun rose into the sky, making it swirl and dance around the building as if the essence of creation was caught within the glass cube.


    Jacob imagined what would happen if you could actually contain energy like that and shoot it out something. That would give a pretty explosion he imagined, the earthy scorched by primal energy. And like it started it was over, the sun had set too high to enable the full effect and now just reflected off the building showing only a faint shadow of the intensity it had shown before.


    Some faculty members started herding the tourists, enticing them to join the tour and heating up with some complimentary hot tea. A lot of people started back to the glass cube to continue work, Jacob joined the masses lining up to enter through the glass doors.


    He saw Briss a little further up in the mass of people and made his way to her side, apologizing to the people as he nudged past them.


    ¡°Hey Briss, that was a nice show, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    Briss looked to Jacob in surprise.


    ¡°Oh hey, I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d come out for the show. You should have told me, I would have found you beforehand.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know beforehand either. I just happened to have finished a translation at eight and noticed the time and thought why not watch the show. So don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    ¡°You finished a translation? What was it this time? A border marker?¡± Briss asked with interest.


    Briss was studying ancient geography and was specializing in the historical geography of southwest England. Anything to do with borders and things that gave insight into the layout of ancient domains and regions held her interest.


    ¡°No, this time it was something kind of unique, it was a quite long text and it held some details about a curse. The curse was a strange one, but interesting nonetheless. I wonder what professor Balduin will think of it.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The line of people moved forward slowly and Briss rubbed her hands and wrapped her arms around herself to warm herself a bit from the cold.


    ¡°What did the curse say? Did someone hex an old lover or something?¡±


    ¡°No, nothing like that. It was more like a retelling of the curse, to inform you could say. If you come with me I can let you read my translation of the curse¡±


    Briss¡¯s eyes lit up at that invitation and she nodded eagerly


    ¡°Sure thing, I¡¯ll tag right along as soon as we finally get inside.¡±


    Jacob nodded and looked at the throng of people slowly entering the building. They were nearly inside. Inside the glass cube, you could see how the people went to their respective buildings or queuing up for the elevator to go to their underground departments.


    The university didn¡¯t have much room available but underground a large complex was expanded of five underground floors.


    On the courtyard, you could see a lot of large white opaque domes surrounded by shrubberies that would feed natural surface daylight to the underground rooms via a complex system of mirrors and fiber optic cables. His workplace didn¡¯t have the luxury of surface daylight as to maintain a tightly regulated environment where no harmful radiation would deteriorate the manuscripts stored there.


    Finally, Jacob and Briss entered the building and Briss slaked a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Finally out of the cold. I wish that people would enter a bit faster when it¡¯s so cold out there.¡±


    Jacob nodded sympathetically


    ¡°So, you¡¯re still interested in reading the curse? I have a coffee machine near my workplace?¡±


    Briss¡¯s face perked up.


    ¡°Does it serve hot chocolate? I could really do with a hot steaming mug of chocolate right now.¡±


    ¡°Err, I¡¯m not sure, we can check it out though¡± Jacob replied unsurely.


    ¡°Alright then, the quest for the Hot Chocolate Grail begins¡± Briss exclaimed enthusiastically.


    Jacob really hoped that machine would serve some hot chocolate and not just coffee and hot water. Briss would probably become irritated without the hot chocolate and she wasn¡¯t pleasant to be around when she was irritated.


    Jacob and Briss descended the stairs together to the archives and checked out the coffee machine. Under the menu option other there was an option for hot chocolate milk. Whilst the coffee and hot chocolate was being prepared they hung up their coats in the garderobe around the corner. The mood saved and fresh coffee and hot chocolate in hand they entered the archives.


    ¡°It¡¯s not oft that I get down here,¡± Briss said whilst looking at her surroundings. ¡°But it¡¯s really kinda boring here. I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong, it¡¯s impressive, but all there is here are these really long rows of storage cabinets, some examining rooms, and your workplace. This place could really use some personality, some decoration¡±


    Briss eyed the room around her critically.


    ¡°If you¡¯d place a few posts of printouts of some old texts on the walls and some display cases with some old tomes or scroll on display it would look a lot more appetizing here. There would be at least some atmosphere instead of this cold clinical environment¡±


    Jacob shrugged whilst logging onto his computer.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really care about how it¡¯s decorated here. I¡¯m not going to invest my own money into spicing this place up, and the university won¡¯t pay for it I¡¯m sure, not to withstanding my nonexistent talent in decorating stuff.¡±


    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right,¡± Briss said whilst nipping her hot chocolate.


    ¡°So, where is your ancient curse.¡±


    Jacob called up an image of the original stone marker and his translation of the curse on the display.


    ¡°So, this stone marker was found in Ireland near an old worship place. These were the inscriptions that were on the stone. It¡¯s an Ogham dialect that translates into Gaelic¡±.


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    ¡°The hard part of translating these markers is turning the inscriptions on them into digital data. But once I¡¯ve translated them into Unicode characters I can use some online transliteration tools to translate it into something we¡¯re more comfortable with¡±


    Jacob clicked on another file:


    ¡°This is what you get when you transliterate it with latin characters:¡±


    Seanaoine a bheith s¨¦alaithe in ¨¢iteanna eile. Th¨¢inig saol as an saol. Beidh daoine saoil ¨® th¨²s in aice le h¨¢it eile in aice le s¨¦alaithe ag geata criostail in uaimh criostail. N¨¢ lig aon duine beo teagmh¨¢il leis an geata toisc go nd¨¦anfar a bheo a fhorgh¨¦illeadh. T¨¢ s¨²il ar ais.


    ¡°And this, this is what you get when you use google translate. I should really learn to read Irish¡± Jacob said when he clicked on a third file.


    Old people to be sealed elsewhere. Life came from life. People from the beginning will be next to another near sealed at a crystal gate in a crystal cave. Do not let anyone live in touch with the gate because their living will be forfeited. Hope back.


    Briss bent over to study the text on the screen.


    ¡°Hmm, google translate really isn¡¯t too accurate is it, no sense for style or intention it seems.¡±


    Briss pointed to a sentence on the screen.


    ¡°Life came from life, that¡¯s not right. I think it would be more accurate to have something like¡­¡±


    Briss tapped her lip as she weighed the options


    ¡°Life be gone from existence would be the best option I guess.¡±


    Jacob quickly wrote up a corrected version of the text. He was happy for the help, he hardly new Irish and he knew Briss studied more Gaelic and Irish old texts in the line of her research projects.


    ¡°Thanks, do you see any more improvements for the text?¡± He asked her as her eyes scanned the texts on the screen.


    ¡°Yea, in that second sentence the part `will be next to another` would be better suited as `will be in elsewhere` I think.¡±


    ¡°May I?¡± Briss asked as she hovered her hands over the keyboard.


    ¡°By all means¡± Jacob replied and stood up and offered her his seat.


    Briss sat down, copied the line from the text and started replacing words in the text, mumbling in herself whilst she deconstructed the text and tried to infer meaning to the text that was shown there.


    Finally, she turned around to Jacob after having wrestled with the text for a few minutes.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to know what they meant and what the context of the writing is and who the intended audiences were to be, but I think the text is best represented as the following.¡± She said as she pointed to the new lines under the google translation.


    Jacob bent forward and started reading the text on the display.


    Old ones be sealed in elsewhere. Life begone from existence. Begone life folk will be in elsewhere near here sealed by crystal gate in crystal cave. Let no living man touch the gate lest his live be forfeit. Hope has returned.


    ¡°Hmm, this does seem a lot more sensical than the google translation, but it¡¯s still not too clear is it?¡± Jacob asked, in case he missed some contextual meaning.


    Briss pointed at the word life in the text.


    ¡°See this, I think it should be life, but it could mean something else. Life also returns somewhere else in the text at life folk, so it seems to be an attribute, but what attribute I couldn¡¯t say.¡±


    Jacobs brows drew to each other


    ¡°An attribute? Like being able to breathe? Not being buried six feet under?¡±


    Briss thought about it for a moment


    ¡°Well, it could be something simple as that, but it seems to be some warning message. I would more think about it as an unknown extra attribute. Like people with blonde hair being fair hair and ginger-haired people having no souls¡±


    ¡°Okay, but you have no idea what this `life` would accurately portray in the current times?¡±


    ¡°Sadly no,¡± Briss replied whilst she got up from the chair.


    ¡°Without other related texts or contextual clues, it¡¯s hard to give meaning to a single expression.¡±


    Jacob took another look at the text.


    ¡°Do you think those old ones are the same as life folk?¡±


    ¡°It stands to reason Briss said, but it could also mean multiple groups of people or tribes. Again hard to tell without other clues. This text in itself does not provide many.¡±


    Briss looked at her phone and then smiled at Jacob.


    ¡°I spent more than enough time here warming up. Thanks for the chocolate, but I have a pile of work waiting for me upstairs. Let me know when you find something related to borders and regions will you?¡±


    Jacob nodded, he felt sad that she had to leave but he was happy that she had stood bend over and against him whilst she had worked on the translation. That had been really nice.


    ¡°It was nice having you over. I¡¯ll be sure to let you know when I find something interesting for you.¡±


    Jacob moved to the door and held it open for Briss who moved through it. As Jacob handed Briss her coat from the garderobe he wondered if he should ask her out for some after work coffee or something.


    Briss took the coat and said


    ¡°Thanks for the invite and the hot chocolate. I¡¯ll be seeing you¡±


    With that said Briss turned around started moving towards the stairs with purposeful steps.


    ¡°See ya¡± Jacob replied sensing the opportunity gone. Maybe he would dare next time.


    Jacob watched her ascend the stairs and stood there for a while mulling things over, he would definitely ask her next time if she wanted something to drink afterward.


    Jacob returned to his computer and studied the translation Briss had made. It was much better quality than that he could do with google translate and his very rudimentary understanding of Irish.


    He copied the texts in an email to the professor and checked out the next file to start translating. A photo of an animal hide inscribed with the Ogham dashes appeared on his monitor. Jacob sighed. A lot of the lines had faded or were barely visible. This would take a long while.


    As he was busy interpreting the scratches on the image before him into Unicode characters in a fresh document his mind kept wandering to the text Briss had helped him with. It was now a double interesting text because Briss had helped him with it and it called up so much more questions.


    Who were the old ones, who were the life folk and where was that crystal cave that was mentioned?


    Jacob saved his progress and called up the file of the stone he had translated and opened the metadata file.


    The stone was found in Ireland, near a site of worship, the Newgrange tumulus. It was estimated that the marker was placed there around 600 AD, an exact date couldn¡¯t be given, only inferred from the materials used and materials found around it.


    Jacob leaned back in his chair. He knew the Newgrange tumulus was suspected to be a place of worship, but that was not definitive. What would a stone marker with such a cryptic text do at such a place with unknown purpose?


    It was an old mystery. He doubted he would ever find the answer to the mystery. There were more mysteries that intrigued him, like the pave stone that had a curse written on it to spoil all cabbages that would pass over it.


    Jacob looked at the clock. Almost nine o¡¯clock. Still early but so far a nice and eventful day. He wondered if he should get a new cup of coffee or not. He decided to pass on the coffee, he already had two so early and decided to take a short stroll over the courtyard to clear his head and get his focus back.

 1.003 - Winter Solstice 3

    Jacob opened the door and was greeted by an image of an energetic looking woman sitting in his chair doing her best to spin as fast. The chair had been moved to the center of the room for maximum room and was spinning with great speed whilst the woman was holding on to the armrests whilst her legs were extended out whilst the chair spun her around. Her straight blonde hair held together in a ponytail flowed wildly behind her and her green eyes sparkled with joy.


    The woman in question was the professor in Archeology Paula Balduin. The same professor that set him on his mission to translate the Ogham texts.


    As her eyes set upon Jacob her feet slammed on the ground and she came to a halt.


    ¡°Jacob, my friend!" She claimed enthusiastically.


    Jacob winced. He wished she wasn''t so loud in this large quiet room. It was as if the sanctity of the ancient secrets here was disturbed by such callous behavior.


    The woman stood up slightly unsteady and took a second to regain her balance.


    ¡°I entertained myself a bit whilst I was waiting for you. I hope you don¡¯t mind, but there¡¯s nothing to do here when you¡¯re not here¡± she said with a renewed wide grin on her face.


    ¡°No problem professor, my apologies that I wasn¡¯t present. Do you need some documents checked out?¡±


    The professor walked to him and flung her arm around his shoulders and pulled him down to her and she gestured to the room before them


    ¡°Do you know why I set you to translating those documents? I was looking for something without knowing what it specifically was what I was looking for, more like stabbing in the dark hoping to get something¡±


    The professor unwrapped her arm from Jacob and stepped in front of him and poked him in the chest.


    ¡°Today you found something that I was looking for. A hint of ancient magic, an unknown belief that gives me something to chase¡±


    She turned around and clapped in her hands excitedly.


    ¡°I had you transliterating all those rocks and skins because I didn¡¯t have the time for it, but now with your help, we have a solid lead at something interesting that will make my name famous!¡±


    She looked over her shoulder and a twinkle was in her eyes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be credited too when I go public with what we found.¡±


    Jacob felt uneasy confusion building up in him.


    ¡°Uhm, what exactly are you talking about?¡± Jacob asked tentatively.


    He suspected it had to be the curse stone, but it could have been numerous documents he had translated. Maybe it had been something else, something with that war description he had translated last week.


    ¡°I¡¯m talking about your translation of the Newgrange marker of course!¡± The professor exclaimed.


    ¡°The text here has no reference at all to known mystic texts or old religions as we have known them, it was found at a location where it¡¯s unsure what it¡¯s original purpose was and it references the crystal cave.¡±


    The professor started walking back and forth excitedly whilst painting a picture in the air around her with her hands.


    ¡°The crystal cave is in my mind a very likely reference to Merlin''s cave. We have other texts that hint to his cave as a crystal cave or a mirror cave. But then the references to the others that are sealed and a gate!¡±


    The professor whirled around and pointed to Jacob and her eyes glowed with passion.


    ¡°This is a thing of history equal to king Tutankhamun''s treasure if we can find this crystal gate. It would send shockwaves through the community! Our names would be famous forever.¡±


    Jacob coughed politely to interrupt the exited monologue of the professor.


    ¡°I get that you are feeling excited professor, but why do you keep saying we? As far as I know I just translated that documented for you with the help of miss Mortimer. With that, my role in your side project is done as far as I know.¡±


    Professor Balduin stared at him for a moment and an annoyed frown slowly built upon her face. She walked towards the storage cabinets and slapped them with hand letting a metallic clang resound through the room that made Jacob wince. She slammed them again, even harder this time.


    As the echoes of the slams had faded away the professor spoke up looking earnestly at Jacob


    ¡°Do you hear that Jacob? Do you hear the silence after the bang?¡±


    Jacob was unsure how to respond to the erratic behavior of the professor that just had pummeled the storage cabinets of priceless archeological artifacts so callously. He settled on a slow nod.


    ¡°That silence after the bang are the boring parts of history, nobles stealing some lands, a revolution in an area, some king killing another king. Interesting in itself, but relatively boring and more of the same, just history repeating itself over and over, just different players.¡±


    She slammed the cabinet again letting a loud clang resound through the room again.


    ¡°The bangs, the periods of history where really large changes suddenly happen to upset the long-held status quo are the interesting parts. The parts that are hinted at by not making sense initially. The parts worth investigating and investing time in. Why did Babylon rise so suddenly and become so huge early on with no rival to its name? How could Alexander the great or the Mongol empire spread so fast and so far? How could a simple assassination in a backwater country lead to a world war?¡±


    She walked backed to Jacob and looked him sternly in the eyes.


    ¡°That is in part why this university was founded. To research new things, to build new paths. To walk roads that conventional universities don¡¯t dare to walk afraid of reputation loss. That''s why I work here instead of a university where I would get a lot more salary.¡±


    Jacob nodded again, unsure how to handle this sudden lecture. The professor noticed his insecurity and her face mellowed. She pointed to the chair.


    ¡°Please sit down Jacob.¡±


    As Jacob sat down on the chair that still stood in the middle of the room, the professor took an envelope from her jacket and handed it to Jacob.


    ¡°Here, read that.¡±


    Jacob opened the envelope and took the letter from it. It was printed on official university stationary, the same kind his contract was on that he signed to start this job. An eerie feeling came over him.


    When Jacob was done reading it he stared at the professor who was beaming broadly at him brimming with excitement.


    ¡°Why?¡± he asked keeping his eyes locked on the professors.


    The professor smiled and waved around the room


    ¡°Because this isn¡¯t a place for you dear Jacob. Sitting in this room, drinking the awful coffee from that machine in the hallway. When we first spoke you mentioned your interests, your urge to know more, your self-motivation in translating things. This will give you the option to explore even more with even more freedom.¡±


    Jacob shook his head.


    ¡°You are interpreting my interests incorrectly professor. I just translated the texts because I thought it was fun. It¡¯s a hobby that I happened to make my work. I¡¯m perfectly fine here in this spot. You can find someone else more suitable for this.¡±


    Surprise flashed over the professors face. She had probably expected him to jump at the opportunity. But he was serious. This was the ideal job for him. Nobody disturbed him here most of the time and he could just do whatever he wanted.


    ¡°Jacob, you¡¯ve been invaluable to me the last few months that you helped me. That¡¯s why I¡¯m doing this.¡±


    She sighed and then spoke on a softer tone.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you know already, but your job is going to be automated next year. They¡¯re investing in an automatic copy and delivery system which is in the final stages of being tested.¡±


    She pointed to the isolated server at the back of the room.


    ¡°That thing is going to be replaced with a newer model so that when people scan their code a USB stick will drop out the slot like a vending machine. You¡¯ll be fired then as a cost-saving measure¡±


    Jacob¡¯s just stared at the professor and shook his head in disbelief.


    ¡°No, they would have told me. I asked them when I was hired if they were planning on doing something like that. They said they didn¡¯t want to invest the money in the development of such a system. That it would be too expensive for a third party to develop such a system¡±


    A sad look came over the professor¡¯s face.


    ¡°You have been lied to by them, Jacob. It was the reason your predecessor left. When he got the news he went job hunting and left here as soon as he got an offer. To the dismay, I might add, of a lot of the students and staff here. No more cellar Dungeons and Dragons. If you doubt that you can ask your friend Briss. Everybody here knew. I assumed you knew too that this job was temporary.¡±


    Jacob stared at the letter in his hands and felt as if the floor had vanished under his feet. He had finally found a dream job he had believed to be secure. A nice job, away from people and distractions where he had so much time to do what he loved. It was too good to be true. Every good thing is followed by a bad thing. You could never relax and take it easy. He felt tears coming up in his eyes.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    ¡°It''s unfair¡± he muttered under his breath


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. They should have told you from the start. They must have thought that you wouldn¡¯t take the job if you knew it was only temporary. They have had a lot of rejections on the job posting.¡±


    The professor approached him and put her hands on his shoulders. Jacob looked up at her from the chair he was still sitting in.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I made you this job offer. I have a free spot for an assistant and my last assistant left three weeks ago. I got permission to hire you as an assistant from the board on the condition that you continue to work from here mostly until the new server is installed.¡±


    She tapped the paper in Jacob¡¯s hands.


    ¡°Really, I won¡¯t ask that much for you to do and a lot of your work will still be translating a lot of things for me as you have been doing so far. You¡¯ll also accompany me when I go on a field trip to help carry things and to serve as a witness and some other things.¡±


    The professor stepped behind him leaving her hands on his shoulders and pushed him to his computer. The chair started rolling and Jacob lifted his feet a little bit. He could just as well go with the flow at this point. It seemed a choice was really taken from him.


    ¡°Please log in Jacob.¡±


    The professor asked as they had arrived at his computer. Jacob did as he was told and unlocked his computer.


    The translated text popped to life on the screen where it had been before he had gone on a stroll, which now seemed like ages ago. He felt as if the world had flipped and he had missed it flipping.


    ¡°Excellent. Now, look at this. I¡¯m planning to visit Merlin¡¯s cave at Tintagel castle today. Maybe that¡¯s the crystal cave referenced there in the text. Maybe it¡¯s not, but it¡¯s worth a shot and it¡¯s been ages since I was out there. Maybe we¡¯ll find another related clue there.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what? Isn¡¯t that cave just a normal cave at sea level. There¡¯s nothing crystal about it¡±.


    Jacob knew it was just a regular cave. He had been there as a child on a family holiday. It was a cool cave, but rather normal as caves go. His father had told him some stories about Merlin probably living there, doing his magic preparations there and the like. He remembered that time fondly of when he still believed that things like magic and knights were real.


    ¡°True, but it¡¯s the best lead we¡¯ve got we can act on quickly. Look at this text `sealed by crystal gate in crystal cave`. I¡¯m very curious about this crystal gate in this text. Maybe it¡¯s a crystal cave in Ireland that¡¯s meant, but Tintagel is just a little more than an hour away and it¡¯s worth taking a look there isn¡¯t it. Plus, I haven¡¯t had a valid excuse to get out there in a few weeks¡±


    Professor Balduin stood up and looked expectantly to Jacob.


    ¡°So, what do you say. Wish to keep working here and help me discover interesting things or do you feel like looking for a new job somewhere¡±


    Jacob thought back to his job at McDonald''s, the midnight shifts and the weekend shifts and really didn¡¯t need to think long to weigh his options. What professor Balduin had said sounded logical and probably also in the line of expectations really. Plus it might be nice to get road trips somewhere and to see a bit of the world.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a study in archeology or know anything really except what I just read about online and such. I¡¯m sure there are more qualified people out that could serve as better assistants. Why choose me? I¡¯m sure there must be plenty of archeology students who¡¯d like that position.¡±


    The professor relaxed and smiled warmly to Jacob sensing he was about to say yes to her proposal.


    ¡°Well, for starters, you work hard and you don¡¯t complain about tedious tasks like translating hundreds of texts, and you have an interest in the field and I like working with you. Plus you won¡¯t bother me all day long with questions about your thesis or research subjects.¡±


    Jacob put the contract on his desktop and opened a drawer. After rummaging around in the drawer he had found a ballpoint and put his signature on the contract.


    ¡°Alright, guess you have an assistant now then,¡± He said wryly.


    ¡°Awesome!¡± The professor exclaimed whilst grabbing the freshly signed contract.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get this to HR immediately. You prepare for the road trip, I¡¯ll pick you up in 30 minutes at the parking lot.¡±


    With that said the professor rushed out the door and just like that she was gone and the room was empty again.


    Jacob looked around in the suddenly empty room around him and let out a sad sigh.


    ¡°I guess it was too good to last forever.¡±


    Jacob turned to his computer and opened his email program. He started typing an email to Briss.


    Hey Briss,


    So, I just found out that my job is about to be automated away next year.


    Professor Balduin made me an offer to continue to work at the university as her assistant.


    I¡¯ll still be in the cellar until my job is automated away, after that I guess I¡¯ll work at the professor¡¯s offices.


    Now we¡¯re going on a road trip to Tintagel to visit Merlin¡¯s cave because of that text you helped me translate.


    I¡¯ll let you know how it went. I doubt we¡¯ll find something there.


    Kind regards,


    Jacob


    Having sent the email he locked his computer and sat back to overthink what just had happened. One moment he had enjoyed the winter solstice fire show, had a nice chat with Briss and even had her help translate the text with her being really near him. That had been nice. The next moment he had learned his job was about to end, and he had gotten a job offer to work as an assistant to a professor. This was a weird day, to say the least.


    Looking at his watch he saw that only thirty minutes had passed since he had gone on his walk. It was way too early for so many things to happen on one day.


    Jacob stood up from his chair and went to prepare for the road trip. Not that there was much to prepare. He had sent Briss an update so that if she came looking for him she would know where he was. He checked his jacket to see if his wallet was in there. He had his jacket, his wallet. He was ready, but it was still too early to go to the parking lot.


    He took his coat and went to the central lobby and sat there and looked outside. The sky was still very clear and the sun warmed his skin through the glass walls. Inside the lobby, you could think it was summer still with the azure sky above and the sun burning on your skin.


    He decided to take one of the reclining chairs in the lobby and took his mobile phone out. If nothing else he could read up on the location where they were going. With the sun warming him he started reading the Wikipedia entry about Merlin¡¯s cave.


    -


    ¡°Alright Jacob, you go get the camera bag from the back¡±


    Professor Balduin told him as she got out of the car.


    Jacob unbuckled and got out of the car. That¡¯s my life now he thought to himself. Getting things for the professor and do the lifting and other little jobs. He would probably have to fetch her coffee too.


    He shuddered in the cold wind and put on his coat. It was the beginning of winter and they were now no longer protected by the high walls of the university against the cold wind here. Luckily it was dry and not a cloud in sight in the bright blue sky above. Still, a few degrees above freezing would have been nice.


    The trip to Tintagel had been largely uneventful with the professor explaining to him what his duties would exist of from now on and what she expected him to do. He had asked a few questions, she had clarified and that was about it.


    The professor had talked a lot about that this might turn out to be something really big, or really small, you could never know, but if you didn¡¯t follow up on hunches and leads, you shouldn¡¯t become an archeologist. None of the important discoveries had been made by staying still in a laboratory.


    The professor was bent over rummaging through the things in the back of the car as Jacob approached. She got up and handed him a pair of rubber boots.


    ¡°Are you a size nine? I believe so. I hardly think you¡¯re a size ten¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a size nine or nine and a half, depending on the shoe really. Sometimes the one fits better than the other one.¡±


    ¡°Well then, these are nine, try them on if they fit. If not we¡¯ll have to go to town to get new ones.¡±


    The professor put on her boots and Jacob untied his shoots and shoved his foot in the boot. His toes pinched first, but as he worked a bit of his sock loose that was dragged tight by the rough inside of the boot, it fit him perfectly.


    ¡°These boots are fine, professor. They fit like a glove.¡±


    Jacob got the camera bag from the back of the car and followed the professor down the walkway to Merlin¡¯s cave.


    ¡°So professor, what exactly do you expect to find here that tens of thousands of tourists haven¡¯t found here yet?¡±


    ¡°Please Jacob, call me Paula. We¡¯ll be working a lot together from now on, it would be awkward if you kept calling me professor all the time.¡±


    The professor stood on the walkway and looked over the ocean. The ocean breeze played with a strain of hair that escaped her ponytail.


    ¡°We are here because it¡¯s the best lead we have that can be quickly checked out and excluded. We may find a hint to that gate here because we are looking for it. Just recently they found a window ledge with engravings that had gone undiscovered for ages here.¡±


    Jacob looked towards the ocean where the professor was looking but saw nothing but clear skies and some distant boats making their way over the ocean.


    ¡°So there are definitely new discoveries to be made here still, even after all the masses have walked here and found nothing. And we¡¯re here with a goal in mind, to find a clue or a reference to this gate that was mentioned in the text. This cave is the first thing that comes to mind when the word crystal cave is mentioned. I know there are a few other caves that are filled with crystals and such, but this is the most iconic one.¡±


    She smiled wryly.


    ¡°I know, I¡¯m letting myself to be led recent authors and not much historical fact. This hasn¡¯t always be known as a crystal cave. But there is this notion in the writings of Thomas Mallory that there was something of great wonder there in the cave. There¡¯s one sentence here that has tickled my brain over the years and immediately sprung to the foreground when I read your translation. Here, let me look up the exact wording¡±


    She pulled out her mobile and started to search through her notes.


    ¡°Right, no, maybe, ah yes. Here it is.¡±


    She looked at Jacob to check if she had his attention and started to read from the display


    ¡°And so on a time, it happened that Merlin showed to her in a rock whereas was a great wonder, and wrought by enchantment, that went under a great stone. So by her subtle working, she made Merlin to go under that stone to let her wit of the marvels there; but she wrought so there for him that he came never out for all the craft he could do. And so she departed and left Merlin.¡±


    The professor put her mobile away and started walking down the ramp to the cave.


    ¡°This is the tale of Merlin¡¯s love Nimue trapping him in his cave because she didn¡¯t feel like having sex with him. This story was written several hundreds of years after Merlin was suspected to live. But who knows, maybe Mallory had some other inspiration or some other text on which he based his story, or maybe he made it all up. But it''s worth checking out if only for the fresh ocean air.¡±


    Jacob nodded and shifted the camera bag on his shoulder.


    ¡°So now you want to go look at the cave and see if you can find where Merlin was trapped under the rock?¡±


    ¡°If you put it like that, yes, I want to find the wizard under the rock.¡±


    They continued the way down to the sea line. The high tide was receding Jacob saw. The water line on the rocks was significantly higher than the height the water was currently splashing against them. In an hour, maybe two, a big part of the beach would be visible.


    With their boots on, they would be able to make it in the cave without any problems or worries to get wet. That way they got in before any mind winter tourists would get the idea to visit the caves and had the cave completely to themselves.


    They waded through the water, keeping one hand against the rock wall for support and made their way slowly to the cave.


    Jacob could feel the cold water crash against his ankles as he made his way through the water. He wondered if Merlin had done the same, making his way through the water of the high tide to get from his cave or to his cave before the low tide had made the beach clear. Maybe he had his own walkway so that the tide wouldn¡¯t concern him.


    They had arrived at the cave entrance. The professor pulled two flashlights from her coat pocket and handed one to Jacob.


    ¡°Give it a few good shakes and it will light for 15 minutes.¡±


    The professor started to shake her flashlight furiously. Jacob turned his face away because the thoughts that shot through his head as he saw the professor¡¯s body move as she shook the flashlight up and down in short rhythmic movements. He started shaking his flashlight in a hopefully less sexual way as the professor was doing and was apparently oblivious to as how it appeared.


    The batteries charged by their shakes they turned on the flashlights and entered the cave.

 1.004 Winter Solstice 4

    Jacob sat down on an overhang in the cave and started shaking his flashlight absentmindedly. He and the professor, no sorry Paula, he had to think of her as Paula now. He already had gotten a couple of new scoldings that he shouldn¡¯t call her professor now anymore. Paula and he had looked over every wall and cave exit.


    Paula had explained that they were looking for unnatural straight lines. Those might be hard to spot through wear and tear through the centuries. She had explained to him how to make photos of suspect spots and to make relevant notes with them why he considered those suspect. At first, he had called Paula over several times to ask him now to note down certain things and she had given him some pointers on how to interpret features and how to describe them.


    It turned out that examining walls covered in lichen and algae wasn¡¯t all that exciting, especially since every bit had to be documented, examined and analyzed. It was a time-consuming business to work through everything in such great detail.


    If most days in archeology were like this no wonder there weren¡¯t that many students in it. It would probably take a lot of time and effort to find anything remotely interesting.


    Jacob pulled out the top of his flashlight and it turned into a lamp that illuminated the area around him. It was very dark in the cave and he could see orange light of the sunset creeping in the cave. In the back of the cave, he saw Paula¡¯s flashlight moving along the wall with the occasional flash of the camera.


    ¡°Paula! Can you come over for a moment?¡± He shouted to the moving light beam.


    ¡°One moment, I¡¯ll be right there¡±


    Jacob looked at his mobile and saw it move down to seven percent. That wasn¡¯t much, soon it would die out. Good thing he wasn¡¯t dependant on the mobile flash to be used as a flashlight. The cave was slippery and difficult enough to navigate as it was.


    Jacob looked around in the area that was illuminated around him and tried to imagine having to live in this cave.


    The sound of the sea resounded from the cave walls but wasn¡¯t annoyingly loud, it was slightly muted, probably through the uneven cave walls around him.


    If you¡¯d want to live here you would have to build some walls and windows to close off the cave entrances he thought, if only to be able to properly heat and dry out this damp place.


    This ledge could serve as a bed or workbench he thought. It was elevated from the ground and was ejected from the wall. Even if the ocean came in during a storm surge you would probably stay dry.


    Paula¡¯s flashlight came moving his way and he saw how she had to weave a path through the cave to make her way back to him. Through the centuries the cave had seen a lot of wear and tear and the water had made whatever form of flooring there might have been hard to navigate safely.


    ¡°Heya Jacob, found something interesting?¡±


    ¡°No not really, but my mobile is dying fast, I only have 7 percent left on it, and I believe that the sun is setting outside, it has gotten darker¡±


    ¡°Oh, right, well I guess we can call it a day then. We have a lot of data to analyze and study already and we can come back tomorrow and after Christmas to explore the rest for clues.¡±


    Jacob nodded and put his flashlight back into flashlight mode and started to follow Paula to the exit of the cave. The ground was very slippery and you could see the sheen of water on the rocks they were making their path on. As they neared the exit the sound of the ocean grew louder and the cave grew brighter and it became easier to find proper footing.


    ¡°Have you found anything interesting professor, err Paula?¡±


    Paula stopped and took a moment to stretch her back and looked back in the dark cave.


    ¡°Sadly no, just a bunch of lichen, moss, and rocks. Very disappointing really but not unexpected¡±


    She looked at Jacob and grinned.


    ¡°Welcome to the world of archeology, where rocks, dirt and a lot of nothing is the biggest part of your job. The rest is documenting that you found nothing. This is a hunch I¡¯m following anyway and I really didn¡¯t expect much from an initial expedition.¡±


    Paula shrugged and breathed deep in through her nose and exhaled loudly.


    ¡°At least we have gotten our dose of fresh ocean air. It¡¯s supposed to be healthy, so at least we got our health boost!¡±


    She turned around and started making her way to the exit again and Jacob moved at her side.


    ¡°Nice health boost, the temperature could have been a bit higher though, it¡¯s really freezing cold. Merlin should send a complaint to the landlord about the drafty conditions here.¡±


    ¡°Hah!¡± Paula snorted. ¡°But yea, weather conditions aren¡¯t ideal, but it also helps with not having tourists bothering you every step of the way, pestering you with questions.¡±


    They had reached the entrance of the cave and they stopped and stared.


    ¡°So¡­ uhm, what now?¡¯ Jacob asked.


    The flood had come in and where they had waded through before was now clearly unpassable without risking falling into the water.


    Jacob bent through his knees and dipped his fingertips in the water. It was icy cold, no way you could swim in that, not to mention that they had their gear to consider and it was a long way home. The ocean might drag them to open sea with those strong currents at the coast. It would be dangerous in these low light conditions to even try it.


    ¡°Well, fuck. Didn¡¯t think to keep track of when high tide would come in.¡±


    Paula took out her mobile and quickly checked a few sites.


    ¡°It seems like we¡¯re stuck here until nine o¡¯clock. Then we can try to get back to the walkway.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s back up in the cave a bit where it¡¯s warmer¡± Jacob replied.


    Paula nodded at the suggestion and they set off to back up in the cave. They found a couple of rocks that were moderately dry and set themselves on it. Paula put the camera bag on a third rock.


    They passed the time by chatting a bit and looking at the photo¡¯s Paula had made on her camera and discussing certain features and what they could possibly mean and from which geological periods they were.


    At some point, they moved together on the same rock to share some body heat. The temperature was dropping significantly as time progressed. The cave around them turned darker and darker as night settled in and the cave mouth didn¡¯t let in any light anymore. The starlight was far too weak to penetrate into the cave. If it wasn¡¯t for the flashlights they could charge themselves they wouldn¡¯t have been able to see a hand before their eyes.


    As they shared body heat sitting closely against each other, Jacob¡¯s arm around Paula their conversation turned a bit more personal.


    ¡°So that¡¯s how I ended up teaching here at the University. There were just too many clashes with boards, too many constraints, too much pressure to publish meaningless papers instead of actually getting in the field and thinking on your feet.¡±


    Paula sighed and looked at Jacob ¡°You know it¡¯s very cheap to have someone analyze something someone else dug up and to write a paper on why a thing is such or so. It adds a lot of prestige to a university in how many papers were published.¡±


    Paula nodded her head ¡°But it¡¯s so boring, and totally not why I became an archeologist. I wanted to be out in the field, fielding new theories and finding new things no-one had found before.¡±


    ¡°And you get that full freedom here at Gate University?¡± Jacob asked


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like there unlimited funds to dig down a hill, I still have to make a proposal, but if I plan it properly and give a good reason why I want to research something any budget will be granted really if I give a well-founded reason. But field trips like this that just basically cost my time and salary, I can do at my own discretion. I only need a budget if I need equipment or money for permits and staff to help out at a dig site.¡±


    Paula pressed her body a bit closer against Jacob and he was very aware of her breasts pressing against his side even through his winter coat. Paula shuddered and Jacob pressed her a bit firmer against him.


    ¡°But this is a first for me that I¡¯m trapped by the elements at a site I¡¯m exploring. Next time I¡¯m exploring an ocean cave I¡¯m going to review the tide tables before I set out.¡±


    ¡°Yea, that might be helpful next time so we don¡¯t get stuck in another cold dark cave.¡±


    ¡°Hah, yea, I guess that also comes with the freedom to do and research what you want, that you don¡¯t spend that much time planning ahead. I just followed a whim here, that I now deeply regret. We found nothing, we¡¯re cold, wet and hungry. Less than ideal in my book¡±


    Jacob nodded and looked at the entrance and the light that entered through it. A cold glow illuminated the cave mouth and bathed the entire cave in stark shadows and illuminated rocks giving it an alien appearance.


    ¡°Look at that, I think the moon is out,¡± Jacob said and pointed at the cave entrance.


    ¡°Huh, I guess so. Fancy to see the moon over the ocean?¡±


    ¡°Sure, a bit of moment will do good.¡±


    They made their way to the entrance of the cave and saw how the full moon was hovering over the ocean in front of the cave, and the reflection seemed to span over the entire ocean to the cave. The stars were bright pinpricks in the moon illuminated sky. The milky way spanned its long arm through the sky.


    ¡°What a beautiful night,¡± Paula said whilst she snuggled against Jacob.


    ¡°It¡¯s rare you see the sky like this in Exeter. The city drowns out all starlight and it¡¯s a long drive to get away from civilization enough so that light pollution doesn¡¯t interrupt the night sky anymore.¡±


    Jacob nodded. Paula liked to talk a lot. That suited him fine because he always had trouble coming up with good subjects to talk about. Paula provided at least enough hooks to reply to if he were inclined to, but even if he didn¡¯t reply she usually kept the conversation going all on her own.


    He didn¡¯t mind being the listener in a conversation, it gave him more time to think things over and to absorb more information of what was said instead of having to mull over what to say so he didn¡¯t have time to really listen to the other person.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°We could do more field trips to the ocean side in winter. Better chances of seeing the night sky when night falls. We¡¯ll be freezing cold though at the places where it¡¯s dark enough.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep it by this experience. I really don¡¯t fancy standing in the cold for a view I¡¯m done with after 5 minutes. Let¡¯s go back inside out of the wind.¡±


    Jacob took a last look at the sky above him. There were uncountable stars looking back at him, cold cloudless air making them shimmer as priceless diamonds. The milky way brightly lit hung impressively in the sky and the moon was a bright large beacon that hung over the ocean as a big eye looking them in the face.


    A cloud of breath escaped his mouth and quickly dissolved in the air around him. The cold wind pinching him like a thousand needle pins on his cheeks and nose. The ocean filled his ears with it¡¯s crashing and drumming. He felt alive at this singular moment. As if the world was at his feet, the sky could be touched, the stars could be plucked. He was a giant walking among the stars, he was a tiny speck of dust quickly forgotten. In this beautiful moment, he felt truly alive. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment.


    When he opened them again he noticed that Paula had already returned to the cave and that he stood alone in the cold wind before the crashing sea. His feet and fingers were getting cold. That snapped him back to reality where he had to care about things like comfort.


    He turned around and saw how the moonlight entered the cave in a straight line. He stepped aside to not block the light so he could see where he was going when he saw something.


    ¡°Paula, can you come here? Quick!¡±


    An annoyed sigh escaped the cave and the sound of someone scraping their boots over the cave. A shivering Paula emerged from the cave and joined Jacob.


    ¡°What¡¯s the rush. I don¡¯t particularly enjoy freezing you know.¡±


    Jacob pointed to the cave entrance illuminated by the moonlight.


    ¡°Take a good look, tell me if you see what I¡¯m seeing or if I¡¯m just seeing things.¡±


    Paula peered into the cave entrance, looked over her shoulder to the moon and back to the cave entrance.


    ¡°That looks like a cave tunnel that was sealed up doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s where Nimue locked merlin up? Like in the book you read?¡± Jacob asked.


    ¡° I doubt it but it¡¯s worth taking a look at isn¡¯t it. Curious that we didn¡¯t see it before, I must have passed that spot several times and I didn¡¯t notice anything off.¡±


    ¡°It might just be a play of the light. The right shadows and such. Let¡¯s take a closer look.¡±


    Jacob moved towards where the cave tunnel outline appeared to be and Paula followed him. Jacob let his hands glide over the stone but he didn¡¯t feel anything special.


    ¡°Do you feel something at your side, Paula?¡±


    ¡°No, just normal damp stone here too. No edges, no lines, just a smooth wall really. It must a play of the light.¡±


    Jacob let his hands slide past the edges of the tunnel outline but didn¡¯t feel anything there either. He took a step back and took another look at it. The moon had moved a bit in the sky and the shadows had shifted and new shadows had appeared.


    ¡°Heh, now it kinda looks like a door. Look at that shadow there kinda looks like a doorknob.¡±


    Jacob pointed to the shadow that looked like a doorknob. His shadow pointed along and his pitch black shadow poked the knob. He felt a strange nudging feeling on the tip of his finger.


    ¡°What the hell¡­¡± Jacob mumbled


    Jacob moved his shadow around the knob and it was as if he could feel it poking against his hand, but he was standing three meters away from it.


    ¡°Hey Paula, this is going to sound crazy, but could you take a step back, I¡¯m going to try something.¡±


    Paula looked to Jacob, shrugged in a why not fashion and let go of the wall she was examining and took two steps back.


    Jacob wrapped his hands around the shadow doorknob and felt it pressing in his hand. He froze. What was this? What could cause such a strange experience? Was this just his mind playing tricks on him? Had he fallen asleep and was he dreaming this?


    Something in him said to stop. That it didn¡¯t feel right. That he should let this go and just continue on, forgetting about this freak occurrence. It was probably just the cold playing tricks on him. He had been sitting for hours in the dark cave. You would probably just start to hallucinate if you were cold, wet and hungry.


    He had basically hallucinated just now when he was outside and looked at the starry sky. He would probably make a fool of himself in front of Paula by pretending to open a shadow door. He let go of the doorknob and his shadow followed.


    ¡°What¡¯s this? You¡¯re performing a shadow puppet theater now?¡± Paula asked him.


    ¡°This is going to sound crazy, but when I stand here and touch that doorknob it feels as if I actually feel it in my hand as if I can turn it. I think I might be losing it because of the cold here.¡±


    Paula walked over to him and both their shadows were now cast on the door. Paula huddled close against him again.


    ¡°So you don¡¯t want to open the big Moonshadow door do you?¡± Paula whispered in a hoarse voice.


    ¡°Be wary of the dangers that lurk behind Moonshadow doors. There might be pink ballerina¡¯s behind them that will dance with you¡± Paula started laughing and the laughter resounded through the cave echoing over and over and mixing with the spray and it dispelled all dark thoughts Jacob had.


    The thought of pink ballerina¡¯s rushing out the shadow door dancing and springing through the cave in the dark, probably followed by pink stage lights filled him with mirth.


    ¡°Okay, yea, I made a fool of myself, I don¡¯t know what I was thinking. It must really be the cold.¡±


    Paula slapped him on his back.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We all get a bit crazy in the field of archeology. You can only dig for so long before your fantasy starts to run wild.¡±


    Paula studied the shadow door.


    ¡°It really does like a door doesn¡¯t it. It would fit both of us if it were actually there. Don¡¯t worry, this is actually a find in itself too. It¡¯s not every day you find a natural phenomenon like this.¡±


    She looked back to the moon, the reflection on the water and to the light on the cave wall.


    ¡°I bet that the circumstances that require this illusion to be triggered are very rare. They might happen like once per hundred years or so. And a high tide, and a cloudless sky and a full moon at the right position. Those are rare circumstances to happen. If we hadn¡¯t gotten stuck here as we had we would have never seen it.¡±


    Paula took her camera from her back and quickly shot a couple of pictures of the moon position, the shadow door on the wall.


    She then walked outside and made a few reference shots of the water level.


    ¡°Okay, I think I have enough data now so we can recreate the event and bring out the shadow door when we want to with these photos¡±


    Paula laughed and her laughter once more resounded through the cave.


    ¡°The tourist office here will be very grateful for all the extra free advertising they¡¯ll get out of this. The Sun will probably make this it¡¯s frontpage news. And our names will be under it. You¡¯re going to be famous Jacob, for a day at least¡±


    Jacob didn¡¯t know how he felt about that. He really didn¡¯t fancy having his name in a newspaper. What about paparazzi, would he have people stalking his every move, taking pictures of him when he was moving through his house or walking to work? Would he be pestered by requests for interviews by all kind of newspapers and blogs and whatnot? That would give so much stress and he really didn¡¯t feel like handling with all that busy work around it.


    ¡°Uhm, Paula? You can leave my name off it. I feel perfectly fine if you take all the credit.¡±


    Paula looked at him quizzically.


    ¡°What? Oh, uh, no that won¡¯t work. I¡¯ll have to detail how I found this and you will be mentioned as my assistant. One way or another they¡¯re going to find out you helped me and if we tried to hide your involvement then conspiracy theories will run wild. Believe me, it will be easier if we¡¯re open from the start.¡±


    She looked at him thoughtfully and hugged him a bit.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get out media liaison to give you some media training so you can fend off the vultures and I¡¯ll do my best to hog the spotlight. Deal?¡±


    ¡°I guess so. I¡¯ve never had to deal with a potential media circus. Will this be big?¡±


    ¡°Maybe, maybe not. This is ideal fodder for the theorists and storytellers though. It depends on how a fantastical story the newspapers will make out of it. The university is going to make a killing though from the sales of these photos I just made. There will probably be a history channel episode made here saying that aliens made this door or something. But the initial storm will be over after a week when new things pop up.¡±


    Paula chuckled to herself ¡°The Sun is probably going to add a few romantic lines in there as bait for follow up articles ¡®Professor and assistant spend the night in a cave together having only each other to stay warm.¡¯ More they won¡¯t have to say.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that and try to ignore any articles that will hint at a thing between us. The more you¡¯ll try to resist the more they¡¯ll think there is something there and they¡¯ll make up stuff.¡±


    ¡°Alright, if you say so Pro- Paula. I guess this will be another few days to tough it out. I¡¯ll just hide in the university cellar as usual I guess. Without permission, nobody can get down there¡±


    Jacob was unsure of himself if he could actually stay cooped down there all day long. He liked to make short walks in between sessions to not go totally crazy in the room down there.


    It was fine if he was working, but if he felt being locked up there it was a different experience.


    Paula nodded.


    She waved at the door and started to say something.


    ¡°Ow! what the¡­¡±


    Her shadow had followed the wave movement of her arm and he had brushed in full wave speed against the shadow doorknob.


    ¡°What just happened¡­¡±


    Paula looked at Jacob and back at the doorknob. She let her shadow touch it from all the sides and even grabbed it. Jacob could see the flesh on her fingertips being dented when her shadow touched the doorknob. A shiver went down his spine, that was really really freaky and unnatural.


    A frown appeared on Paula¡¯s face and she looked slightly annoyed.


    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be possible. This isn¡¯t possible. Is there some kind of psychostimulant moss in this cave? Am I hallucinating? Am I tripping? This must be that I¡¯m tripping, this isn¡¯t possible¡± She muttered to herself.


    ¡°Well, you are experiencing the same thing I experienced when I first discovered this.¡±


    Jacob turned to look at Paula and saw a hint of fear and panic in her eyes. Her world was fraying at the edges. He knew how she felt because he felt the same panic in himself.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go logically about this, shall we? Does your phone still have juice?¡±


    Paula pulled her phone from her pocket and unlocked it with her thumbprint.


    ¡°I have 25% left. Why?¡±


    ¡°Can you turn on the camera and record my hand as the moonlight reflects off it?¡±


    Paula turned on the camera and fiddled with the settings to get the best quality picture. It was still grainy but details could be discerned.


    ¡°All right, hit record.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s recording¡±


    Jacob turned to the camera and spread his hands.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Jacob Douglas, and I¡¯m here with professor Paula Balduin who is recording this in Merlin¡¯s cave at Tintagel. The moon behind us is casting a shadow in the shape of the door on the wall behind me. We suspect we¡¯re hallucinating and this video is to help us to ascertain if we are in fact hallucinating.¡±


    Jacob pointed at the shadow doorknob on the wall.


    ¡°Our assumed hallucination tells us that we can feel the shadow that looks like a doorknob over there as our shadows touch it.¡±


    Jacob mimicked grabbing a door handle in the empty air


    ¡°As professor Balduin just shadow grabbed the door I thought I show her flesh to be indented as she touched the door.¡±


    Paula¡¯s eyes grew large as he told that and Jacob nodded to her. She hadn¡¯t noticed that apparently. She had probably been overwhelmed by the experience or she hadn¡¯t seen it. It might have been part of his hallucination.


    ¡°I am now going to touch the shadow doorknob and professor Balduin will move closer to my hand as to make a closeup of my flesh to see if it will be indented as my shadow touches the door.¡±


    Paula moved closer and tried to find a spot where and Jacobs'' hand was clearly in sight as the shadow on the door behind him.


    Jacob moved his hand to the doorknob and hovered his shadow above it. He looked at Paula to confirm she had everything in focus. She looked up from the display and nodded to him.


    He looked back at the shadow and let it drop. As the shadow touched the doorknob he could feel it pressing against his flesh. A shudder ran along his spine and he wanted to jerk his hand back.


    ¡°As you can hopefully see my flesh is indented by the shadow door without any obvious object being here that could offer resistance.¡±


    Paula looked shocked from the display where she was recording to his hand and back again.


    ¡°I can even grab the handle with my hand and it feels as if I¡¯m holding an actual doorknob here in my hand, even though my eyes tell me I¡¯m touching nothing but air. But my shadow is touching something¡±


    His heart beat in his chest. Why was he doing this? Why was he talking like that? Why was he still holding this damned door handle? But something urged him on. A primitive curiosity welled up in him. Curious about what would happen if he actually pulled on the door handle. Large drops of sweat started to build upon his forehead. He tried to let go of the handle but he was unable to open his hand!


    Full blown panic rushed through him and he pulled like crazy to let go.


    Paula looked up at him with shock but he didn¡¯t notice. He grabbed his hand with his other arm and started pulling with both his arms to get his hand free.


    Paula shouted something but he didn¡¯t hear it. He had to get free, he needed to release. Why couldn¡¯t he open his damned hand and release? He had to let go.


    His heartbeat resounded as a drumbeat in his ears. Streams of sweat ran down his back and he dug his heels in the rock underneath him and pulled with all his might.


    Something started to give and Jacob looked up and then everything went pitch black.

 1.005 Winter Solstice 5

    Briss slung her scarf over her neck and stuffed it inside her coat. She buttoned up her coat and checked her reflection in the glass door that led to the hallway.


    She had spent the entire afternoon wrestling with papers written about a duke and the turf wars he had held with his neighbor and who had gotten which piece of the territory when. She tried to get a complete picture of how the lands of the duke had evolved through the years.


    Without accurate insight who owned which lands and which land owed whom loyalty it would be hard to reconstruct movements of large groups of people and trade routes that were denoted in other historical documents and retellings.


    She glanced at the map she had scribbled notes on and had drawn lines in multiple colors to denote how the borders had presumably lain in which period, with little notes references which document had led to which border. Soon that borders she had marked on the map could be entered into the map program on her pc so she could have insight how these borders evolved through the ages with interactive maps and other regions she had already mapped out.


    The door opened and another woman stood there. The woman had bright orange hair, pale skin, and green eyes. Her face was long and narrow and covered in pale freckles. She wore a fluffy parka with a fur-edged hood draped over her shoulders.


    ¡°Hey Briss, are you ready for the party?¡±


    Briss grabbed her bag from the floor and slung it over her shoulder.


    ¡°Sure thing Heather. How cold is it outside?¡±


    ¡°About minus five I think. But the wind has died down so it¡¯s kinda bearable.¡±


    Heather patted her parka and grinned at Briss.


    ¡°I bought this bad boy yesterday at Zalando. It just arrived here this afternoon. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be cold tonight. Look at this, the pockets are lined with lambswool, it¡¯s so soft.¡±


    Heather opened up the coat pocket for Briss to admire, which she dutifully did.


    ¡°Nice coat. Did they have one a red color available? Navy blue isn¡¯t really my color.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Let me check.¡±


    Heather rummaged in her bag and pulled her mobile from it.


    ¡°Hmm, they have one in a reddish color. Here, I¡¯ll send the link via WhatsApp then you can look at it.¡±


    Briss felt her mobile in her bag buzz. Modern technology was such a nice marvel. Talk, share, buy and have it the next day.


    ¡°Thanks, Shall we?¡± Briss said as she held the door open.


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t keep me away from this party with a thousand horses. Nothing gets the blood working like a roaring fire, a chill on my back and a slightly drunk hunk to press myself against for warmth¡±


    Heather stepped through the door and Briss followed her. Her friend was very open about her escapades. She herself was a little more reserved and not so open and outgoing. But they both enjoyed themselves together and had enough stories to share together. To each her own.


    Briss closed the door behind her and locked it. She quickly followed heather who already had a little head start.


    ¡°Hey, wait up miss eager!¡± She yelled after Heather as she stuffed her keys in her bag.


    -


    They arrived at the clearing in the forest near the University where the big solstice celebration would be held. The forest consisted of pine trees mixed with deciduous trees. The deciduous trees stretched their empty branches against the darkening sky as wraith like fingers that were reaching for something.


    The green pines stood among them in stark contrast, as if to show off that the cold didn¡¯t bother them anyway, giving a little life to the winterly barren forest.


    The sun was setting and set the forest ablaze in orange tones and stark contrasting long shadows. Behind them, the sky was turning dark already and in a few minutes, it would be totally dark.


    The clearing itself was rather large, large enough to hold two hundred people and a large bonfire. In the ground, there was a large roughly ten foot flat stone embedded in the forest floor. On the embedded stone a large pile of wood was methodically stacked with small birch twigs interspersed for the bonfire which would be lit later on when the darkness had set in.


    To one side long tables were set up with snacks and kegs for drinks and some people were gathered near them chatting among themselves and laughing.


    A couple of them had crafted deer head masks with large antlers with fur capes they wore, others wore white rough tunic robes over their winter clothes and had a leafy headdress made of holly and conifer.


    But most people who were there were wearing their normal winter clothes and had skipped on the dress up part of the party. Just like Briss and Heather their main contribution to the atmosphere was turning up and being part of the celebration.


    ¡°Hey John¡± Briss said to the man who was waiting at the end of the path to the clearing.


    John was wearing a white tunic which was held together by a rope over his waist. Under it, he had a black wool coat and jeans with boots. In his hand, he held a large gnarly staff that looked like had picked up a branch out of the forest and snapped the twigs off it. Which was probably exactly what he had done.


    His dark eyes looked from Briss and Heather and then his eyes returned to Briss.


    ¡°Halt ye commoners, what seek ye here on this hallowed ground in the darkest night?¡± John asked in a dark booming voice.


    ¡°We seek to have a good time, and maybe get lucky, are you available tonight?¡± Heather replied promptly with a wink.


    John coughed and cast his eyes to the ground, and it was hard to see through his beard but it looked like he was blushing Briss thought.


    ¡°Well then, I will not stand in your way then,¡± John mumbled slightly embarrassed and moved out of their way and beckoned to the clearing. He coughed one more time to clear his throat and resumed in a more confident practiced tone.


    ¡°Drinks are to the left, food on the table next over to that. If something is empty just ask someone in the red coats to refill, they¡¯re from the catering.¡±


    John then pointed at a path that led away from the clearing at the opposite side of the food and drink tables.


    ¡°Toilets are a little walk down that path, as are emergency services in case something would happen that requires medical assistance.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the pointers, when will the fire be lit?¡± Briss asked.


    ¡°In a few minutes, when the sun has gone and has given in to the longest night,¡± John replied in a mysterious tone, which didn¡¯t impress the women much.


    ¡°Has Jacob Douglas arrived yet?¡± Briss asked whilst eying the people gathered around the tables already.


    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t seen him yet. Did he say he would come?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but I got this email he got a new job as professor Balduins assistant, so maybe she has him tied up or something. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll turn up later.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯d better turn up soon otherwise he¡¯ll miss the opening. We have something tribal planned that works best with a lot of people. The more the better.¡±


    Briss wanted to reply to John to ask him what was exactly planned but she was interrupted by Heather who started to tug at her arm.


    ¡°Alright then. Enough talk. Let us get some drinks!¡± Heather exclaimed and headed over to drinks table.


    ¡°See you later John,¡± Briss said and followed Heather.


    John nodded back and proceeded to greet the people who were approaching the clearing.


    ¡°Halt ye commoners, what seek ye here on this hallowed ground in the darkest night?¡± boomed behind Briss.


    Briss walked over the clearing to the tables where the kegs with various sorts of beer were positioned and found Heather pouring a beer from one of them. She held a large glass at an angle under the keg and manipulated the tap expertly and had a perfect beer tapped in a short time.


    ¡°Hey Briss! You want a beer too?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Briss replied as she looked over the clearing. Better some alcohol to loosen up and to numb the cold than none at all.


    It was getting dark really fast now. As they had arrived the forest had seemed to glow with orange light, but during their exchange with John the last slivers of sunlight had vanished and darkness had set over the night sky and the first stars were peeking out of the darkening blanket that was spread above them.


    The clearing was illuminated by a lot of bamboo garden torches that ran on oil and a wick. The orange flickering from the torches gave the clearing a festive look and seemed to battle the darkness that was encroaching through the trees. In the trees there were cables spanned with lights hanging from them but they were turned off.


    The clearing was filling up with people now the darkness had set in and a murmur resounded between the trees of all the people talking and laughing together. Wisps of frozen breath escaped from the people and with the sun gone all warmth seemed to be leaking away rapidly.


    Briss accepted the freshly drafted beer from Heather and nipped from it, it cold but not freezing cold which was nice and soon it would give her a nice warm glow in her stomach. She took a bigger sip and looked at the men gathered around, trying to guess which one would catch Heather¡¯s fancy.


    ¡°So, got your target singled out yet?¡± Briss asked Heather


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Heather replied whilst critically eying the gathered crowd.


    ¡°But the night is still young, I¡¯m sure to find someone to keep me warm tonight, and I always have John as a fallback plan. I¡¯m pretty confident he¡¯s had an eye on me for the last few weeks.¡±


    A drum started to resound through the clearing and the murmur slowly died off and people started to turn to the source of the drums.


    A procession of people dressed in deer head masks moved slowly through the crowd beating drums they held under their arms. Their feet stomped on the ground following every boom on the drums. The people made room around the pyre and the drummers moved to circle the pyre.


    The crowd started to clap and stamp along with the rhythm of the drumbeat. When the first circle around the pyre was completed the tempo increased and tension started to build up in the crowd. Some people started to shout along with the clapping. When the second circle was completed the tempo increased even further and the drummers beat more powerfully on the drums and a frenzied atmosphere started to build. People were stomping, clapping and shouting along with the drumbeats and the noise of the horde of people filled the entire forest, sending deer and birds running away from the ruckus.


    In the darkness only illuminated by the torches and the stars in the night sky with the excited shouting white faces poking from the mostly dark coats it looked like a scene from a horror movie.


    When the third circle was completed the drummers spread themselves out evenly and started drumming heavy powerful blows to the drums. Suddenly a loud howl tore through the claps and shouts and the crowd turned as one to seek the source of that massive howl.


    John came forward through the crowd holding his gnarled staff with two hands and howled towards the sky. His howl tore through the ruckus raised and was audible over the shouts other people made. Nobody saw he wore a tiny microphone and his voice was amplified over the speakers that were strung up among the trees. The crowd joined his howls until the entire crowd was howling as one with John filling the forest with primal sounds.


    John walked up to the pyre and turned to face the crowd his staff still raised above his head.


    He slowly lowered his staff and the drums started to beat slower but deeper and the crowd whipped itself into a gigantic frenzied howl that lasted for three minutes.


    John placed one staff on the ground and held up one hand. The crowd slowly died down and the drums faded away. Eventually, the clearing was just filled with the sound of people catching their breath. All eyes were on John and full of excitement and passion.


    ¡°People of the forest, welcome to this holiest of nights,¡± John stated in a booming voice when the crowd had died down.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°Tonight is the darkest of nights. The longest night is here and the sun has died. If we don¡¯t resurrect the sun tonight by warming the winter out of this night it will stay dark forever!¡±


    Mock shock cries and gasps and a couple of giggles escaped the captured audience.


    John picked up a piece of cloth from the pyre and started wrapping it around his staff.


    ¡°To conquer this darkness I will light this pyre. May the light warm your hearts and set your souls ablaze.¡±


    John held the wrapped cloth staff near one of the bamboo torches and it caught flame. He then approached the pyre with his flaming staff and held it to the birch twigs at the bottom and fire slowly started to spread up through the logs illuminating it from the inside with a bright orange glow. As he walked around the pyre to light it from more spots the drums started beating again.


    ¡°Fire in the night, shine like the sun so bright, chase away this terrifying night!¡± John roared.


    John threw his staff on the pyre and something shifted in the pyre sending flames and sparks shooting up in the sky. The crowd cheered and clapped as John stepped back and spread his arms.


    ¡°Let¡¯s celebrate that we will see another sunrise people!¡± John exclaimed with a grin on his face when the crowd had calmed down again.


    Music started to play from speakers and lights started flashing their colors among the trees and the crowd started to disperse now the main event was over with people excitedly chatting among each other.


    The fire grew higher and brighter illuminating the entire clearing brightly and warming up the environment around it with its radiant heat. Some people started to dance to the music, others flocked to the drinks and food stands.


    Briss and Heather had remained with a few other scattered people near the pyre taking in the blaze in front of them, allowing themselves to be warmed by the heat. Briss turned around to warm her backside and started looking over the crowd.


    ¡°Say Heather, have you happened to see Jacob here?¡±


    Heather turned and scanned the crowd.


    ¡°No, did he say he would come?¡±


    Briss nodded, ¡°He said so this morning when we met at the Solstice event.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll turn up eventually. It¡¯s not like this party will end soon. The night is still young.¡±


    Heather nudged Briss in the ribs and pointed to a large man with blonde hair who was waiting in line at the drinks table talking with someone behind him.


    ¡°I¡¯m going in.¡± She said and moved towards her target.


    ¡°Good luck,¡± Briss shouted over the music after Heather.


    Now she was on her own. She stood for a few moments further at the pyre which was popping and cracking nicely now the fire was fully ablaze. Sparks were shooting high up in the sky giving the impression as if the fire was leaking upwards before dying out against the night sky.


    She eyed the buckets of water that stood there as a security measurement and wondered how much good they would do with a fire this big if one of the trees surrounding the clearing would catch fire.


    She moved towards the food table and got herself a hot meat pie and started eating it leisurely whilst tapping her foot to the beat of the music. Mmmm, that was a good meat pie.


    -


    ¡°Mind if I join you?¡± John asked.


    Briss opened her eyes and lifted her head from her hands where it had been resting. She had sat down on one of the plastic lawn chairs that were scattered around the clearing. Briss had closed her eyes for a few moments to stop the world from being off balance. She probably had a few beers too much which was only had problems if she looked forward though.


    ¡°Sure, take a seat. I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m that wonderful company though, I might have had a few drinks too much¡± she replied hesitantly.


    John sat down and offered Briss a glass with a clear liquid


    ¡°I know, here have some water.¡±


    Briss accepted the water and took a big swig from the glass. She was so thirsty but her stomach felt like it was about to explode as the water went down. She felt big sweat drops building upon her back.


    ¡°Excuse me for one minute. I need to do something very unladylike.¡±


    Briss got up unsteadily and handed the half-empty water glass back to John who grinned knowingly. She then made her way to the tree line and entered the shadows there. She leaned a hand against the rough bark of a pine tree and threw up. A seemingly never-ending stream of liquid and meat pie bits seemed to flow from her innards covering the mossy forest floor underneath her. The moonlight that shone through the trees reflected pale on the liquid beneath her. I hate throwing up Briss thought to herself. She heaved a few times more until she was sure nothing more would be coming out. She stood straight and stepped aside out of the path her vomit was seeking along the forest floor, and leaned against the tree and took a few deep breaths.


    After a few minutes, her stomach had relaxed a fair bit and she felt a lot better. The world had stopped swirling at least. She wiped her mouth with a tissue and crumpled the tissue in her hand. Back in the clearing she made a detour past the food table and deposited the tissue in a garbage bin and grabbed some toasted bread to munch on. It was important to get something back in her stomach after that otherwise she¡¯d suffer horrible stomach cramps she knew out of experience.


    She returned to John with half her toast already devoured and sat back down on her chair.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m back and still alive.¡±


    ¡°Feeling better?¡± John replied


    ¡°Yea, can I have that water back?¡±


    John handed her the glass and she took a sip from the glass, the water tasted extremely sweet, flushed her mouth and spit it out on the ground beside her chair and grimaced at the taste still in her mouth. She let her tongue go past her teeth. They felt weird, soft and rugged instead of smooth.


    ¡°Thanks. Sorry for that.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯ve seen worse. Are you okay now?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. The world stopped being on a stormy sea, but I think I¡¯ll pass on the alcohol for the rest of the night. I don¡¯t fancy a repeat experience.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a shame Jacob isn¡¯t here, I wonder why he didn¡¯t show up for the party.¡±


    John looked around the people standing in groups around the fire that was still going strong. In the past few hours it had been resupplied with fresh logs to keep it burning high and people stood around it with drinks in hand chatting amicably. At one side people had put up chairs in a half circle facing the fire and were singing campfire songs.


    ¡°Something must have come between, or maybe he fell asleep in that cellar of his.¡±


    ¡°Well his loss then¡±


    Briss sighed and stretched herself out in the chair and looked at the people around the fire.


    Heather standing with the tall blonde guy she had targeted earlier and they were talking to a group of men that were probably his friends. She noticed he had his arm around her waist and she was pressed against him. It would seem likely that Heather would not be alone in her bed tonight.


    Briss faced John and wanted to point out the newly minted couple as the world seemed to dim. She looked around and noticed that everybody had stopped talking and were looking around in bewilderment. Someone started screaming and pointed to something in the sky. Briss and everybody followed where her hand was pointing and saw that the full moon that had been bright white a moment ago had turned a dark purple.


    A darkness seemed to settle in the sky and she noticed all the stars had vanished from the sky. The electric lights seemed to dim and failed to penetrate the darkness that had settled over the forest. The music that played from the speakers seemed muffled and dull as if it was playing through water.


    The only source of light seemed to be the fire and people flocked to the fire to escape the darkness gathering around them. As they stood body pressed to body and glances were nervously cast at the forest. Briss realized that they couldn¡¯t even see the forest anymore. A dark purple moon hung in the sky and didn¡¯t seem to cast any light on them. The darkness seemed palpable and people edged away from the seemingly physical shadow barrier pushing Briss closer towards the fire.


    The inner circle of people stepped on the stone surrounding the fire to make room for the others. Briss stood on the edge of the stone hemmed in by panicked party guests. Shouts and cries of bewilderment rose up from the people around her and a few curses from people who got too close to the fire.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°What is this!¡±


    ¡°Is this a bad party trick?¡±


    More exclamations of such sort rose from the crowd as the initial shock of the unexpected darkness wore off. Briss looked around and felt cold inside. This was so otherworldly. Did she have too much to drink? Or had someone spiked her drink? She had been careful to monitor her drink. Was it John? She hadn¡¯t gotten the water herself. No, that was ridiculous, if her drink had been spiked nobody else would be flipping out.


    Briss felt the fire burning in her backside and the hot stone radiated the heat uncomfortably up along her legs.


    She felt something moving under feet and the fire collapsed in itself sending a shower of sparks towards the sky. Cries of shock flew up through the crowd and people turned away from the darkness to see what happened behind them. Briss used the movement to step off the stone and join the people standing on the forest floor.


    ¡°I felt the ground move!¡± Someone close to the fire exclaimed


    ¡°I didn¡¯t feel a thing¡± Another person who stood near the shadow¡¯s edge replied.


    ¡°An earthquake?¡± Another person tried to suggest


    People were shouting through each other and eyes were great with panic with everything that happened.


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!¡± a shrill shriek pierced through the babble. It was the same voice that had pointed out the purple moon, but now a mad panic was clearly hearable in the voice.


    People stopped their shouting and looked at where the woman was pointing. The rock where a lot of people were standing on seemed to grow long thick hairs as fast-growing grass. A really thick fur seemed to grow out of barren rock and the rock to changed under their eyes, forming cracks and creaks as if something under it was moving it and breaking it up.


    People started to back away from the strange phenomenon but there was no room to back up because nobody wished to enter the impenetrable darkness behind them. Insulted shouts were shot back and forth as people stepped on toes or shoved people around. A deep grumbling seemed to come from deep underground and everybody froze up from their shuffle and looked around warily.


    ¡°What the hell now?¡±


    ¡°Did you hear that too?¡±


    People started babbling again among each other in frantic fashion. Briss bent down through her knees between the people surrounding her like sardines in a can and reached out to touch the strange hairs from the rock. It was surprisingly moveable even if it looked like it was made from a hard material. The fur had long hairs at least as long as her arm and seemed to cover the entire rock.


    Suddenly the rock seemed to bunch together and something large raised up from the ground sending the large burning logs flying into the crowd. People screamed in panic and a horrific scream pierced the night. An unfortunate guest¡¯s coat had caught flame as a log had crashed into him and the flames covered his entire upper torso. The person collapsed and the body kept burning where it had fallen. People looked shocked at the gruesome sight before it became clear that he wasn¡¯t the only victim of the strange explosion.


    The people who had stood on the rock had been propelled too by the explosion and had been sent flying into the darkness, which was now pierced by the flying clumps of the fire that had been scattered around illuminating a large part of the clearing.


    One person was lying down with a profusely bleeding head wound looking up at the sky as if he was wondering if it would fall. Which under the circumstances wouldn¡¯t be too strange.


    Another person had broken an arm and sat down looking at her arm stupidly as if she didn¡¯t understand why the angle of the arm was wrong.


    A lot of people though seemed to have withstood the sudden flight with minor bruises and were getting up and helping others up.


    Briss looked around and saw Heather sitting on the ground and rushed over to her friend.


    ¡°Heather! Are you alright!¡± Briss screamed practically into Heather''s face.


    Heather¡¯s face slowly turned and looked at Briss uncomprehending. Briss slapped Heather in the face and focus returned to Heather''s eyes and she looked around in sudden realization something bad had happened.


    ¡°Wha¡­ What happened?¡±


    ¡°The rock exploded and everybody on it was sent flying. Are you alright? Unhurt?¡±


    Heather started patting herself down and nodded to Briss.


    ¡°Seems so. Although I think my leg is sprained.¡±


    Briss helped Heather up and she groaned as she lifted her up.


    ¡°Can you put pressure on your foot?¡±


    ¡°I think so.¡±


    Heather winced but made a few steps on her injured leg but then her face seemed to lose all color and her eyes turned wide. Briss followed the way Heather was looking and her eyes came resting on a large figure that towered above the people looking at it paralyzed in fear. It was extremely large and covered completely in thick long fur and bits and pieces of moss, earth and roots seemed to be stuck in the fur. The figure was hominid in appearance if a bit hunched down in at the shoulders and it just stood there unmoving. The only thing moving was the fur as the thing breathed. The thing breathed Briss realized and felt a panicked scream welling up in her. It grew to into a big unmaintainable pressure behind her head and she let it out. A shrill bloodcurdling scream escaped her lips and seemed to shake everyone from their stupor and they started screaming and running away from the thing that had risen from the ground.


    The thing turned and revealed a large unnaturally long nose and looked at the people screaming and running away from it and guffawed in a loud booming grating laugh. It sounded as if rocks were bashed together to produce the sound. It then snapped forward lightning fast and grabbed one of the persons running away and lifted the poor man up. It was the blonde man Heather had tried to seduce and he let out a yelp as he was grabbed. The big hulking thing lifted him up to his face and studied what he had just caught.


    ¡°Matthew, no!¡±


    Briss heard Heather behind her scream but it barely registered as she was frozen in place with the display unfolding in front of her. The thing broke out in a gigantic grin revealing huge teeth as big as a forearm lining its mouth under the gigantic nose.


    It squeezed Matthew and Briss heard something crack loudly and a loud scream welled up from Matthew. The thing guffawed again in malicious glee and then suddenly put the man in his mouth head first and bit down. Matthew¡¯s screams abruptly cut off and the thing started chewing on the part of Matthew that was in his mouth.


    Shocked and fearful screams welled up from the people who had moved as far away as possible from the thing. A couple of people had balled up and were crying and muttering to themselves in shock from the horror display in front of them.


    The thing dropped the legs he still held in his hand and it fell down on the forest floor with a wet squishing sound. Matthews entrails spread out and landed on a burning log. A roasted meat scent started to spread over the clearing.


    It looked at the cowering people and then ran forward fast and grabbed one of the cowering persons. It was the woman who had screamed at the moon and the fur growing. It stuffed her almost completely in his mouth and bit down. A loud crunch cracked through the clearing and blood sprayed over the people standing there. One foot that had stuck past of the teeth fell down from the things lips and fell down to the ground bouncing a couple of times from the things body. The woman had been wearing sneakers that had led lights under it and those led lights lit up as the foot hit the ground. A bloody stump stood straight up from it blood dripping down the bare skin.


    A muffled pained scream could be heard from the mouth of the thing. The thing moved to the edge of the shadow, screams still coming from the mouth. It looked back at the people and opened its mouth again in a wide grin and moved its teeth a bit apart and a screaming panicked woman''s face peered out over the teeth. The thing then shoved the woman around in its mouth and bit down. The screams stopped suddenly.


    The thing bent over and picked up one of the largest burning logs lying around and threw it hard at the group of people. Multiple people were hit by the log and thrown back into the people behind them. Briss heard more than a few bones break when the log connected. Clothes caught fire and people screamed in panic. One person who had caught fire ran into some leafless bushes and tripped. He put his hands over his face and screamed his lungs out. The bush above him caught fire and that set to fire the pine trees surrounding it. In the confusion it had created the large thing stepped into the shadow and vanished.

 1.006 Winter Solstice 6

    Briss stood there looking at the spot where the thing, monster whatever it was had just stood and stepped into the shadow. The horrific crunching sound replayed in her head. The image of blood spraying out of the mouth, the foot falling down and the led lighting up. It was like a horrid film that kept replaying in her head over and over again. The blood dripping down on the bitten off leg. The roasted flesh smell penetrating her nose, the incredible speed that massive monster had moved and the grin full of malice it had shown.


    Something was tugging at her arm disrupting her thoughts. That foot¡­ it had bounced off that monster. Something kept tugging at her and she looked at what was tugging at her. That woman had just been stuffed into the thing''s mouth, her bloodied face had looked full of panic past those giant teeth. Someone said something to her what was that? And then that crunch. The screaming that had stopped suddenly. It had been a different crunch than when Matthew, was that his name? He had been bitten off as a human-sized snickers bar and had made a more wet crunch. That thing had eaten two people and had clearly enjoyed the shock those actions had caused.


    There was that tugging sensation again and Briss looked at was tugging her. There were two hands shaking her. They stuck out of a blue parka that had some darker spots on it. The parka looked torn. Strange, she was sure it was new and shouldn¡¯t look like that. Above it, a long face looked at her. The face had a few scuffs on it and the red hair had a couple of pine needles stuck in it. She knew that face. That was Heather, her friend. Heather was saying something. Briss frowned. Why did Heather look as if she had rolled over the forest floor?


    Suddenly the world snapped back and Briss snapped out of her stupor.


    ¡°Briss! Snap out of it! Come on, react goddammit!¡±


    Heather screamed in Briss¡¯s face whilst shaking her.


    ¡°Okay okay, I¡¯m back. What¡¯s going on.¡±


    Heather looked relieved and let go of Briss her shoulders. She eyed Briss with worry on her face.


    ¡°Are you¡¯re back? You still look spaced out. You got me worried there.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve got it under control. That monster is gone. First things first, what¡¯s going on?¡±


    Heather sighed and looked around the clearing where people in shock stood around with blank faces, probably just as hers had looked a moment ago. She could understand the worry Heather must have felt.


    ¡°This cursed darkness is still here. But somehow parts of the pyre and what it sets ablaze keeps it way. But when those branches go out the darkness comes closer.¡±


    A look of worry flashed over Heather¡¯s face and looked at the shadow edge to see if it wasn¡¯t getting closer to them. Feeling assured the darkness was still a long way away Heather pointed to a pile covered with tablecloths.


    ¡°We put the bodies of the people who died there. We covered them with the cloths so we didn¡¯t have to look at their burned or chewed up remains.¡±


    Briss shuddered as she looked at the pile. The foot was there. She could see the green led lighting up the cloth in one corner. Nobody had turned it off apparently. She then looked around and saw the trees roaring with fire lighting up the area around them. They were in no danger of falling into the darkness soon.


    ¡°The wounded we put over there, and we¡¯ve done our best to bandage their wounds and their burns.¡±


    A group of people was sitting and lying together and the occasional groan rose up from the group. Two men were busy removing branches from two thick sticks. They then bent over to a woman who was sitting there cradling her arm. Briss saw how they asked something and the woman nodded. One of the men positioned himself behind the woman and held her tight in an embrace. The other man then took the woman''s arm and started counting. At the count of two, the man suddenly jerked at the arm. A scream rose up and tore through the clearing. The hushed murmur that had penetrated the clearing stopped for a moment before it resumed. Then men then quickly started to bandage the arm of the woman with the splints and strips of cloth they have gotten from somewhere.


    ¡°Those guys over there have taken the tables apart and are will use the iron legs as clubs if that thing returns, for what good that will do, that thing was massive.¡±


    Briss followed where Heather was pointing and saw a group of ten men standing around looking grim holding metal table legs and chatting with each other. A couple of them kept a constant watchful eye on the shadow edge whilst the others conferred.


    Briss noticed nobody was near the shadow''s edge but everybody was sort of together in the middle of it eying the shadows warily or just staring blankly ahead. The outermost groups were only 5 meters away from the shadow''s edge and Briss saw the fire on a twig fading and the darkness claimed the spot as the embers died off and everything that was visible a moment ago was shrouded in thick darkness.


    Briss wondered if that monster was still there, just beyond the shadow''s edge, circling the camp ready to grab a new snack at a moments notice. Would it be able to see in this impenetrable darkness? It seemed so as for how readily it had stepped into it.


    ¡°We should extend the circle of light so we have a better warning if that thing returns. Right now that monster could step out of the shadow and grab someone in two steps.¡±


    Briss looked at the scattered burning logs and twigs burning around her. She then looked at the tree burning behind her, a blazing beacon that sent sparks flying into the darkness before they vanished from view as if the world just stopped there.


    ¡°You said anything lit from the original pyre helps to keep the darkness away right?¡±


    ¡°Well, it seems so.¡±


    Heather sighed and made a non-committal shrug.


    ¡°I mean those trees caught fire when that thing rose from the ground sending me flying, and those light the area around it.¡±


    Briss looked at the burning trees. The pine trees were roaring with a powerful inferno sending sparks flying up in the cold sky. The needles of the pine had all but burned away and the thin branches had curled up in the fire burning. Soon that fire would die down though as that tree didn¡¯t have enough fuel to support a long burn.


    ¡°We need to gather and break off as many as possible sticks and wood within the light circle and make multiple firepits to keep things alight.¡±


    Briss started gathering twigs and branches that had fallen to the ground in one hand.


    ¡°Can you go and ask those guys with the clubs to knock off branches from those pines? The sap should let them burn good enough.¡±


    Heather quickly went over to the group of people who were still standing around on edge. Whilst Briss tugged on a large branch that was half hidden in the shadows. When she looked over her shoulder whilst tugging she saw the men nodding and heading over to the few pines that were within the light circle and they started attacking the trees.


    One of them had moved to the tables started to hit the top of what once used to be a table that lied on the ground in order to break it up in smaller parts. The banging sound and the sudden activity drew the attention of other people and word started to spread and more people joined the wood gathering and fire building.


    Briss broke the big stick she had dragged in the light and broke it in three parts. She now had three sticks roughly as long as her arm and thick as her wrist. Having gathered up the sticks she headed over to the pile of bodies and dropped the sticks on the ground.


    Briss felt the cloth covering the bodies and came to the conclusion that she couldn¡¯t tear it by hand. She tried biting a hole in it to be able to tear it from there but couldn¡¯t get through the thick tablecloth fabric. It was good quality stuff.


    Looking around for something that could help she noticed the spot where the cutlery and food and drinks of the table had been dumped. It looked like they had flipped the table with little regard for what was on it before they tore the legs off it. Everything was spread out haphazardly, but some of the food seemed to have survived the fall when the tables were flipped. The food had been in big heating pans with lids. The lids had flown away, but the contents had remained in the pans through sheer luck.


    She went over to the food massacre that resembled what had happened in the clearing in miniature. After a short search avoiding mushy food that had spilled on the ground and the lifting of a few greasy pans briss found what she was looking for. She picked up a steak knife from the ground and wiped it against her hose to clear the dirt off. Her eye fell on the square pan that held chicken breasts and the fat they swam in.


    She returned to the pile of dead bodies with the pan and the knife and put them down near the sticks. With the knife, she cut three long strips from the tablecloth and put them in the pan. The fat was quickly absorbed by the cloth and she grabbed the dripping thoroughly drenched strips and started wrapping them around the sticks. She picked up some very small sticks and stuck them between each layer of cloth and then tied it all up.


    ¡°I hope that this works, or that this fat will even burn¡±


    Briss felt foolish making torches, but they would need something to light the wood piles the others had made and to be able to walk into the dark parts to gather more wood there.


    When she was done constructing the torches she wiped her greasy hand on one of the tablecloths that covered the dead bodies. She could smell the blood mixed with the scent of cooked chicken and felt her stomach churn. She fought the feeling down and went over to the group of men with the clubs with the torches in hand.


    ¡°Hi guys, could I have a moment?¡±


    One of them turned around to face her. It was John, the robe he wore over his winter coat was torn in several places and he had a few scuff marks on his hands but he seemed unscathed for the rest.


    ¡°I made a few torches to help with lighting the wood piles and to explore the area around here for more wood.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Briss. What do you think, is that thing is still around here, that it¡¯s safe to explore around here?¡±


    The darkness around the clearing was being pushed back by the fresh influx of wood to the already burning logs and twigs, but it felt so oppressing. As if the darkness wanted to conquer the light and squish it out. It was simply impossible to see anything through the darkness, a wall of darkness obscured everything.


    ¡°I really have no idea. For all I know, that thing could be standing ten centimeters into the darkness.¡±


    Briss pointed to the treeline where the lights were strung up. A couple of the disco lights strung up were visibly illuminated by the burning pine trees. They still flashed in tempo to a piece of music they couldn¡¯t hear. But where the string vanished into the darkness, no light from the disco lights was able to penetrate the darkness and illuminate the area around it.


    ¡°It seems only light from the original pyre can beat back this darkness, but any other source of light simply gets swallowed up.¡±


    John nodded and eyed the clearing. He pointed at a dark spot at the other side of where the pyre had been.


    ¡°Over there was the DJ booth and the music is on autoplay and we should be hearing music, but no sound comes from the speakers in the darkness. It swallows light and sound, whatever this stuff is.¡±


    He walked over to the shadow''s edge and held his improvised club a bit tighter eyed it warily, trying to see or hear anything in the darkness. When he felt confident nothing was coming out to grab him he stuck his club in the darkness and it was as if it simply stopped existing where it touched the shadow. There was no gradual fade going to darkness, it simply stopped existing.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°See, it¡¯s absolute dark, but outside obscuring everything it doesn¡¯t seem to be a physical thing, it just obscures everything in it.¡±


    Pulling the club back out of the darkness John took a few steps back away from the shadow edge and showed the table leg club to Briss.


    ¡°See? No residue, no etching, not a mark. I can¡¯t explain what is going on here but it freaks me the hell out. Especially knowing that that thing is still out there and could jump back at any moment and kill someone else.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s light this torch and see if we can beat back that darkness with it.¡±


    Briss held up one of the torches to John.


    ¡°If that works we might want to check on those first responders you said were there down the path.¡±


    John¡¯s face blanched and he stopped reaching out to the torch Briss had offered him.


    ¡°I totally forgot about them! If they are stuck in the darkness it must be terrifying!¡±


    Briss nodded and put the torch back with the others she was holding.


    ¡°I gather, or what about the possibility of that thing might pay them a visit?¡±


    ¡°Let me get a few people so we can have a party to check it out. We might have more strength in numbers. You light that torch and see if that works.¡±


    She watched John storming off to gather a couple of people with clubs. She took one of the torches and stuck the rest upright in the ground. Checking the torch if the cloth would hold and not snap free, she approached one of the fires. Holding the cloth of the torch above the flames the torch took a bit to catch flame. But when it started burning it burned with a steady flame but a lot of smoke came from the top of the torch. When Briss waved it around strongly the fire diminished but didn¡¯t stop burning. It was a shame she didn¡¯t know how long the torch would burn for, but hopefully for a long time. The strips of cloth she had used had made for a big clump at the top with the small sticks sticking out at the top.


    The torch smoked heavily spreading a smell of burned fat and roast chicken, but that didn¡¯t matter much to her. Briss approached the shadow''s edge with the torch and saw how the shadow edge reluctantly gave way to the torchlight. She moved forward until she stood where the shadow¡¯s edge had been. A half circle of roughly four meters stretched before her before cutting off into the darkness abruptly. As she was looking around in the newly illuminated area she noticed a huge footprint in the soil. The monster must have passed there as he was leaving them. It had circled a part of the camp it seemed. She took a couple of steps forward and saw the edge of another huge footprint appear. She took another few steps forward, keeping her ears open to catch the monster returning if that was even possible. She saw another footstep appear and it seemed to lead straight away from the clearing. Relaxing a bit in the knowledge that the monster probably had gone away after circling the clearing she turned around to return to the others.


    Her heart jumped in her throat when all she saw was darkness around her. The clearing was gone and everything was darkness around her. She couldn¡¯t even see the tops of the trees in the torchlight. A dome of darkness was around her pressing in on her small light source. It felt as if it was threatening to take the light from her, everything from her and it seemed to push down on the torchlight, diminishing it.


    Feeling a panic well up in her she looked around for any trace of the clearing but all she saw were the trees surrounding her. She tried to keep her cool and not to panic but that became harder and harder with every passing moment as she looked for clues where the clearing could be in this darkness.


    What if she would never find it again in this forest. What if the monster returned and ate her like those others, nobody would hear or know! She would die alone in the darkness between the teeth of that horrible monster! Or the torch would die off and she would be stuck here to wander the darkness, possibly falling off an edge that would break something and nobody would find her in this darkness! Panic and doom scenarios raced through her head, one more horrible than the other.


    Then her eyes fell on the footprint she had walked into whilst looking for the way back and she slapped her forehead. She started laughing hysterically and tears streamed down her face as she doubled over unable to control the laughter.


    When the laughing finally died down she wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and lifted her torch. The darkness receded a bit above her giving her a bit more breathing room.


    Trembling but feeling a bit more confident now she had a direction to Briss followed the footsteps, carefully making sure a footstep was always in a light circle as she moved forward away from where the footsteps led.


    After only twenty steps she saw a slit of light appear in front of her and as she took another step forward the light slit broadened showing the clearing. A few quick steps she was back in the clearings light circle and she let out a sigh of relief and fell down on her knees.


    She rammed the torch in the ground and then started trembling all over. She couldn¡¯t control it. Her arms, legs, chest everything just trembled. A hand touched her shoulder and she let out a yelp.


    ¡°Hey, everything all right?¡±


    John had put his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently. He had knelt beside her and was trying to comfort her. Briss relaxed a bit knowing that she wasn¡¯t alone.


    ¡°Give me a moment to gather myself. That was not fun.¡±


    Briss felt the trembling die down a bit now she wasn¡¯t alone anymore and had someone to talk to. She looked up and saw that John wasn¡¯t alone but that he had gathered four people with clubs that stood behind him. They looked worried at Briss and she tried to smile back but she felt the smile falter as she thought back at the terrifying feeling of loneliness that had taken over her in the darkness.


    ¡°We saw you coming out of the darkness. What happened there?¡±


    Briss shook her head and tried to get up but her legs still trembled too much to get up alone. John stretched out his hand which she gladly accepted and felt him pulling her up effortlessly. He was stronger than he looked she thought.


    ¡°I went to see if the torch would work against the shadow. It does. We have a light radius of four meters.¡±


    She said methodically, trying to sort out the thoughts in her head.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s good news.¡±


    Flashes of relief came over the faces of the group. They had probably thought they would have to cross through the darkness to get to the emergency services helpers. That they still had signed on for the search party spoke a lot about their character.


    ¡°Then I saw a footprint of that monster just on the edge and simply followed it out of curiosity. It leads away from the clearing, I think the monster has left us behind and has gone somewhere else.¡±


    The group started to murmur among themselves and started to stand up a bit more straight knowing the danger was most likely to be gone. John nodded and Briss bent over and brushed some dirt from her hose.


    ¡°But when I felt confident that the monster had moved away from us I turned around and I couldn¡¯t see the clearing anymore.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean you couldn¡¯t see the clearing anymore?¡±


    ¡°Exactly as I had said. I was roughly twenty-five steps away from the clearing and I couldn¡¯t see it anymore. It was pure darkness around me. I didn¡¯t even know which direction the clearing was.¡±


    ¡°How did you find your way back then?¡±


    ¡°I followed the monster¡¯s footsteps back. Without those to follow back I wouldn¡¯t have made it back I¡¯m sure. I was totally lost.¡±


    John looked thoughtful and peered into the darkness.


    ¡°We need to make sure that we stick to the path then when we go on the mission then.¡±


    ¡°But what will we do when we get pushed off the path like if that monster shows up anyways? We can¡¯t be sure it didn¡¯t double back to us.¡±


    Someone in the group had asked the question and John¡¯s brows snapped together.


    ¡°Good question Oliver. I honestly don¡¯t know. Anyone have an idea?¡±


    ¡°I suppose we don¡¯t have any string?¡±


    Someone from the group suggested. Oliver shook his head and looked at John who also shook his head.


    ¡°Not that I know of. I don¡¯t go around carrying balls of yarn at parties.¡±


    ¡°What about the cordon tape we used on the sides of the clearing?¡±


    Someone pointed to where John had pointed where the DJ booth should be.


    ¡°We had three rolls left over when we were done marking out the area.¡±


    ¡°That would work. Andrew, can you go with Briss to retrieve them? We¡¯ll feed the fires so they won¡¯t go out when we¡¯re gone and inform the remaining guards.¡±


    The same person who had made the suggestion for the tape nodded and walked over to Briss and held out his hand.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Andrew McLaughlin. I¡¯m not certain we¡¯ve met before yet.¡±


    Briss took his hand and shook it. She then bent over and pulled the torch from the ground and faced Andrew. She hadn¡¯t seen him before. Perhaps in passing in the university, but not that she could remember having talked to him.


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so either. I¡¯m Briss Mortimer Shall we go get the tape?¡±


    Andrew nodded and they made their way to the other side of the clearing. A couple of people approached them asking them if they knew more about what was going on. They had to deny that they knew what was going on. But when Briss mentioned that the monster had apparently left the clearing behind relief appeared on faces and a glimmer of hope started to return in the eyes of the people they spoke to.


    They reached the other side of the clearing where the DJ booth should be and stared into the darkness ahead of them. A more energetic murmur was in their back, a stark contrast to the hushed scared murmur that had been there before.


    ¡°Are you ready Andrew?¡±


    Andrew swallowed and looked nervously into the darkness whilst gripping his club. Briss eyed him. He looked as if he worked out regularly. He had a lean frame but moved around with the confidence of someone who knows what his body was capable of.


    He had a slim face with thin lips, and his lush blonde hair framed the top of his head in a way that Donald Trump would be jealous. He held his club in front of his chest in both hands and looked away from the shadow to Briss. She saw fear but also resolve in his blue eyes.


    ¡°No, but let¡¯s go anyways.¡±


    Briss took a few steps forward and the light penetrates the darkness in front of her. Andrew followed at her side and scanned the newly illuminated area for any dangers. He then nodded and Briss moved forward again. The clearing vanished behind them and all they could see was what the torch illuminated. Briss saw Andrew look back and then around and heard him swallow.


    ¡°Are you alright Andrew?¡±


    Andrew looked at her pale-faced and lips pressed tightly together but nodded resolutely. Now she wasn¡¯t alone she didn¡¯t feel as scared as before. She made sure to drag her feet over the ground, leaving clear marks she could follow back.


    They continued like this until they found power cables lying on the ground. They checked for which direction to follow them and then followed the cables to where the DJ booth should be. It slowly appeared out of the darkness as they approached. First one edge, of the booth and then an entire side. They moved forward to the back end of the DJ booth where the DJ should be.


    Something flew at them from underneath the DJ booth as they passed one edge. Andrew moved to hit the thing that flew at them but held back at the last moment as he recognized it.


    ¡°Oh thank god! I thought I had gone blind and deaf!¡±


    In front of them stood a very pale and wide-eyed person who was staring intently at the torch as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.


    ¡°You¡¯re the DJ right?¡±


    Andrew lowered his club and took on a more relaxed pose, but kept an eye on the shadows.


    ¡°Yes, I was just planning in the tunes and doing my usual stuff when the world just faded away. The music was gone and all light too. I couldn¡¯t even see my laptop screen!¡±


    The man clapped in his hands and a grin appeared on his face.


    ¡°I tried clapping, but I couldn¡¯t even hear it. No matter how hard I clapped my hands I couldn¡¯t hear it. I tried shouting but I couldn¡¯t even hear my own shouts. I thought I had gone blind and deaf.¡±


    He pointed at the booth behind him.


    ¡°First I waited and hoped someone would notice me shouting and they would get me to a hospital. But nobody noticed. So I ripped the cables from my laptop hoping the music quitting would attract attention. But nobody came. So I sat down at my booth and just waited.¡±


    The DJ¡¯s eyes reflected the fear, loneliness, and confusion he must have felt. Briss had felt the shadow pressing around her, trying to attack her flame, but this man had been locked in the shadow but no other sense left than his touch. She shuddered at the thought.


    ¡°We have a fully illuminated clearing behind us where people are sort of safe. We¡¯ve had some issues there that will be explained later. We came here to get the cordon lint we left here earlier. We¡¯ll return to the clearing after we retrieved it.¡±


    Andrew moved forward and Briss followed. The DJ nodded and fell into step. They found the cordon lint quickly, picked it up and returned to the clearing with the DJ following in tow. Andrew kept a watchful eye out at the shadows and the DJ carried the boxes with the cordon lint. They made it back without any issues and the DJ was handed over to a group of people who had gathered to watch out for their return.


    A couple of cheers rose up as the DJ was proof that the shadow was not filled with deadly monsters and that people outside the light circle were probably safe. That drew more people who came to investigate the source of the mirth.


    Briss and Andrew took the lint from the DJ and left the group of people and rejoined John and his party.


    ¡°How long will that torch last?¡±


    John asked when they had rejoined the party.


    ¡°I have no clue how long a torch will last or how long will last that is made from cloth and cooked animal fat, I¡¯m surprised it held this long.¡±


    ¡°It should last roughly an hour to two hours.¡±


    Briss turned to face Oliver with her eyebrows raised.


    ¡°What, I¡¯ve built a couple of torches in the past. None like these mind you. But they should last a while.¡±


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t think to mention it before that you could build torches?¡±


    ¡°Uhm, no?¡±


    Oliver looked around sheepishly at the people staring at him. To his rescue came John who put his arm around Oliver.


    ¡°We all sometimes forget things. No worries. We¡¯re burning torches here, we should go and start our rescue mission.¡±


    John picked up the two torches that were still stuck in the ground. He took off his leather belt and wrapped it around the torches so they were securely tied and then closed the belt around Briss her waist.


    ¡°Briss will go in the middle holding the torch up. We will surround Briss keeping our eyes on the darkness around us and our clubs ready to attack.¡±


    He then took one of the cordon tape rolls from the box and handed it to Oliver.


    ¡°You¡¯ll go in the back and make sure that this rolls off properly and secure it at branches along the way.¡±


    John turned and faced the rest of the group.


    ¡°Everybody ready?¡±


    Grim nods were what he got back from the group and they moved as one to the spot where the path to the emergency services should be.


    Cheers rose up from the people gathered in the clearing and they started to walk a bit straighter as the cheering got louder.


    ¡°Go get them!¡±


    ¡°You guys are heroes!¡±


    ¡°Be safe!¡±


    They arrived at the spot where they would enter the darkness and held for a moment so Oliver could tie the cordon lint to a tree. They then cast a look back at the cheering crowd who looked at them with hopeful eyes. Then they reluctantly faced the darkness and marched as one head-on into the shadow that parted for the light of the torch. The darkness closed behind them and they were gone.

 1.007 Winter Solstice 7

    The clearing was filled with people lying on the ground around the fires. Some were cuddling together, others lay spread-eagled on the ground snoring loudly. The night had been very long and they hadn¡¯t been able to stay awake. The warm glow from the fires and the late hour had made people drowsy. The lack of anything happening had made them less wary of the darkness. Of course, it had filled them with great unease, but the sleep and exhaustion had won the battle and claimed one victim after another.


    A couple of people stood guard with clubs made from table legs. They had just changed watch whilst their comrades settled down to close their exhausted eyes. It didn¡¯t take them long to fall asleep next to the crackling fire they surrounded.


    One of the guards went around and fed fresh wood to the fires that were scattered around the camp. The others started to make rounds and to check on the wounded. The emergency services workers lay covered in blood and grime sleeping next to the wounded. Torn packaging of medical equipment lay scattered around reflecting the dancing flames of the fires. The fires themselves crackled and popped with the fresh fuel feeding the flames. The darkness surrounding the camp like an untouchable and impenetrable dome was driven back by the fresh flames rising up.


    Briss woke up from the crackling sound of the fire next to her. She sat up wondering for a moment where she was and why she was lying next to a fire. Then her memories came rushing back to her and she groaned. She stretched herself out, sat up, and rubbed her face. It felt warm and puffy on the side that had been exposed to the fire, cold and numb on the other side. She let out a deep sigh and saw a cloud forming in front of her mouth. Great, it¡¯s still freezing cold. Why couldn¡¯t this all have happened in a warm summer? Most of her body felt ice cold. The fire only had heated one side of her, the other side was plain cold. When she had fallen asleep John had been lying next to her, but he must have had to run a shift and hadn¡¯t returned to her when it was over. She¡¯d get him for letting her be cold alone. Or not, she couldn¡¯t really blame him, it wasn¡¯t like that they had a thing. She had built torches that were beneficial for the group. Nothing more nothing less. But it had been nice falling asleep with his warm body to cuddle up to. She remembered feeling sheltered in his arms. It had been easy falling asleep in his arms.


    She rubbed her face again and looked around bleary-eyed. Her mouth was dry she was incredibly thirsty. But all water of the catering had been confiscated for the wounded by the emergency service workers. The shadow still surrounded her and all the others. Her hope that it would have gone vanished from her heart. She feared that the darkness would never leave. What would happen if they ran out of fuel to burn? They could hardly burn the entire forest down. They didn¡¯t have the tools to cut down trees and it would put them in jeopardy too.


    She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and checked her watch. Ten past eight, it was early morning but still dark. Briss looked around the clearing and saw all the people sleeping, the guards patrolling around and stood up with a stifled groan. Brushing the twigs and dirt off her clothes, she eyed where the wounded were and remembered the trip to the emergency services.


    They had followed the path, trailing the cordon lint behind them. She had held the torch and the others had surrounded her facing the shadow as they made their way down the path carefully. They had found the ambulance and the two emergency services workers cowering inside.


    They had been relieved to be able to see and hear again when they arrived. When they had been informed of what had transpired at the clearing they had gathered all the equipment they could scavenge and carry from the ambulance. They had made a few improvised sacks from blankets and sheets and divided the equipment, bandages, IV bags and medicine jars among them. The emergency service workers had carried the bulk of the goods. The guards carried only enough as not to limit their movement.


    The way back had been just as uneventful as the outward journey but the small light circle had been seriously crowded with the addition of the gear and new people. When they had returned to the clearing the workers had quickly set to triaging and helping people. The people who had been left behind had cheered for them and welcomed them as heroes. Briss hadn¡¯t felt a hero, more exhausted with the tension of being in a small light circle surrounded by darkness where a huge monster could jump out, snatch you and grind you to mush in a second. Her nerves had been wrecked.


    But she hadn¡¯t been able to rest just yet. A new problem had arisen when they returned as nature called for people and it became hard to keep it up. A couple of people had set out to dig a couple of holes to be used as latrines. They had joined to help, using the table legs as crude pickaxes to break up the frozen ground. The latrines dug were huge holes, but with two hundred people needing to heed natures call a small hole would have filled up quick. That had been tiring work but had kept her warm.


    Briss eyed her fingernails, which had black edges from the dirt she had carried away last night. Her back still felt stiff from the constant bending over and scooping up the liberated dirt. She did her best to suppress the urge to sniff the air if she could smell the latrines.


    She did a few stretches and a couple of jumping jacks to get her juices flowing again and hopefully warm up throughout. When she felt warm and awake enough she wiped the sweat that had built up from her brow and walked to the edge of the darkness confidently. The monster hadn''t attacked in all these hours, it was unlikely to pose a risk now. If it did it would hopefully be over soon, but frankly, she couldn¡¯t care less at this moment.


    Standing a foot length away from the darkness she eyed the wall of dark in front of her. She stretched out her hand and touched the darkness. Her fingers slid effortlessly into the darkness and appeared to stop from existing as if her fingers were cut off. She snipped her fingers but didn¡¯t hear a thing. She pulled her hand out and eyed her fingers. Nothing on her fingers, nothing on her hand that felt off. In the shadow, it was the same cold as in the clearing. She snipped them and heard the sound it made clear. She tapped the bottom of her lip in thought.


    ¡°I wonder if I can create darkness if I block the light.¡±


    She looked around the clearing for a suitable spot where she would have only one fireplace behind her. Circling the clearing in her search for a suitable spot for her experiment she had a good look at the sheer number of people that were gathered here. Two hundred didn¡¯t sound like much at a party or event, but seeing them here lying on the ground it did seem like a lot of people. It was a wonder they had been able to keep all the fires burning bright enough to shelter them all. Understandably nobody had wanted to sleep in the darkness where the monster could eat you up. She suspected a lot of people would be buying night lights if the darkness ever went away. She nodded to a guard she passed. He nodded bleary-eyed back and sloughed onwards on his patrol. It was clear he was exhausted and wishing he could lie down, even though he had just woken up. They didn¡¯t even know if it was just this forest that was affected by this ungodly darkness or if it had spread further. They knew it extended at least to the ambulances. Nobody had wanted to explore further than that out of fear not to be able to find a way back to the light.


    Several theories had been debated why the fire could beat back the darkness but light from mobile phone flashes not nor could the bamboo torches that had been spread around the party site. The common consensus had been the words John had spoken. But when they had tried to replicate the words they had come up empty. Leaving a lot of people doubting that that was the actual source of why the pyre fire could chase back the darkness but the torches could not.


    But when the bamboo torches were put out and relit with the pyre fire they could chase back the darkness. Briss had felt stupid that she hadn¡¯t done that, but then again, the light radius from those torches hadn¡¯t been as big as from her chicken grease torches. It hadn¡¯t been a total waste of effort.


    Nearing a sort of point in the edge of the clearing, Briss eyed the fires illuminating this part. One fire was quite far away and another one was nearer. She would be able to block light from one side with her body and the other fire with her hands. It took some maneuvering to block the light from the fireplaces but she was able to make a beam of pure darkness extend from the middle of her hand to the shadow''s edge. She marveled at the beam of intense darkness extending at her hand and let her finger slide through it. She felt nothing, no resistance, no coldness, just nothing. As she flipped her hand sideways the light conquered the darkness again making the beam smaller and smaller until it vanished. When she flipped her hand back the darkness beam returned. It seemed to have grown from the darkness to her hand, but that might be a trick that her eyes played on her. She flipped her hands a few times and it did seem as if it grew from the border towards her hand. As if it tried to conquer all possible light and to penetrate as deep as possible.


    She moved her other hand through the beam but again she felt nothing as her hand passed through it. She held her hand still in the middle of the beam and looked at the hole of darkness and the black rod that seemed to pierce it. She imagined being pierced by something in her hand and how it looked like. But the darkness was too strange and it had absolutely no sensation. No hot, no cold, no resistance, it was as if it wasn¡¯t there.


    She moved her hands closer together, capturing the rod of darkness between her hands as her hands moved closer together. The rod stopped behind her hand as her body didn¡¯t block all light anymore to the shadow¡¯s edge. The shadow was disconnected and trapped between her hands. When her fingertips touched it was as if she was holding pure darkness in her hand free from anything else. She couldn¡¯t see through it or feel it but it seemed as if she held pure nothing between her fingers. She eyed it and tried to pierce the darkness with her eyes, trying to understand how it worked.


    A piercing headache shot through her brain and she grabbed to her head. Her vision blurred and her head felt as if it was smashed in with a slice of lemon wrapped in a gold brick. She felt herself fall backward but was unable to stop herself falling, the headache paralyzed her with the pain of a thousand knives slicing through her head piercing her inner self. She hit the ground hard and the air was expelled from her lungs. With her head feeling as if something was tearing and ripping it apart from inside she started convulsing wildly. The pain radiated through her body and filled her every fiber with burning needle pricks. She thrashed around on the ground, wanting to scream with agony, but she was unable to take the breath to fill her lungs that her fall had knocked empty. Darkness filled her eyes but she was able to see. A bright sun welled up in her mind and blinded her with white light. The needle stings faded away and sight slowly returned to Briss.


    She gasped a deep breath, sucking in that delicious air her body craved and promptly ended up coughing her lungs out.


    She rolled on her side and looked at the fire burning, illuminating the clearing, gasping for air. The fire filled her sight and her eyes followed the sparks that escaped to the sky fading out between the dull stars.


    She lay there catching her breath and feeling the headache slowly fading away. She put a trembling hand on the ground and got herself up carefully. She looked around the clearing and saw that nobody had noticed her falling. At least that was something, nobody to make fun of her that she couldn¡¯t remain standing on her two feet.


    ¡°What the hell was that all about.¡±


    She looked at her hands and saw that they still trembled. The headache was just a minor headache now. She took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes, and tried to regain her composure. Suddenly she snapped open her eyes and looked upwards. She could see the stars! Dim, but still, she could see them in the sky above the clearing.


    She looked down at the shadow¡¯s edge and noticed she could see the trees that had been obscured by the darkness before.


    Her eyes turned wide open in wonder and she looked around taking in the views that had been hidden from sight a moment ago, before her headache attack. Looking around the clearing she couldn¡¯t see the monster hiding anywhere in the shadows and felt a wave of relief coming over her. The monster hadn¡¯t played a cruel game with them by hiding and then suddenly attacking when they felt safe.


    Briss rushed over to where John was sleeping and shook him wildly.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Mrrmm wha, is it my shift already? I just got to sleep.¡±


    ¡°John, wake up! You¡¯ve got to see this!¡±


    John got up groggily and looked at Briss uncomprehending.


    ¡°Look, the shadow is dissipating, you can see further again!¡±


    John looked over his shoulder to the shadow edge, looked up to the sky and then looked back at Briss with one eyebrow raised.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Did they extend the fire circle whilst I was asleep? I told them not to do that as we don¡¯t have enough firewood.¡±


    ¡°No, no, don¡¯t you see the trees and the stars?¡±


    Briss pointed to the trees in the shadow, waved over the sky where the stars stood shining dimly as if there was a layer of smog obscuring them.


    ¡°No, all I see is the same cursed black wall.¡±


    John rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. He looked very exhausted Briss thought. She felt an urge to hug him and tell him it would all work out, but she suppressed it. John got up and stretched himself and let out a big yawn. Briss felt her own yawn coming up and let it out, glaring at John for infecting her with the yawn.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, I can see the trees and stars. I don¡¯t know why you can¡¯t¡±


    John shrugged and walked to the shadow''s edge. As he moved the sleep started to leave his face and looked more like himself albeit a bit grumpy. Briss understood how he must feel, his precious sleep interrupted by this after such an exhausting night.


    They arrived at the edge and held there. John eyed the shadow¡¯s edge warily looking for a big hand to pop out to grab him. When that didn¡¯t happen he turned to face Briss and crossed his arms. His coat and jeans were covered in blood, pine sap, and various other substances she couldn¡¯t identify. Somewhere along the night, he had lost his toga. His hair was filled with twigs and needles it had picked up from the forest floor. His face was covered in grime and smears of various origins. He eyed Briss and she saw the doubt battling a glimmer of hope in his eyes. John put his hand in the shadow. She saw he held up three fingers, which seemed to turn grayish in color past the shadow¡¯s edge.


    ¡°How many fingers am I holding up.¡±


    ¡°Three¡±


    John¡¯s eyes grew bigger and he looked her deep in her eyes. She saw hope winning from the doubt in his eyes and liked how it felt when he looked her in the eyes like that. She suppressed the flutter in her stomach and focussed at the task at hand.


    ¡°How many now?¡±


    ¡°Two.¡±


    ¡°Five.¡±


    ¡°One.¡±


    ¡°Live long and prosper.¡±


    John pulled his hand slowly back and eyed her with disbelief and hope.


    ¡°You can see? You can see?!¡±


    Johns'' voice rose with excitement. Briss nodded and gestured at the shadow that John apparently couldn¡¯t pierce with his eyes.


    ¡°I can see the trees behind there and the path passing down there in the distance and the cordon lint we put up there.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s awesome! I still only see solid darkness, but that one of us can see through is awesome!¡±


    John looked at the wall of darkness and then put his hand in it again and raised his index and middle finger hidden by the darkness.


    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s rude!¡±


    Briss smacked John on the back of his head and John winced on the impact.


    ¡°Guess I deserve that. I just wanted to make sure.¡±


    He rubbed the back of his head and looked apologetically at Briss. Briss walked into the darkness with an insulted look on her face. She turned around and eyed John who was scanning the darkness in front of him for a sign of her. She stuck her tongue out at John.


    ¡°Hey, can you hear me you, rude oaf?¡±


    John didn¡¯t react to her words or her sticking her tongue out. Briss tapped her bottom lip and thought of what she could do that would be a bit more fun. A mischievous grin came over her face. She moved close to the shadow''s edge taking great care to remain concealed.


    John was looking worriedly now at the shadow and had moved closer. He clearly tried to find her but it was obvious he couldn¡¯t see a thing, even though she stood only at thirty centimeters distance from her.


    Briss took a deep breath, steeled herself and stepped forward right in front of John and their noses were basically touching.


    ¡°BOO!¡±


    John jumped back and tripped, landing him on his behind. He eyed Briss with round eyes in a pale face, filled with shock as he looked up to her.


    ¡°How¡­ did you do that?¡±


    Briss couldn''t help but to smile as to how easy it had been for her.


    ¡°I just walked up. I can basically see everything in that shadow. It¡¯s all dimmed and gray but I can see in it as clearly as I can see here.¡±


    Briss extended her hand to John and helped him up.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t spook me like that again. I think I might have trouble sitting for the next few days now.¡±


    John rubbed his ass with a pained expression on his face. Briss grinned at him and mouthed a boo at him, which earned her a sour look back.


    ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s been a long night, I needed to unwind a bit.¡±


    John moved back to the shadow''s edge and stuck his head in it and pulled it back again.


    ¡°Nope. I really can¡¯t see anything in there. When did you notice you can see in the shadow?¡±


    Briss scratched her head and thought back. It was probably after the headache attack she got when she was messing with the darkness.


    ¡°I was messing with the shadow and had trapped some between my hands, I tried to study it, got a knock me off my feet headache and then I could see in the shadow.¡±


    ¡°That sounds¡­ not that strange considering we have impenetrable darkness, a monster that ate two people and magic fire that beats back the darkness.¡±


    A sound behind them made them turn around. Somebody was shouting something.


    ¡°Look up there!¡±


    They looked up and saw red streaks piercing through the darkness, tearing it apart streak by streak. Cheers rose up from the people that had startled awake at the shout as the red streaks increased in the sky and tore the darkness to shreds. Through the trees, a bright red sliver could be seen making its way through the trees rising slowly but surely. The forest floor was colored red with the light and the trees caught the light making it bounce into every corner, giving the shadow no refuge to hide.


    People started clapping and cheering. Shouts of relief and celebration rose up and soon everybody was awake and celebrating along. People were dancing, looking at the sun taking it in. Other people were crying and praying on their knees.


    The sun had risen and defeated the darkness. The darkness would not stay forever, which had been the fear of the people gathered. They had survived the longest night and the light had returned.


    The disco lights reflected the sunlight in bright red spots on the ground, and the trees were swaying slightly in the wind that had picked up. The generator that had supplied power had run out of fuel somewhere in the dark night, but the sun provided a cheery light that was spread all around and the celebrating people.


    It was day and they lived.


    -


    Jacob woke up and his entire body shouted in cramped protest. The night on the cold wet cave floor had not done his muscles any favors and they ached terribly under the strain of moving.


    He looked down and saw that Paula was snuggled in his armpit, one of her hands resting on his chest. Her breasts were pressing against him comfortably through her winter coat. He liked the feeling of them pressing against them, the pressure increasing and decreasing with every breath she took. He closed his eyes and thought half dreamily back at the night before, not feeling like waking up fully yet.


    When that strange moon shadow door had opened everything had gone black in the cave. If Paula hadn¡¯t been trying to help him get loose of the door he probably would have never have found her.


    He had tried talking to her but no sound had left his mouth, he hadn¡¯t even been able to hear himself. They had felt their way gingerly in the dark to a dry-ish spot and had settled there, huddled up together in the darkness. They had been unable to communicate except by touch. Paula had tried tapping morse code on his hand but that had been unsuccessful. The only thing he knew in morse was S.O.S. Three long, three short, three long. Or was it the other way around? Didn¡¯t really matter, if you kept going long enough nobody would notice you didn¡¯t know how to start.


    First, he had simply pressed Paula¡¯s hand and she had pressed his back in return. But as it got colder and colder as the darkness and the night progressed they had huddled closer. He had wrapped his arm around Paula and she had nudged closer against him. They had fallen asleep together that way, unable to see or hear each other. But they had been able to smell and touch each other, and they had found comfort in each other. Knowing they were not alone in this frightening darkness.


    Jacob opened his eyes again and looked at the cave ceiling. The darkness was gone and he could see! A pale cloudy light illuminated the cave and Jacob cast his eye outwards and saw a light drizzle falling outside the cave. He shook Paula gently to wake her up.


    ¡°Paula¡­ Paula¡­ wake up. The darkness is gone.¡±


    ¡°Mhh, what? what? It¡¯s gone?¡±


    Paula got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes and cast a look around. She then put her hands in her back and groaned loudly.


    ¡°One out of five stars. The beds are horrible in Merlin¡¯s cave¡±


    Jacob couldn¡¯t help himself and let out a chuckle at the unexpected joke. Paula looked at him and raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Alright, make that two stars, the bed warmer was lovely.¡±


    Paula winked at him and Jacob felt the heat rising up from his neck. Paula seemed to like the effect it had and a glimmer appeared in her eyes.


    ¡°Well then, my lovely bed warmer assistant. Now the weird darkness is gone let¡¯s get out of this dank cave to return home to get a shower.¡±


    Jacob nodded and got up. He twisted his torso and stretched his back. He saw that Paula did a couple of more stretches including reaching for her toes right at the moment he was looking at her. His eyes drifted to her behind that was wonderfully accented in that pose before he was able to tear away his eyes and turn away.


    He felt the heat creeping up his neck again and decided he¡¯d make himself useful instead of ogling his employer. He made his way around the cave and quickly found the two discarded flashlights. Having daylight was very practical instead of a couple of small cones of light. The cave didn¡¯t look so big now more light was flowing in, and the shadows didn¡¯t enlarge everything.


    He caught up with Paula who was at the cave entrance waiting for him with a smile on her face.


    ¡°Ah Jacob, look, the low tide has arrived and we are here to enjoy this beautiful English morning.¡±


    She flourished theatrically at the mundane drizzle that poured down steadily. He would have to agree that it was typical weather. Beautiful, he had his doubts, but beauty was in the eyes of the beholder.


    He wondered how Paula could be so merry and carefree after the exceptional night they just lived through. He felt scared, shocked to his core, his beliefs thoroughly rattled, mystified by the events. She, on the other hand, seemed to be upbeat, cheerful and normal as if nothing extraordinary had happened and everything was normal.


    But everything was definitely not normal. A door had formed out of shadows and it could be touched by shadows. It could be opened and he had opened it, letting out that darkness in the cave which had made it impossible to navigate. Nothing about that was normal and definitely, nothing about that was logical. Shadows should not be able to affect shadows and you should certainly not be able to touch what your shadow was touching. It defied all logic and reasoning. As did that deafening and blinding darkness. What was that stuff that had come out of the door?


    So many questions, so many core belief shaking impressions to handle and Paula seemed completely unfazed by what had transpired. That irked him the most. She should have been scared, perplexed, stupefied, wondering anything. Not just get up and be cheery self again as if nothing had happened.


    Paula had started making her way back and beckoned him to follow. He kicked a rock and watched it fly and hit the beach sand with a dull sound. He followed the unnaturally cheerful woman and did his best to not let his thoughts wander to the sensation of her lying in his arms. He¡¯d best forget that and focus his willpower on solving the strange phenomena he had experienced the night before.


    They walked the walkways up together in silence. Paula had a smile on her face, her hairs unkempt from the night sleep. The locks that had freed themselves from the ponytail she had not remade were matted against the side of her face. That gave her a slightly maniacal look. Jacob followed her sullenly, looking more at the ground and the sea behind him. The sound of the sea resounded around them. The breeze carried the cries of the seagulls that circled above them.


    Jacob looked up and opened his mouth in the hope to catch some of the drizzle falling down. It felt as if it fell everywhere except his mouth. He would have to wait until they were at the car before he could drink to lessen his thirst.


    Paula stopped suddenly and Jacob almost crashed into her.


    ¡°Why did you stop?¡±


    Jacob eyed her gruffly and annoyed at the sudden interruption of their progress. He was extremely thirsty and badly needed a drink. Paula didn¡¯t respond but stood facing the path in front of them, smile firmly planted on her face but her eyes were somewhere distant, drops were building on her eyebrows.


    Jacob looked worried at Paula. He waved his hand in front of her eyes but she didn¡¯t respond. Did she have a seizure? Was she epileptic? He readied himself to catch her should she fall.


    Paula¡¯s hands started to shake and a tear welled up in her eye. He was pretty sure it was a tear and not rainwater.


    A loud sob escaped from Paula''s lips and the smile faded as her lips started to tremble. Jacob was about to ask what was wrong when she fell into his arms and started to cry, hot big tears started to flow down her face and she buried her face in Jacobs wet coat and sobbed loudly.


    Jacob wrapped his arms around her and let her cry her heart out.

 1.008 Interlude - Everything has changed

    He stood there silently at the edge of the trees, looking at the world in front of him. Or better expressed, the walls of buildings in front of him. He sniffed the air and made a disgusted face. It smelled of soot and metal mixed with human filth. So little animal, so little green, no life at all. The city sprawled in front of him but it felt so empty as if something was lacking. A shudder ran down his spine. He did not scare easily but this terrified him. He hadn¡¯t noticed in the forest at first due to the sudden awakening in between humans, but now that he was at the treeline, he noticed that a lot had changed whilst he was asleep.


    He scratched his big nose, trying to get that awful scent out of it, whilst studying the city in front of him. The darkness covered everything, but he had no issue piercing it with his sight. The darkness was familiar, an old celebration for his kind, a curse for mankind. For it meant easy feasting on unprepared prey which could not fight back.


    But the darkness was empty and devoid of the usual activity. He saw nowhere what would usually transpire during the feast of darkness. The darkness was there, but besides him standing here, nobody was using it as cover. With so many humans in a city this large, there should have been a feasting ground, where his kindred would gorge on or pull tricks on them. But nothing like that was going on, it was eerily quiet, very unsettling. Where did his kindred go? Where were his brothers and sisters that would use this day to eat their fill and gather supplies for the remaining winter?


    There were big buildings all around the forest as if the city had encroached on the forest line. Very unhuman like, they would usually have cut down all forests and trees close to cities. All the buildings were much bigger than him, not a hut in sight. Everything was made out of very straight stone and huge and in straight lines. The craftsmanship in those houses was excellent. Almost as if it was built with wizard might, so neat and aligned everything seemed to be. That irked him, what irked him even more, was the constant smell of soot and metal in his nose. It reeked as if someone had decided to set the world on fire, but he couldn¡¯t find a source of that fire anywhere.


    He took a few steps forward and climbed a slight rise, there was a gravel path and a few benches. Those benches seemed to be made by a master craftsman, with curving shapes and not a trace of woodgrain to be seen. What humans had made this? What had happened to the world?


    He looked to the east and saw a big fire burning there. That might explain the burning smell in the air. Something lit up the darkened sky ahead of him and he looked up. A huge fireball was quickly dissipating, and flaming chunks were falling down from the sky. It was far away but he guessed those things had been big. What had it been, that could cause such a big fireball in the sky?


    With a scowl on his face, unhappy with all the things he had seen so far, he made his way down to a road and studied the sturdy material it was made of. He bent over and sniffed it carefully. It smelled of pitch and something he couldn¡¯t identify. It seemed solid enough and had markings on it. When he scratched it with his claws it was strong as stone. When he put more pressure behind his claws he released black pebbles in the road. They had used pitch to keep pebbles in place to build a road? Why would they want to do that? And where did they get so much pitch?


    Strange carts in various sizes and colors stood parked on the sides of this road. He studied the strange carts that came to his knee height and some even top his hips. They were all shaped differently and had different colors. Some had hard corners, others had smooth rounded edges. All of them had large glass panes, even curved glass panes. He had never seen curved glass before like that. He knocked on one of the carts, causing it to crumple with a loud metallic noise under his hand, the windows shattering and spreading small glass shards everywhere. A series of loud sounds came from the cart and lights started blinking on it. He growled startled and jumped on the big flat part on the front, stomping it down, which gave way under him with a loud creak and pop. He punched a few times down on it, his claws tearing the metal apart effortlessly. The loud sound and blinking stopped and he stopped tearing into the cart. Surprisingly weak things these carts, he had torn it apart without effort. He sniffed the torn apart cart and found the source of the strange scent he had smelt before on the road. It came from the black cartwheels of these crumple carts.


    He scratched one of the wheels with his nail to see what that black material was made of that left its scent everywhere. The wheel exploded with a loud bang and he backed off startled. He eyed the cart warily, waiting for it to do something else.


    Feeling confident the cart wouldn¡¯t explode or do anything else, he gingerly touched the mess that had been a wheel a moment ago. Why would a human wish to ride a thing that could explode at any moment, that made loud noises and is so fragile? And what was the material these cartwheels were made of? Iron wires mixed with a strange substance. And where would the horses or oxen be placed to drive this cart? He sniffed the vehicle again and a frown came over his face. No trace of an animal on the cart. Only human scents and that foul penetrating odor. Did they push these carts themselves?


    He looked around and saw a lot of these carts around him. Curious indeed, the humans seemed to use them a lot, but without horses. They stunk up the place, that was for certain. He decided that he didn¡¯t like the carts much.


    He followed the road to the big buildings ahead, ignoring the curious explodable carts at his sides. Taking in all the curious things ahead of master craft quality, he pondered about what had happened to the world. He must have been asleep for a long time, a very very long time. And the humans must have been able to come to unhindered growth. Had they managed to kill off all his kindred? No, that was impossible, his kindred were created by the life force, and the life force was what had created everything in this world. Even if the last of them was killed new ones would sprout up. The world felt very poor and dry, making his skin itch with it. Scratching his arm made hairs and flakes fall to the ground, that turned to stone as soon as they detached from his body. He eyed the stone hairs and skin flakes with worry. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, his huge nostrils spread wide open.


    Curious again. None of the life he was used to was around here. Normally you would be able to smell a few forest inhabitants, a couple of house helpers, fear eaters, but there was nothing.


    What had happened to his world? Where were his brothers and sisters? This night should have been teeming with life and activity right now. He spread out his arms and tried to sense the life force. Normally it would be something in the back of his being, always there but never worth paying attention. Just like the air you were breathing, you would never actively try to feel its presence, it was always there. He didn¡¯t like what his senses told him, the life force was so weak, barely noticeable. That would explain why he had slept so long, with this little life force in the world there wouldn¡¯t be enough to sustain his transformation. He had been lucky those humans had built an enchanted fire on his back or he wouldn¡¯t have transformed.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    His stomach let out a light rumble that sounded like rocks being ground together. He had slept for father knew how long, and was still hungry. Those two humans he had snacked on had barely sated his greatest hunger. They had been tasty though, plump and fatty, juicy even. Not as stringy and oft disease-ridden tasting as he remembered them. These had tasted healthy and their bones had a nice crunch to them. They had also provided him with a little bit of life force they had in them, which would help him to stay in this form.


    Normally he wouldn¡¯t care about that little bit of life force, but seeing how easily his body turned to stone when parts of him got detached, he would need everything he could get. The world was full of soot and stinking things he did not know, but the taste of food had improved. He would need to eat a lot more to sustain this form, with this lack of life in the world. If he would turn back to his resting state he might not wake up again.


    The road he was on ended, it split to the left and right. In front of him was a really big building in the shape of a circle. To his side a large building but much smaller than the one at the other side of the street. It had a big lit up sign above it that read Sainsbury''s. There was a big place in front of it, where a lot of those strange carts had parked in neatly aligned spots. Humans had gotten more organized than he was used to. They used to be a ragtag group of people that built and placed things where they wanted. This was almost like a military organization. Was this a military base this Sainsbury''s?


    The building with the carts intrigued him and he moved onto the big lot to look at this potential military base. A couple of the carts stood crumpled together with small pieces of glass lying around, and the lights on the carts were blinking. What would enable a cart to produce such light? It looked far too bright for torchlight or candlelight. He tried to tap it gently with his nail, but his nail broke through it with a loud crack extinguishing the light. He let out an annoyed grumble and eyed the other side of the cart. One of the carts had a big plate on it¡¯s front that had flipped up. He eyed what had been hidden by the lid with curiosity. A strange contraption with many tubes and twisting things, it stank horribly. How humans could bare such stench!


    He gave the car a disgusted kick and the cart moved screeching back with a big dent in the side. As it came to a halt a bloodied arm flopped out of the glassless side window that was clearly in a wrong angle. It left a read smear at the side of the cart where it had flopped against. The white bone that pierced the skin glistened with blood.


    He took the arm above the break between two fingers and pulled it gently, to examine the driver of the cart. The arm pulled slowly loose from the human in the cart. The human was strapped down by some kind of black cord. With a wet squelch and a pop, the last muscles and bones gave way to his pull. Weak things, that hurt humans, who were apparently forced and bound to drive with it. No wonder they strapped people tight in those carts. Nobody in his right mind would use such a dangerous, easy to damage vehicle if he had a weak body like a human. Maybe they were prisoner transports?


    He eyed the cart and the bleeding from a ragged stump, bound, unconscious human as he nibbled on the arm. The fresh meat and bone ground to paste between his teeth and then he turned to examine the building.


    A human with a bleeding head wound was cowering in front of a collection of small metal carts that were placed into each other somehow. Another masterfully made thing. He had seen what metal items human smiths could create, but the quality of those carts was astounding. The human was holding something protectively whilst rocking forward and backward whispering soft words. He moved closer and looked at the terrified face looking around seeing nothing.


    He sniffed the air and decided the human was a female. A bit strange for a woman to wear pants and have such short hair. He hadn¡¯t known them to wear pants, they usually wore dresses and skirts. The thing she was holding must be her offspring, it smelled fresh and of milk. He liked to chew on those little juicy morsels, they tasted the best of all humans and they happened to contain the most life force. It was such a shame that they were so small, but the flavor was nice and rich.


    He grabbed the infant from the mother and put the small infant on his tongue. He felt it wriggling in his mouth as he rolled it around in his mouth. The taste of the clothing it wore was different than he was familiar with. And something utterly foul tasting. What did humans wear these days that could give such foul tastes? He pressed the wiggling thing against the roof of his mouth with his tongue. He enjoyed the flavor with his eyes closed as it popped in his mouth, the juices spread throughout his mouth, overruling the foul taste.


    The woman had started shrieking and was flailing around looking for her infant. He chewed a few times and then spit out the clothing and the bits he couldn''t separate from it, unwilling to swallow what had tasted so foul. It landed with a wet sound at the side of the woman which shrunk together as she got sprayed. She looked around in panic with big eyes and screamed what apparently was her offsprings name. He had never heard the name Abdul before. He had also never eaten an infant that wore such foul clothing before. Was it a new human protection method?


    He eyed her as she resumed her frantic searching, and licked his lips to scoop up that delicious blood that was seeping out the edges of his mouth. She was searching in front of her, missing the wet spot of warm mush that was leaking blood that had been her offspring.


    He liked it when humans panicked. They did all kind of unexpected things. Some would fight, some would run and some would just sit there as if their soul had abandoned them. Those that fought were the most entertaining because you would have something to chew on afterward. Mothers that tried to protect offspring were the most tenacious. They would never give up. He once had a mother tracking him for half a year through land and country before he had grown tired of leading her on.


    He turned his back on the crying, frantically searching mother and looked up at the sky. He blended out the screaming behind him and thought for a moment about what he should do. He would have to find a safe spot before the sun would rise, he could not risk going to a resting state. He would have to find others, there was strength in numbers after all, especially in this strange arid world. They might know why there was so little life force to go around in the world.


    He would go to the meet. If there were others they would probably gather there too. And if none came he could think there in safety about what to do next. He turned back to the now wailing woman and grabbed her up. His hand fit around her waist snugly and she let out a shrill scream as she was lifted up in the air, clawing at his fingers. He put his fingers on her head and saw her eyes go big with shock. He twisted the head and heard a light snap as if someone had broken a twig. The body went limp in his hand as he twisted the head further tearing open the skin and muscles, spraying blood over his hands. He pulled the head off the woman and threw it in his mouth. He licked his hand clean of the blood and wiped the rest on his chest hairs. With a purpose in mind, his mood brightened and he went on his way following a bright star in the sky leaving a trail of blood behind him that leaked from the corpse in his hand.

 1.009 A day of mourning

    In the bedroom stood a large bed. The blue heavy blankets were pulled straight and crisp less over the bed, the pillows neatly arranged and fluffed up. Either because the owner hadn¡¯t been home, either because the owner had risen early and made the bed. The black carpet with golden thread circle patterns lay in front of the bed glistening in the early morning light that shone in through the window. The polished wooden floor reflected the room vaguely without distracting from the beautiful darker patterns. Next to the window, there was a small antique looking table and on it was an obsidian tapered vase that contained a few red roses stood. The velvet red window drapes were tied together with golden ropes that played golden shimmers on the drapes from the sunlight that reflected on it. Through the paned glass window, an impressive view spread out in front of it, showing all the highlights of Exeter framed by two big leafless trees that stood in front of the house.


    Behind the paned window, a balcony with wrought iron balustrade could be seen. On the balcony stood several terracotta pots with some struggling bushy plants that clearly had trouble to keep their green in the winter and yellow spots were visible within them.


    At the side of the bed there was a mahogany nightstand and on it was a stylish lamp that had a black base that tapered gently up to a small black stem. On the top of the stem white opaque glass was mounted giving it a chalice shape. Around the rim of the opaque glass on top, a black band with figures could be seen, and in the opaque glass transparent figures of people dancing could be discerned.


    In front of the lamp, there was a small radio with a dark wooden casing. In the corner of the time display, a battery icon was blinking, indicating it was running off emergency battery power. As it jumped one minute forward a click could be heard, a light static noise, a pop and then a jingle could be heard.


    This is radio 360 with your host Aston Leary, bringing you the latest updates on what has happened last night. It is now ten AM exactly and boy did we have a night. We are running a skeleton crew here whilst we are waiting for other staff members to get here. We will forgo on the playing of music for now, to be able to give you a real-time report on what has happened and is happening.


    For those that somehow slept through the entirety of last night, lucky you, the entire country was blinded and deafened. We haven¡¯t gotten word yet if this was an attack of unprecedented magnitude. What we do know is that people were unable to hear and see from roughly half-past eight PM last night until a quarter to nine AM this morning.


    We have reports that cameras and microphones continued to work and have recorded like normal, leaving the leading theory that this might have been a sophisticated attack of an unknown method. It is yet unknown which group or nation is responsible for it.


    Due to the sudden nature of the darkness that settled over the country the damage was massive. Almost all airplanes that were underway in the air near Exeter have crashed in some way or another. The towers weren¡¯t able to give directions, causing aircraft to crash into another or to crash in their automatic landing due to other aircraft stalled or crashed on the runway. We are lucky that we have a relatively small airport without many flight movements, reports are trickling in from London where half the city is burning with the crashed aircraft.


    It is suspected that the aircraft crashes also took out a few power lines causing a destabilization of the power grid. There are widespread intermittent outages, the authorities are working hard to restore power so people can warm their houses. People are advised to stay indoors and to keep doors and windows closed and to dress warmly.


    The mobile phone network is mostly down, with most of the cell towers having used up their emergency power reserves last night when the power cut out. It may be that the cell tower in your area still functions but may give up at any moment unless power is restored. It is advised you use a landline connection for your communications. For those who have VOIP telephone connections, they might be down and not be able to redirect your call if your provider is in a blackout area. The advice is to directly connect your telephone to your landline if that is the case. 999 can always be reached even if you don¡¯t have a landline provider. Please be patient when calling, the lines are overwhelmed with people trying to contact loved ones or 999. When you get a busy tone to try again in five minutes and try to refrain from contacting loved ones to give people a chance to reach emergency services.


    The major motorways and smaller roads are almost all blocked by cars and trailers that crashed as the darkness settled upon the country. A lot of people have died as the result of the complications of their injuries and no help arriving for the entire night. Emergency services are busy rescuing the people that still live from their cars, the military has been called into service and they are busy with freeing up the roads leading to the hospitals.


    If there is not an urgent emergency why you need to leave your house it is recommended that you stay home and wait until the roads are cleared.


    This is just in: There are a few big fires spread around the city, especially where the fire department cannot reach due to the blocked roads. If you live in Alphington, Heavitree, Pinhoe or Topsham it is advised that you evacuate the area and move away from the fire. The fire is expected to grow uncontrolled through these regions and the smoke caused by the fires may be lethal when inhaled in large quantities. Take warm clothes and blankets and your identification documents with you as you evacuate your house to ward off the cold. Move in an orderly fashion and lend a helping hand to the disabled and elderly if it does not pose a risk to you or those around you. Police officers are on the way but may not arrive shortly as they need to cross the distance on foot. Be safe out there and Godspeed.


    -


    Jacob unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and stepped out of the car and looked ahead. If he had had sunglasses on he would have taken them off slowly.


    The road in front of them was blocked with the largest pile-up he had ever seen. Several cars hard burned out, others lay flipped on the side of the road, track marks deep in the dirt where they had skidded to a halt. People sat in groups dressing each other''s wounds or taking care to the best of their abilities for those who were stuck in their cars. Other people were scavenging food and first aid kids from the cars. The sound of glass shattering resounded intermittently as a new car window was broken to gain access to the contents.


    Cries and groans could be heard from various cars where people were trapped in the cars and crows were cawing from the roofs of the cars and the trees on the side of the road, occasionally scared away by people with sticks or cloths only to return when the humans had moved on to the next murder cawing under each other that sounded like a cackling laugh as to mock the futile attempt of the humans to chase them away.


    Stunned at the massive display of destruction and suffering in front of him Jacob was lost for words. They had driven away from the parking lot without issues and had made their way to the A39, but before long their progress had been hampered by cars that had crashed into trees or into each other. They had stopped to offer help, but some cars had been abandoned and others had no injuries and were swapping insurance details or just sitting together waiting to get a signal on their telephones.


    They had exchanged stories of the last night, leaving out the detail they had opened the door that had seemingly started this all. All the people had told basically the same story. They were driving a normal sixty miles when suddenly everything went dark and they couldn¡¯t see anything and their car crashed into something. Some had attempted to come to a controlled stop, trying to remember the road in front of them only to be crashed into from the back.


    But the pile-up that lay in front of them was of a different magnitude, it seemed to extend as far as the eye could see. There was no way they could get past it with their car. The entire road and the side of the road was filled with cars and car parts that had flown away upon impact. Several blackened husks of what once had been cars stood scattered between the other cars. Other cars had been beaten up from all sides and could hardly be recognized as a car anymore. But most cars had only crumpled in the front and back but were largely recognizable. Walking in between the cars would be impossible without climbing over the crashed cars.


    A little further a livestock trailer had fallen over spreading out a trail of dead pigs and blood where it had fallen. Around it wounded and unharmed pigs walked around snorting or biting each other, where a couple of unharmed pigs would bite down on those with more obvious wounds. Some pigs were gathered together eating the entrails of a pig that had burst open somehow with an intermittent angry snort at a crow that dared to come closer.


    Paula had gotten out at her side too and eyed Jacob with guilt behind her eyes that spoke without words ¡°We caused this.¡± Jacob tore his eyes from the carnage in front of him and eyed the rest of the blocked road.


    ¡°What shall we do now? Do you want to wait here until the roads are cleared?¡±


    Paula looked at the pile-up in front of them and the back to from where they came and then to the people who were sitting together. She looked back again and sighed.


    ¡°We might just as well get back to Tintagel and see if we can get a bed and breakfast there.¡±


    Jacob raised an eyebrow at the unexpected suggestion.


    ¡°Why would we want to go back there? I¡¯d rather put as much distance as possible between us and that place.¡±


    Paula sighed again, eyed a group of people that were gathered around a car and were discussing something with great intensity going off the many moving arms and shaking heads, and then looked at him with sad eyes.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ maybe a way to fix this, to undo this. I just feel like it¡¯s the right thing to do, and to get away from this.¡±


    Paula gestured to the display of misery in front of them and eyed him uncertainly.


    ¡°In Tintagel there weren¡¯t so many crashes, nor so many hurt people. I just can¡¯t bear the look of this Jacob.¡±


    Tears were brimming behind her eyes, but she held the tears back and looked at him with some kind of resolve as if she had made up her mind. Paula opened the door and put one foot in the car before she continued quietly, avoiding his eyes.


    ¡°And there is the practical reason. This pile-up will not be cleared today or even tomorrow. We¡¯d better get a room now before other people get the same idea.¡±


    She got in the car and closed the door behind her leaving Jacob standing there alone, overviewing the massive damage he had caused by opening that shadow door.


    When they had left the cave they had thought that only they had suffered that blinding darkness and deafness in the cave for whatever reason. The shock had been big when they had found out that it had extended even further than the cave. But the sheer magnitude of what had happened only started to settle in now as he saw the long line of suffering in front of him.


    How many people had died in the long night? How many people had suffered for hours before dying, pinched between metal, unable to scream for help, feeling their life slowly slipping away with no help coming. Dying in silence and darkness, all alone. How many children were hurt in this? How many cars crushed by trailers? How many people had burned to death? How many wounded were still trapped and alive?


    A crow cawed loudly overhead and Jacob looked at a murder of crows flying above them. He watched as the crows congregated at a car, which had gone off the road and had flipped over several times by the look of it, ending on it¡¯s back. The influx of new crows caused the ones gathered already at the side of the car to fly up momentarily, revealing the body of a little girl with blonde hair which was staring eyeless up at the sky. Her neck was in a strange angle, little peck marks covered her face and her lips were all but gone revealing small white teeth in a seemingly angry snarl at the sky above. The crows had made room for the newcomers and they hid the girl from sight again only showing a black feathery moving mass covering that spot.


    The image of the girl lying there staring up at the sky was imprinted on his retina. He would never be able to forget that image.


    Jacob looked at the door at his side and put his hand on it. His eyes fell onto the people that had been discussing earlier, helping someone out of the car they had gathered at. The person they were helping had clearly broken an arm and both legs as they stood in weird angles. He wanted to shout that they shouldn¡¯t move him as to not make his injuries worse but no words would leave his lips, he just stood there watching, unable to act. He wanted to help them get the innocent injured people out but he couldn¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t strong enough.


    He pulled the door handle and the door opened with a click. He let go of the door and it swung slowly open on his own as his hand left the door and swung powerless at his side. He couldn¡¯t tear his eyes away from the unconscious man that was being carried by four people and the weird bungling motion his limbs made. The arm was swollen and had a dark blue color that went over into red, where the break was the arm had an odd angle that made Jacob feel queasy and he rubbed his own arm at that spot unconsciously. He could see the bone pushing against the swollen meat under the dark colored skin.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.He got in the car and sat down and buckled himself up, the click of his seatbelt made him wince slightly. He grabbed the door and closed it softly making it close properly with an extra tug, which was confirmed by the light on the dashboard that indicated an open door turning off.


    He cast his eyes to Paula and saw understanding in her eyes. He nodded and she turned on the car and put it in reverse.


    -


    They had returned to Tintagel and managed to get a room at the King Arthurs Arms which looked out over at the large parking lot beside it. The off white drapes framing the large window had little copper and brown squares scattered over it. The paned window was covered by a net curtain that diffused the daylight throughout the room. The room itself contained an old upholstered chair with a faded red flower print on it with pale blue leaves, multiple black wooden beams in the ceiling, a television mounted on the wall in a corner, light-colored wooden desk and cabinets, and a large mirror was mounted over the desk.


    There was a single two-person bed in the room, a dark brown bed runner with black leaf motif covering the bed with white blankets. From the ceiling, an old style flowery ceiling lamp clashed with the modern sleek reading lights framing the bed.


    With the power outage and little cash on they had on them they had worried about being unable to pay for lodging. When they explained their dilemma to the head barman, a balding man with short hair and glasses, he had asked them if they had a credit card. Paula had a university credit card which she presented. The head barman had opened a dusty drawer and retrieved a credit card imprinter from below a pile of other things. After putting it on the desk and checking if it still worked he had made an imprint of the credit card which Paula had to sign. After he had meticulously verified her signature with the one on the back of her credit card and on her identity card, he had shown them to their room.


    Jason sat on the bed, looking out at the sky over the parking lot. The sky was gray with blue streaks through it where the sun did it¡¯s best to shine through, in a constant battle with the clouds for access to the earth. The sound of the shower could be heard through the closed bathroom door. Paula had retreated without saying much to the bathroom before. He had sat down on the bed they would have to share unsure of what to do now.


    He let the events of last night and this morning pass in his mind trying to make sense of what had happened. He was fairly sure he was at fault by opening that shadow door and letting that darkness out of whatever had been locked behind it. He had no idea how far that shadow had spread. Had it encompassed only this area? The entire country? The entire world? He didn¡¯t know. Without power and internet, he couldn¡¯t check the impact his actions had caused.


    He stood up and walked to the window and pulled the net curtain to the side. He leaned on the windowsill and looked at the people walking over the street that led through Tintagel. He wouldn¡¯t be able to tell anyone what he had done. People would want to have justice for the injuries and people lost. But he wasn¡¯t willing to pay the price that would entail. They would probably reinstate capital punishment for his case. How many people had been injured and had died? thousands? hundreds of thousands? Had the crows started on them already as they had on that girl that had broken her neck? Looking with a grim lipless smile at the heavens with unseen eyes? Would she haunt him asking him why he had opened that door?


    He would have to carry this secret with him. He would have to convince Paula to keep the secret as well, also for her own security. He hoped she would listen to him.


    A sudden thought chilled him to the bone. Would the darkness return tonight when the sun had set? Would they need to live through it again? Or had this been a one-off event?


    Jacob¡¯s hands gripped the windowsill edge and his knuckles started to turn white.


    ¡°Grant me strength.¡±


    He whispered quietly to no-one in particular, but the terror and desperation he had felt last night were clearly audible in his words. The words seemed to hang in the air, unwilling to leave, staying within the room. The words seemed to reverberate in the room, stretching the moment before they would be forced to leave. It was as if they were reaching for something, searching for a rope that would bind them in their place, but the words found no proper hold anywhere. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, the words grew louder and started to resonate throughout the entire room enlarging and shrinking it at the same time. Jacob felt something tugging at him from all sides as if it wanted to stretch and pull him along with the room.


    The moment was broken by the sound of the shower being turned off. Jacob let out a sigh and slumped over for a moment and let his head rest against the window. The cold glass felt soothing against his sweaty forehead.


    Jacob wiped his neck with his hand and then eyed the layer of sweat that was glistening on his hand with a frown. He was drenched in sweat, dark spots gathering under his armpits.


    What had just happened? Was it the stress of last night and this morning making him hallucinate?


    He fell into the chair evoking a groan from and an irritated poing from some spring in it. He would need to take a shower too, and find some new clothes too. These would reek horribly in a couple of hours.


    Jacob bent forward and let his head rest in his hands feeling ready to cry, but the tears wouldn¡¯t come. His heart hurt horribly and he felt confused and powerless by it all. Why did this have to happen to him? Why had he accepted Paula¡¯s offer? Why did he have to see that girl lying there, being eaten by crows? Her eyes would never look up at the sky again in wonder. Her mouth would never form a laugh again. Her family wouldn¡¯t even be able to do an open casket funeral due to how horrifying she would look when the crows were ready with her.


    That¡¯s how Paula found him as she stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her head and bathrobe hiding her figure, naked legs sticking out from under the white bathrobe. The flaking red nail polish on her toenails stood out in stark contrast against her pale skin.


    She walked over to Jacob and put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it gently. They found comfort in each other without using words, the knowledge of each other that they couldn¡¯t really speak of the horrible guilt.


    -


    They walked through the castle ruins in the afternoon, a chilling wind catching their breath away before it could form a misty cloud. The sun was setting in the afternoon sky, painting the castle in warm yellow hues, but it would still be an hour before it would turn dark. Jacob had put his hands deep in his coat pockets, and Paula was wearing black gloves and bore a pensive look on her face, not really registering the environment they were walking through.


    They had spent the morning just sitting there and processing what they had experienced. Jacob had used the shower after Paula had been done and then they had talked long into the afternoon about what they had experienced and seen, and they had found comfort in each other''s understanding. After they had a cold lunch because the power was still out they had gone on into Tintagel and tried to buy some clothes, but none of the shops had had an imprinter as the inn had, and they didn¡¯t have enough cash on hand to be able to buy enough for both of them. After asking around they got pointed to a thrift store and they were able to pick up a change of clothes with the cash they had on hand.


    They had returned to the hotel to change into the new clothes and had put the old ones in a laundry bag for the washing service of the inn for when the power would return.


    And now they had ended up in their new clothes and coats that still bore the traces of mud and algae from last night in the ruins after just walking around through Tintagel.


    They stood there in the cold wind overlooking the ocean, feeling how the cold seeped slowly deeper into their bodies. They wouldn¡¯t be able to stay for long, they had to walk back to the inn before it got dark, in case that darkness would return.


    Jacob sighed and leaned against an old stone wall that once had been a castle.


    ¡°What will we do if that darkness we released will return every night?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Just live through it?¡±


    Jacob eyed Paula. She seemed to lack the enthusiasm and fire she had displayed yesterday. He put his arm around her and pulled her a bit closer. He could feel her stiffen up before letting him pull her closer, but then she put her arm around his waist.


    ¡°We got through last night in one piece. We can survive another night if one comes.¡±


    Paula nodded and eyed in the direction where the cave was. His eyes had been drawn to that spot too, wondering if the next night would be a repeat of this night.


    ¡°Want to go back to the Inn?¡±


    ¡°No, not yet. Can we move to over there so we can look at the cave entrance?¡±


    She gestured to a pair of staircases that led down the cliff side. Jacob didn¡¯t really feel like looking at that cave again, but he couldn¡¯t come up with a valid reason to say no so he just nodded.


    When they arrived at the spot where Paula had indicated they stood there and just eyed the cave entrance. The water raced towards it with every wave and then receded after splashing into a white spray against the rocks, in an eternal struggle to reclaim the land it had given up in millennia past.


    Paula snuggled up against him and he automatically put his hand around her shoulders again. It felt familiar and good to do so, after the night they had lived through together.


    ¡°Do you think this had anything to do with that story of Nimue and Merlin?¡±


    Jacob thought for a moment about it and then shook his head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. What makes you say that?¡±


    ¡°Well, Nimue locked Merlin up in that cave according to the story. Maybe it was a metaphor for whatever was locked up in that cave?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. It would be a valid theory, but how does one lock up darkness in a cave and create a shadow door?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ but we did experience the same things in that cave. I¡¯m just trying to find a sort of explanation for what we experienced.¡±


    Paula sighed and looked at the cave again. Jacob didn¡¯t know what to say so he stood there silently, his fingers rubbing Paula¡¯s coat gently. He looked at the cave and his mind wandered back to that moment when he had said those words that didn¡¯t seem to leave the room. Had that been a hallucination, a daydream intensified by stress?


    He tried to recollect that feeling as it had happened. The stretching and pulling sensation. What had that felt like?


    Jacob closed his eyes and focused on analyzing that memory. He felt that in a day of strange occurrences, this experience was one that warranted an investigation. Maybe it had been something important, something that could help explain the darkness that had occupied the night.


    After a few moments, he gave up the attempt to recollect that feeling he had experienced that morning and opened his eyes again. He looked at Paula who was still staring at the cave with a pensive look on her face. He looked at the cave and eyed the waves crashing at it. The spray flying through the sky, catching the sunlight in beautiful glistening beauty before falling back in the violent waters and becoming white foam that would be dragged away by the current.


    Jacob frowned, there was something in that cave, but he couldn¡¯t see it properly. He focussed and tried to see what it was that had drawn his attention. It was as if something was flowing out of the cave, but there was nothing there except the water. Yet every bit of spray that was at the cave mouth seemed to spray that bit higher, and sparkle shone more intense, or so it appeared.


    Jacob shook his head and looked at his watch. It was a little bit more than a half hour to sundown. He let go of Paula and eyed the stairs behind them.


    ¡°We should go if we want to make it back before sundown.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I could use a hot tea anyways.¡±


    -


    That night there wasn¡¯t an impenetrable darkness blanketing everything. Many people had been worried that it would return and stayed at home because of it, seeking comfort with family and friends. Maybe sighs of relief could be heard throughout the night that the darkness had not returned, and even so many cries could be heard from the people who had lost loved ones in the night before, unable to sleep from grief. The roads were still filled with cars with dead inhabitants, military and volunteers working hard to clear the roads, assisted by huge floodlights. Bodies were loaded on trucks and hauled to freshly dug mass burial grounds where they were dumped in a pit lined with huge plastic sheets.


    Cars were pushed to the side of the road freeing up a single track of road that could be used later by emergency workers to get to their destination. Civilian traffic was blocked by the military and only authorized vehicles were allowed.


    When the waning moon rose and illuminated the cave nothing special could be seen with ordinary eyes. But there was something happening in that ancient cave that humans called Merlin''s cave. An ancient curse had been broken on an impossible night, where a full moon would fall on a winter solstice with people of the old blood present when the moon would hit the seal to break the curse. The curse that should have protected mankind was broken and the access to the source of life had been opened a little bit. Now a little steady stream of life force flowed from the creak that had been opened by the old blood.


    It flowed back in a dry and arid world, where life was just a shadow of its former luster and variety. A world tamed and conquered by humans, a world dominated by fire, unable to resist the human might and ingenuity. A world without wonder and rejuvenation, that tired itself out in a never-ending cycle of destruction.


    The stream flowed on, seeking out life and filling it slowly. Once in ages past, it had raged around the world in unbridled power. But this world had used up all lifeforce that was in it after access to the source was locked away, and the world was slowly burning the last remaining scraps up. With every plant and species disappearing the world grew poorer and poorer in life force, the dead numerous in numbers fallen to human might. The life force didn¡¯t care about all this. It was a mindless force of nature that just needed to flow, to pierce its way through every bit of the world as it had always done.


    When the shadow door, that had served as a seal, had been opened and the life force returning to the world, it had triggered an ancient forgotten gods blessing for his followers, that would cause the world to darken forever, unless people would make a fire that could stand the night to summon the sun back. It had been a game of sorts in ancient times, giving a night of revelry for his followers and a chance to cull the dreadful human population, lest they grow too powerful. Because it had been a godly blessing it hadn¡¯t required much life force to return to full strength, but in the last few centuries there hadn¡¯t been enough of that to be able to cause full darkness as the god had originally intended. Throughout the years the night had grown lighter and lighter until people started to forget about it, as they forgot about everything else except in myths and legends, and even those changed in character and meaning until even those represented something different from what it once had held.


    Steadily the force flowed out of the created opening replenishing the world ever so slowly with its life-giving power. A handful of creatures stirred ever so slightly in their slumber tickled by the return of the life force, but it was not enough to re-awaken them, with the exception of one small creature where people had built a fire on its back. When it had stirred its core had pulled in the weak power that had been imbued the fire to be able to shed its resting state.


    A new era would arrive on this world dominated by steel and fire, and things would change for those who inhabited it. For good or for worse, the life force didn¡¯t care, because it could not think. It just wanted to permeate everything and give life to all who needed it so it flowed on seeking to fill the world once more.

 1.010 They Be Pests 1

    The life force snaked its way to a little village near Tintagel. If you had been able to see it, it would have seemed as if rivers of pure magnificent power was flowing out of the cave at Tintagel, branching and snaking all over the land, very slowly saturating things. It passed through the village past an older woman who was sitting in the town square who was feeding pigeons. She did that every morning after breakfast, better not to waste the crumbs of toast she had spilled. She had slept through the events of the dark night, blissfully unaware. Her neighbors had told her about it and she had heard it on the news on her battery radio. She was still alive and except for the power being out of commission, things were largely the same, so she didn¡¯t care much to guess explanations, whether the Russians did it or the Americans, it still beat a nuclear bomb falling on her house. She had lived through the cold war where talk of new weapons and threats were on the news daily. She had lived through the Irish bombings and the gulf war news coverage. There were worse things than darkness out there, how scary it might have been for those in it though. She just went on with her life, without electricity and heating in her house, which was a bother, but what else was there to do? The older woman sat a little bit straighter and the pigeons started to peck more energetic at the bread crumbs the old woman had scattered on the ground, as the life force passed through the town square.


    The life force moved on and left the village again, pushing forward into the arid wasteland that lay ahead. It passed through a couple of oak trees, a collection that humans of today would call a forest, but in essence, was just a sad reminder of the fast forests that had covered the land years ago. There was a large circle of mushrooms hidden in the forest because they weren¡¯t fruiting just now, but the life force got held captive in the mushroom circle, causing it to pool there and growing more intense in that spot. The steady incoming flow caused the area to become completely saturated, and the lifeforce finally burst free new arms out of the circle to snake forwards throughout the land, leaving a heavily saturated pool of life force behind that fed them steadily.


    Sunlight hit the trees and found its way through the leafless branches drawing a lot of shadow paths on the forest floor between the brightly illuminated tiles of light. The concentrated life force started to pool into a few acorns that lay on the ground. These started to tremble slightly and grow. The acorns rolled around gathering up leaves and twigs growing larger and larger with accumulated forest debris as the life force infused it more, soaking each bit of debris with life, forcing it to change and become something new.


    One of the rolling clumps of debris rolled outside of the mushroom circle and slowly came to a stop, the influx of lifeforce suddenly cut off, preventing it from finding a new path. As the sunlight shone on it the clump of debris slowly fell apart as the cohesion was lost, revealing small half grown limbs. The limbs quickly disintegrated into mush and earth and soon there was just a pile of leaves, twigs, and earth just lying here, indiscernible from the rest of the forest floor.


    The other clumps rolled around growing in size and started to leave large trails behind them where they had gathered up all the free material that had been at hand on the forest floor. The clumps had now grown to the side of a human child came to a stop where the sun shone and they just lay there, with a wobble every now and then, as if something was moving around inside of it. Five large balls shared the sunlight, the sixth one having been lost by the eagerness to gather up too much.


    One of the lumps started to break apart and a hand with thick fingers stabbed out of it. The hand wore a leather glove with holes where the fingers stuck out. The fingers bore thick broad nails. The arm flexed and started digging and tearing at the clump, grabbing pieces and tearing it loose, freeing more of what was held in it. After a second arm had broken out of the clump the clump started to lose mass fast, as what was inside it struggled to free itself, ripping and tearing the raw material away. The other clumps had started a similar process of freeing whatever was in it.


    Not for long five creatures stood there appreciating each other. They looked largely the same with some minor differences between them. They all had fairly high bald heads, set with pitch black and dull large eyes you could mistake for sunglasses at a distance, but the eyes were pitch black, without an iris visible nor eye white. They had large bulbous noses and a square lower jaw that was much broader than their head and had a massive overbite. Their teeth seemed to be made from jagged grey rocks that stood haphazardly in their mouths that were set in a perpetual greedy grin.


    They had small shoulders and large bellies giving them a distinct pear shape, with small but muscular legs under them. Their legs were covered by brown leather hoses that stopped above the ankles that seemed to fit their legs like a second skin, rippling with every movement of the muscles underneath it. Their feet were broad and stuck in sandals that seemed to be made from grass and twigs. Their feet had had coarse hairs sticking out between the laces of the sandals, and their toenails were as thick and broad as their fingernails were.


    Their arms were short but muscular and carried scattered coarse hairs just as their feet did. They all wore the leather gloves that left their fingers exposed to the air. On their backs, they wore large woven baskets, affixed by crude hemp ropes around their shoulders and chest, that were lined with a brown cloth. Inside the baskets there was only darkness if one were to look into it, the brown cloth going over in darkness as the basket grew deeper until one couldn¡¯t see the brown cloth anymore.


    The attire they wore was entirely different between them. One of them had a green hat on with a wide brim, that was tipped towards the back, leaving his face widely exposed. He wore a green buttoned-up jacket, that was accentuated by a broad leather belt with a wooden clasp around the pudgy waist. Another wore a red band around its head and a brown tunic with many pockets all over it. A coarse cord tied together at the side of his waist held many leather pouches with flaps that could be opened quickly. One of the creatures that had no headwear was poking in its large nose with a broad finger. It wore a furry sleeveless jerkin that left its smooth chest without nipples and rotund belly without navel free. Another wore a purple cap with a black band and a tassel that hung from the middle of it on its head. It had a long-sleeved light purple coat that was embroidered with patterns of falling leaves. Its fingers seemed to be slightly more refined and agile than the fingers of the others gathered.


    The last one had a wooden circlet on its head that was set with multiple acorns. His body covered by pelts of different animals that were stitched together. It leaned on a gnarly staff, that was almost as large as the creature, that had a big bulb at the top.


    They stood there looking at each other, making sounds only they could understand.


    ¡°Mrrrrmmmmmmmm¡±


    ¡°Mrrruuurmmmr mrrrrrr¡±


    ¡°Mrrr mrrr mrrrrrmmm¡±


    ¡°Mrrrrrr grrrr¡±


    ¡°Grrrruuummmmm grummmmm¡±


    After having a good and long conversation with each other, they broke apart and each went their own way in the same direction, stepping out of the mushroom circle without issues. Spread out and moving forward, they bent over regularly to pick up an acorn, a twig, a pineapple to put it in their baskets.


    Each time they threw something in their baskets they seemed to let out a grunt of happiness as if the collecting and gathering things was the sole thing that gave them happiness.


    The sound of their satisfied grunts seemed to fill, except for the tweeting of birds, the silent forest.


    -


    They had reached the forest edge and stood near a road. The one with the green coat picked up a KitKat wrapper and made an excited dance with many happy grunts and turned it around in its hands admiring the shiny insides of the wrapper. It hugged the wrapper close to its chest and eyed its compatriots suspiciously before throwing it in its basket, letting out a very satisfied long grunt.


    It then saw the one in the purple coat pick up a soda can and it let out an annoyed grunt and hobbled over quickly to the purple coated creature. The purple creature looked up from the can it was turning over in its hand to the green coated one, pressed the can tightly against its chest. The green coated one grabbed for it and punched the purple coated one in its jaw and made a reach for the can. A tug of war ensued between them both, with the can as a price. Many annoyed grunts exchanged between them and a kick or two trying to unbalance the other.


    Suddenly they were hit over the head with a sturdy staff and they let go and grabbed for their heads that were hurting. The creature with the pelt coat bent over and picked up the can to admire the shiny underside, and then threw it in its basket with a satisfied grunt and moved further up the road. The other two looked at each other with a sad look and a disappointed grunt.


    -


    They reached the town that was not that far from the forest after a few hours because they stopped to pick up every little thing that grabbed their attention, whether it was an acorn or a shiny wrapper. Sometimes they were drawn to a spot and started to dig there together trying to reach something down there. Usually, a coin or earring or a necklace was buried under a small layer of dirt where they were drawn to. Usually, a scuffle would ensue about who got to claim the price, with the victor throwing it into its basket with a satisfied grunt and the losers looking angrily at the item in the victor''s hand until it had vanished in the basket.


    Even though they had picked up enough trash and trinkets from the side of the road to fill ten trash bags the baskets on their backs looked suspiciously empty as if all the things had fallen through a hole in the bottom of the baskets.


    They made their way into the town and all were drawn to different spots due to where their senses lead them to interesting things to pick up. The more valuable an item was the more they were drawn to it. The one in the purple coat was drawn to a garden that was encircled by large conifers protecting it from curious people trying to look into the garden. It pushed the conifers aside only to be held back by chicken wire netting hidden within the conifers. It touched the netting gingerly and decided it couldn¡¯t get through it that way.


    It circled the conifers until it came to a wooden slatted door that was set between the conifers. It could feel that something valuable was behind there, it was strongly drawn there by its greed. It patted the door, but the door didn¡¯t move or budge the slightest. It then tried to push against the door with all its weight, but except the slight buckling of the wood, the door didn¡¯t budge. It sighed and scratched its head trying to solve how to get to the other side where the feeling was pulling him. Suddenly the door opened shoving him behind it, out of view of the woman getting out of the garden.


    The woman stopped in her stride, holding the door in her hand and turned back to the garden.


    ¡°Ellen, I¡¯m going to Misses Jones for a few minutes. Don¡¯t leave the garden, okay dear?¡±


    ¡°Okay mom. See you later.¡±


    The woman closed the door behind her and turned away from the door, not registering she was being stared at by a small strange creature with huge black eyes, and started on her way to Misses Jones, whom sure would be ready now from feeding the pigeons and her morning walk through town, and would need help preparing some food without electricity.


    The purple robed creature had seen how the human had used that lever that poked from the door to open it. It reached up to the lever and pulled it down, just like the human had done, and the door opened a bit. He pulled at the door and the door swung open revealing a large garden. The garden had a small patio where a woven plastic table with chairs stood. In front of the patio, there was a grass lawn with a stepstone path leading through it to a small pond that held some koi carps that swam around lazily. The waterfall that it held had fallen dry as the power had disappeared.


    In the corner, there was a sandbox with a wooden frame where a little girl with blonde pigtails was playing. She wore a felt red coat and pink fluffy earmuffs. She was busy digging in the sand with a shovel.


    The creature ignored the girl and moved to a flowerless flower bed where a couple of plants stood that still bore browned leaves that sagged downwards. The creature started to dig in the garden where the feeling was strongest, and not for long its broad fingers had dug a deep hole, in the process uprooting some of the browned plants. It hands then closed over something hidden in the dirt and pulled its hand up.


    It raised its hand to eye level and opened his hand, with his other hand he gingerly reached into the earth and pulled a golden wedding band from it and held it up so the sun could reflect off it.


    ¡°Hey, that''s my mother''s wedding ring she lost this spring! You found it!¡±


    The girl named Ellen had moved up to the creature and eyed the wedding band it was holding up. The creature jumped back and pulled the wedding band close to its chest and let out an angry growl at the girl.


    ¡°Grrrmmmhhh! Nrrrh!¡±


    The eyes of the girl went large and she backed off her hands raised her hands apologetically.


    ¡°Sorry, sorry! I didn¡¯t want to spook you!¡±


    The creature relaxed and quickly threw the ring into its basket, the golden gleam swallowed by the darkness at the bottom of the basket. The girl eyed it with large eyes how the ring that had been found was thrown into the basket.


    ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t keep that! That¡¯s my moms!¡±


    ¡°Mrrrmmhh! Mrrr MRRR!¡±


    ¡°What? What does that mean?¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Mrrr!¡±


    It walked around the girl and moved to leave the garden as the girl grabbed his coat and tugged it.


    ¡°You can¡¯t leave with my mother''s ring. Give it back!¡±


    ¡°Mrrr! GRR mrr MRRRUUMMM!¡±


    ¡°Whatever! Just give it back! I¡¯ll trade you something for it that you can keep!¡±


    ¡°Mrrrmmm?¡±


    The creature looked the girl into her face with a sort of expectant expression, its jaw protruding and its smile even more greedy than it had been. The girl patted her coat pockets and pulled something from it in a silvery wrapper. The creatures black eyes were glued to the silvery wrapper as the girl tore it open and pulled a plastic ring from it that had a candy diamond on it. Ellen held the wrapper in one hand hiding it from sight and the creature''s eyes were then drawn to the ring in her other hand. It just stood there looking at the ring in the girl''s hand. Ellen eyed the creature with curiosity in her eyes. She lifted the candy ring higher and the eyes of the creature followed it. The creature''s eyes seemed to grow larger as the light of the sun was caught and sparkling in the sugary gem on top of it. Its grin seemed to grow broader, and its breathing grew eager at the sight of the shiny gem. The artifact didn¡¯t exert the usual pull on the creature, but seeing as how beautiful it appeared, it wanted the shiny thing in its basket. It stretched its hand out towards the shining gem.


    ¡°Mrrrmmmrr!¡±


    ¡°What are you? You like something that walked out of a video game.¡±


    ¡°Mrrmm. Hrrnnnmmmrrr!¡±


    Ellen moved the ring around a bit and the creature followed the ring everywhere it went, its eyes fixed at the sugary gem on top of it.


    ¡°You can¡¯t talk can you?¡±


    ¡°Hrrrrr.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Do you have a name?¡±


    ¡°Hrrmnrrrrrr.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ I can¡¯t call you hrmmmrrr. That¡¯s just silly.¡±


    ¡°Mrrmm mrrrhhmmmnn?¡±


    Ellen tapped her chin with the ring as she thought for a moment for a proper name. The purple robed creature kept looking at the gem on the ring as it tapped against the chin of the girl, the hungry greed radiating from the pitch black eyes.


    ¡°I know, I¡¯ll call you Grunty!¡±


    ¡°Mrrrmmm Grrnnnnn!¡±


    ¡°You like that name? Nice!¡±


    Ellen lowered the ring and held it out in front of Grunty who took a step forward and stretched its hand out to take it. Ellen pulled it back a bit keeping it out of reach of Grunty¡¯s extended hand.


    ¡°As I said, I¡¯ll trade it for my mother¡¯s ring, fair and square!¡±


    ¡°Mrrrhhhmmm. Hrrrrr¡±


    Ellen put the ring in Grunty¡¯s large hand, who eyed it and then threw it into its basket.


    ¡°Mrrrrhhhhhhhhmmmmmm¡±


    Grunty reached back into the basket on its back and moved its arm around. It pulled its arm out of the basket with its hand closed and stretched its arm with closed fist out to Ellen, palm facing the ground.


    Ellen put her hands under Grunty¡¯s large hand, making her hands seem frail and breakable in comparison, ready to catch her mothers'' ring. Grunty opened his hand and a crumpled rusty soda can fell into her hand. Grunty turned around and started to move out of the garden without looking back, in search of new artifacts to collect.


    ¡°HEY!¡±


    A rusty soda can flew through the air and missed Grunty¡¯s head, landing into the grass in front of him. Grunty bent over and picked it up and eyed it from all sides before throwing it into the basket on its back with a satisfied grunt. He then moved forward again to the garden door, only to be grabbed by his purple coat again by the girl.


    ¡°You have to give me back my mothers ring! We made a deal!¡±


    ¡°Mrrrhhmmm hrrr hrrr mrrrrmmmm.¡±


    ¡°I have no idea what you mean Grunty. What do I need to do for you to give me my mothers ring?¡±


    She grabbed Grunty by his collar and pulled him close, which was in effect her stepping closer to him because she couldn¡¯t move him.


    ¡°I want my mothers'' ring back you black eyed¡­ black eyed¡­ THING!¡±


    ¡°Mrrrrmmm! HRG!¡±


    An irritated look had come over Grunty¡¯s greedy face and he ground his rocky teeth together at this annoying human that held it back from more important things. Ellen let go of his collar and stepped back raising her hands apologetically, the wrapper showing in her hand she had hidden it in before.


    ¡°Sorry sorry! Don¡¯t uh, eat me?¡±


    ¡°Mrrm!¡±


    Grunty¡¯s eyes were glued to the wrapper in Ellen¡¯s hand, the way the light bounced off the silvery wrapper and the bright blue lettering on it fascinated the creature.


    ¡°You want this wrapper?¡±


    Ellen waved the silvery wrapper around, each movement causing a play of light off the silvery material that seemed to fascinate Grunty.


    ¡°Mrrrhm Mrrmmmm!¡±


    ¡°Okay, how about a new trade. You give me my mothers ring and I¡¯ll give you this wrapper. No cheating this time!¡±


    ¡°Nrrr grr mhhhrhhm.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t sound so insulted! You cheated last time, you gave me a crummy rusty can for my ring!¡±


    Grunty simply shrugged and resumed looking at the shiny wrapper in Ellen¡¯s hand, ignoring her indignant stares trying to bore a hole in his skull.


    ¡°You give me my mothers ring first. Then you get the wrapper. How about that?¡±


    ¡°Mrrrmmm mrr hrrr.¡±


    Grunty shook its head and extended his arm with coarse hand open, ready to receive the wrapper. Ellen sighed and placed the wrapper into Grunty¡¯s leather-clad hand palm and took a step back. Grunty held up the wrapper and turned it around, eying it from all sides as it let out satisfied sigh grunts. It then threw the wrapper into its basket, where it vanished in the dark depths. A look of satisfaction came over Grunty¡¯s face as he let out a satisfied grunt.


    ¡°Are you happy with that? Now give me my mother¡¯s ring!¡±


    Ellen had crossed her hands in front of her chest and looked with an annoyed frown at Grunty. Grunty reached back into his basket and moved his arm around in it, seemingly looking for something. He pulled it out with his fist closed and offered, in the same way he had done before, to Ellen.


    Ellen stepped forward and held her hands under Grumpy¡¯s hand again. This time a golden ring fell into her hands as Grunty opened his hand. Grunty nodded at her.


    ¡°Mrrrmmm rmmm! Grnnnnnn hrmnn hrrr.¡±


    Grunty turned and finally exited the garden through the door, leaving the girl behind without looking back. He didn¡¯t even look back as she shouted something towards him.


    ¡°Thank you Grunty, for finding my mothers ring!¡±


    The door closed behind him, sealing off the garden once more. Grunty didn¡¯t care. He bent over to pick up a lost mitten and eyed it. He poked the soft material once before throwing it in his basket.


    -


    This was not a usual day for Perkins. First of all, he was busy riding all around town on a bicycle, because his car had run out of fuel and the petrol station wouldn¡¯t work without power. The owners were looking for ways to get the petrol out of the underground tanks in a controlled fashion with a manual pump but hadn¡¯t been able to produce something workable yet. That and that the police station was at the other side of town, and Perkins didn¡¯t feel like lugging petrol cans around on his bike caused his bicycle adventures of the last two days. Also having a car might not be the most useful at the moment because most of the roads were still blocked by cars that had crashed.


    Volunteers were working to clear the roads together with city employees but progress was slow due to the lack of fuel. All cars had to be moved by hand, which would be a lot of work for the cars that couldn¡¯t roll anymore because they had flipped or just lost their wheels in a crash.


    His blonde short trimmed hair shone with a golden halo, catching the sun rays that bounced off with splendor. His square jaw was covered with a light stubble and sweat was building upon his low forehead despite the cold. His straight thin nose was accentuated by broad bushy eyebrows that covered stark blue eyes. His muscular arms were guiding the bicycle he was one up the hill as he swerved around crashed and abandoned vehicles.


    A bicycle was, for now, the fastest way to get around town. His colleagues were all busy with the jobs around town. His had been the role to go around time and respond to reports of thievery or other activities. He stood in contact with the police station via the handheld transceiver, guiding him to points of activity in town since the cellular network had also broken down.


    He stopped at the side of the road and talked into his transceiver after a moment to catch his breath. He had been going uphill on a slope and the wind was against him on this incline. It wasn¡¯t too bad, but bad enough to make him breathe more deeply and to start sweating.


    ¡°Care to repeat that Harry? Over.¡±


    ¡°Like I said John, there are reports of creepy kids with sunglasses digging up gardens and putting stuff into said baskets. Over.¡±


    ¡°Sounds pretty harmless. Why should I go check that out? I assume there are more pressing matters than kids on a treasure hunt. Over.¡±


    ¡°These kids seem to freak people out. They don¡¯t look normal and give creepy vibes off, or so I¡¯m told. I¡¯d like you to check them out and tell them to stay out of people gardens. Over.¡±


    ¡°Okay Harry. I¡¯m on my way. Over.¡±


    John put the transceiver back on his belt and started pedaling with frustrated vigor towards the neighborhood where the reports had come from. Weren¡¯t there more important things than to go after a few kids today? He had to look out for people using the power outage to start looting, or cold people setting fires in dangerous areas, not to go scold a couple of brats.


    ¡°Alright then, here we are, now where are those brats.¡±


    John Perkins put his bicycle against a lamppost and locked it up. He started walking around the neighborhood looking into gardens coming up empty. A man got out of a door at the other side of the road in a black felt coat and a dirty red scarf wrapped around his neck.


    ¡°Hey, did they send you because of those things?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m here to investigate some kids causing a disturbance.¡±


    The man beckoned John. John looked to both sides of the street before crossing. He then approached man whilst taking his notebook and pen out of a jacket pocket.


    The man extended his hand and John shook the man¡¯s hand. The man had a good grip and left white impressions that faded to red after a few seconds on John¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Officer John Perkins.¡±


    ¡°Jack Smith.¡±


    ¡°What can you tell me about the disturbance?¡±


    ¡°Well, Macy, that is my wife and I were sitting inside enjoying the warmth of the sun behind our patio door. It¡¯s bloody cold since the power went out, will they restore it soon?¡±


    John made some notes whilst just nodding at the story the man was spinning. He was used to this, people usually need a preamble to get into the flow. He ignored the question at the end, suspecting it wasn¡¯t a serious question.


    ¡°And there we saw it. The childlike thing. It just entered our garden. It was as big as a six or seven year old I would say. I couldn¡¯t see its face because of the large green hat it was wearing you see. We first thought it was a child.¡±


    John nodded and wrote down the description Jack had given.


    ¡°I went and opened the door you see, to tell that little brat to get out of my garden. We¡¯re not a playground and I don¡¯t give a rats ass for the brats of others.¡±


    The man let out an indignant huff. There was probably a little bit more backstory behind that resentment, but that was not of concern at this moment. John signaled the man to continue.


    ¡°Well then, I opened the door and shouted to the childlike thing to get lost out of my yard or I would call the coppers. The thing just ignored me, so I told Macy to call the cops. She replied that the telephone didn¡¯t work, so I told her to walk to the police station then. She¡¯s not the brightest you know, but I love her nonetheless.¡±


    John rose an eyebrow as he noted the jumbled story of Jack down. He wondered why Jack would refer to the child as a thing. Maybe he resented children so much that he didn¡¯t think of them as human anymore? John decided to get the story a bit on track by posing a question.


    ¡°Could you describe the child to me?¡±


    ¡°Pah, child, a demon is more like. It had a big green hat, was about as big as my hips, had a green coat with a broad leather belt around its fat belly. Brown pants that one of those fags would proudly wear to expose the goods if you know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Now, what happened when the child didn¡¯t respond to your command to leave the garden?¡±


    ¡°Hrmph. Macy got out of the front door to get to the police station. She isn¡¯t the brightest but she follows orders well. She¡¯s a good wife to me, knows her place and all.¡±


    Jack threw his thumb over his shoulder at his house.


    ¡°Come on in, then I can show you.¡±


    John followed Jack in his house. The house itself was unkempt, beer cans spread throughout the house in several corners, dust gathered everywhere. A shudder ran over Johns back as he crossed the house in the dark, following its inhabitant. The unwashed pile of dishes he saw in the kitchen, and the spots on the floor that could have been easily cleaned, gave him an impression of the household that was kept here.


    They arrived in the living room that had a glass door to the patio. Small trails of fly poop decorated the white paint of the door and doorframe. Newspapers were spread around the living room gathered in clumps. Several had held fish and chips by the looks of it. Beer cans could be seen between the newspaper props in the clumps. The man opened the patio door and waved to the unkempt overgrown garden.


    ¡°It started tearing my garden apart over there. So I went out to stop the thing from making a mess of the garden. We try to keep things neat around here you know.¡±


    John had his doubts about that neat statement but he kept it to himself and just nodded. They walked to a spot where the garden was clearly dug up and a hole was in the garden surrounded by large clumps of earth.


    ¡°I grabbed it by its shoulder, but even as I pulled with all my might, I couldn¡¯t tear the bloody thing away from this hole it was digging. It just grunted at me with a deep MRUM if you know what I mean.¡±


    John didn¡¯t know what an ¡°MRUM¡± was, but he nodded anyway. He bent through his knees and put his hand in the hole, it went down to his elbow. Impressive to dig such a deep hole when a homeowner was pulling at you.


    ¡°Did the child have a shovel?¡±


    ¡°No, it dug this hole in a minute with its bare hands.¡±


    John eyed Jack suspiciously as he got up, rubbing the dirt off his hand on his coat, and thought back at the beer cans. Doubt was clearly displayed on his face.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling the truth mate! As it had dug down it pulled up a silver necklace with a cross on it. I tried to grab it from the thing, it was in my garden after all and looked like it was worth a pretty penny, but it threw it in the basket on its back. It then faced me and I saw it was an ugly ass demon! It had big black eyes. I first had thought they were sunglasses, but it had big black eyes! like totally black, like tar. And I kid you not, it had a huge nose as big as an onion. And a jaw with an underbite it would make my granny proud, filled with dirty teeth.¡±


    John had stopped scribbling and just looked at Jack with a skeptical look, who didn¡¯t seem to notice, totally enraptured in his retelling.


    ¡°I tried to thrust my hand into the basket to get the necklace back, but the thing hit me in my stomach.¡±


    Jack opened his coat and pulled his stained pullover up, to reveal a reddish spot on his stomach that was already turning dark blue. John noted the details of the spot down in his notebook and then got a disposable camera out of a pocket and started to turn the wheel to set the camera.


    ¡°They still make those things?¡±


    John nodded and went through one knee and put the disposable camera with a bright blue motif to his eye. He pressed the shutter release button and an audible click clack could be heard through the garden. He turned the button on the back again and made a photo of the hole in the garden. He noted the numbers that had been on the little peephole in his notebook.


    ¡°Alright. After it punched you what happened then?¡±


    Jack was busy buttoning his coat back up and thought for a moment before he replied.


    ¡°Well, I was doubled over and winded for a moment, it had knocked the air from my lungs the bastard. It had left my garden whilst I was trying to get back up. When I got to the garden entrance I couldn¡¯t see it anywhere anymore. That¡¯s when I decided to wait till you guys showed up.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll have a look see in the neighborhood,to see if I can find a trace of the person that assaulted you. Did you use any substances this morning?¡±


    ¡°Nah mate, I don¡¯t touch that stuff anymore. I just had two beers for breakfast to keep warm, but I¡¯m sober as a clam mate.¡±


    John noted it down, nodded and closed his notebook. He bode Jack farewell and exited the garden.


    Jack let out a sigh as the algae covered wooden door closed behind him. This was not a usual day at all. He strongly disliked unusual days.

 1.011 They Be Pests 2

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a break here. I could use a stretch.¡±


    Paula nodded and made a right turn to park the car on the supermarkets parking lot. They had decided to find their way through the backroads, to make their way back to Exeter. Thus far things hadn¡¯t gone as they had planned. The backroads had been busier than expected at some points and totally blocked at others, forcing them to backtrack and to find a way around the blockage through more backroads.


    This had caused them to get utterly lost, since none of them had a road atlas, and they had forgotten to buy one before they set off on the road. And with the power outage and the loss of the cellular network as a consequence, meant they couldn¡¯t download the map details in Google Maps when they had charged their mobiles in the car. Of course, they only found this out as they had gotten turned around several times. They had resorted to getting out of the car, and asking directions to somewhere where they could buy a road atlas. Somehow they had ended up in Wadebridge after six hours of driving, and their tank had gone down to a quarter full after all the detours they had made.


    Paula turned off the ignition and the car grew silent. Paula looked ahead out of the car window, one hand still on the steering wheel, the other on the ignition key. Jacob unbuckled himself and turned to face Paula.


    ¡°Hey, everything okay?¡±


    ¡°Mhhmhh.¡±


    Jacob got a distinct feeling that she needed a moment, so he got out of the car. He opened the back door and got his winter coat from the rear seat he had dumped it on. He eyed the green and muddy spots on the coat and tried to brush off some of the stains without much success. With a resigned sigh, he put the dirty coat on and closed the back door of the car gently.


    The parking lot they were on had a few cars scattered around but was largely empty. Getting a parking ticket would be an exercise in futility without power, so he didn¡¯t make his way to the parking ticket machine. Instead, he made his way to the end of the parking lot, away from the main street. From the back edge of the parking lot, he had a beautiful view over the river that flowed through the city, dividing it into two parts. A bridge could be seen a little bit further downstream. He sat down on the cold stone wall that surrounded the parking lot and took the scenery in front of him in. A mix of modern and older houses faced him from the other bank of the river. The river itself was murky dark green and divided by an island that stretched under the stone arch bridge. In front of him was a gravel road that led to the bridge on one side, on the other side it disappeared from view as it followed the curve of the river. A few couples were using it to enjoy the scenery at a leisurely pace.


    A car door slammed shut behind him and footsteps approached his back, but he didn¡¯t turn around. A moment later Paula sat down beside him on the wall and stared at the river. They sat like that for a few minutes without saying a word or looking at each other. Paula was the first to speak.


    ¡°Well, that went disastrous.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s an understatement.¡±


    ¡°With how little remains in the tank we¡¯ll never make it at this pace.¡±


    Jacob nodded at that. He gestured to the city in front of him.


    ¡°We should find a place to stay here until they¡¯ve cleared the roads properly.¡±


    ¡°I guess so.¡±


    Paula sighed


    ¡°I guess we should have stayed at Tintagel, but I just couldn¡¯t stay there, the memories of that night were too strong.¡±


    Jacob nodded again, tried to brush some dirt from his coat unsuccessfully and stood up.


    ¡°Shall we look for a place to stay, to take our minds off things?¡±


    Paula let out a sad sigh again and nodded reluctantly. She sat for a moment longer, before she got up too. They followed the gravel path to the bridge at a leisurely pace. The sun showed its face every now and then between the dark clouds that filled the skies, lifting the somber mood of the day somewhat. They asked a passerby where to find lodgings, and received directions to a hotel, which was just across from the supermarket where they had parked. At the hotel, they managed to get a room in a similar matter as they had before, thanks to the tried and true technology of the credit card imprinter.


    After they had dropped their gear in their new room, they headed back in town to get a feel of the layout of the place. The main entrance of the hotel was located at the begin of a pedestrian zone of a shopping street. They sauntered over the street between other people who were on their way to buy supplies. People who had bought supplies already held them close to themselves and stayed well out of the way of those who had empty hands.


    Paula nodded her head in the direction of one of the distrustful persons scuttling away with arms full of bags with groceries.


    ¡°People are probably busy hoarding things now, with how long this power outage is going on.¡±


    ¡°Most likely, everybody is building up a larder I would wager. I wonder how long they will need before the power will return.¡±


    ¡°It can¡¯t be long. It has to be the highest priority for them to restore power.¡±


    ¡°Well, if all the roads are blocked like we encountered this morning they will have serious difficulty getting to the places where power is interrupted.¡±


    ¡°Won''t the military and police and fire departments help with that?¡±


    ¡°Sure they will, but it''s still a lot of work to do. I¡¯d hate to be the one that needs to organize all that.¡±


    ¡°I guess.¡±


    Paula kicked a pebble in front of her foot, and it bounced ahead through the street, where people were standing, looking and pointing out at something in the distance.


    Jacob and Paula moved closer to see what the people were looking at, and they were treated to the display of a small person with a basket on its back running away from a red-faced police officer that was chasing it.


    Even though the small person had small legs and a large basket on its back, it moved faster than the police officer, and it was slowly gaining distance on the police officer.


    The crowd made way as not to get run over by the couple speeding their way. Jacob moved out of the way and dragged Paula along with him, who wasn¡¯t as quick to react. This caused her to stumble, and her handbag slipped off her shoulder onto the ground, spreading the contents on the street. Paula''s mobile shone golden in the sunshine as it skittered over the street. Jacob bent over to help Paula get her stuff back, as the first of the running pair had reached them. The small person had come to a sudden stop in front of the telephone that lay on the street, displaying its golden luster in the sunshine.


    He could now see that this was not a small person, but something totally different. It was small as a child, but had a huge under jaw, pitch black eyes and gruesome teeth. It wore a sleeveless open vest that showed a belly and bare chest. The hands were coarse and had huge nails.


    It bent over to pick up the telephone, but Jacob pushed its hand away just in time and snatched the telephone up before the creature could pick it up. He got up quickly, and took a few steps away from the creature, holding the mobile in his hand.


    ¡°MRUUUMMM grr hrrrr!¡±


    The creature took a step to Jacob, opening its hand in a claw shape, and started to stretch out to the mobile in Jacobs'' hand, as it got tackled in the side by the police officer that had finally caught up with it. They rolled over each other by the force of the impact, before they ended up lying both on the street. The creature was immediately back on its feet, with the police officer trying to follow suit.


    The creature clearly didn¡¯t take lightly to being attacked, and its entire demeanor changed, and a dangerous glint appeared in its pitch black eyes, and its entire stance changed to one that radiated aggression. A low guttural growl, that seemed to vibrate the very stones around it, came from the creature. The police officer had gotten up and pulled his baton free from his belt.


    ¡°Fuck, that should have knocked you bastard out.¡±


    The creature leaped forward with remarkable speed, and punched the police officer in his stomach, with a muffled wet sound that made Jacob wince. The muscular police officer doubled over at the impact and was unable to deflect the second hit the creature aimed at his head. As it connected, the entire body of the officer went limp and sagged to the ground. The creature pounded the police officer a few more times in the chest, with powerful blows that resounded with dull thuds.


    Cries of shock and horror resounded through the people watching this happen, but no-one dared to intervene with this creature that had downed a police officer in one hit.


    The police officer regained consciousness, and rolled away from the incoming blows, and got to one knee. He winced as he tried to upright his torso, and held one of his hands against his stomach as he tightened his grip on his baton. This time when the creature leaped forward, the police officer hit it against a kneecap, sending the creature off balance, making it miss the hit aimed at the police officer. The creature growled loudly at the pain as it tried to regain balance. The baton swung back from the recoil from the first hit, and hit the creature squarely in the jaw, making the neck snap sideways violently.


    ¡°GRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!¡±


    The creature growled loudly and stamped its foot in fury on the ground. It would have reminded someone of a toddler throwing a fit if the creature didn¡¯t look absolutely menacing.


    The eyes of the police officer squinted, and the creature leaped towards the police officer again, and it made a feint to hit from the right side, and the police officer blocked it with the baton, but he wasn¡¯t able to block the blow between his eyes with the left hand.


    The head of the police officer snapped back, and his entire body slumped over again, his hand releasing the baton, that rolled towards the creature over the paving stones. The creature was ready to land a new blow on the unconscious police officer as the baton hit its feet, causing it to pause.


    ¡°Mrrrmm?¡±


    It bent over and picked up the baton by the handle, swung it around a few times, making excited grunting noises. It eyed the police officer, whilst feeling the surface of the baton with its coarse finger as if it was contemplating to give it a test run on the body that lay motionless on the ground. After a tense moment, it shrugged with a grunt and put it in one of the larger pouches on its belt. The handle still stuck out of the pouch, but it didn¡¯t seem to be in obstructing the creature''s movements. It reached around in the basket on its back, moving it around as if searching something from it, and pulled a crumpled water bottle coated in dirt from it, and lay it down in front of the police officer.


    Jacob still stood there, with Paula¡¯s golden colored mobile forgotten in his hand, shocked by the brutal display he had just witnessed. The creature turned around and stepped towards him. Jacob took a trembling step backward and almost buckled through his legs. The eyes of the creature were dull black as if it was sucking up all the light, and they were staring intently at the mobile in his hand, as it stretched its hand out again towards the mobile, coarse palm up.


    ¡°Mhhhhmmmm rrrr grrn hrrnnn¡±


    ¡°Wha¡­ what?¡±


    Paula stood behind him and had put a hand on his shoulder steadying him, and whispered in his ear.


    ¡°I think it wants my mobile. If it jumps at you just drop it and run, but hold on to it now, it seems to just stand there.¡±


    Jacob tore his eyes away from the creature, to look at the mobile in his hand. He tightened his grip on the mobile, his knuckles turning white. He suppressed a tremble and the panic that tried to well up inside him and eyed the creature again. It seemed to just stand there harmlessly, looking at the mobile, its hand outstretched palm upwards, nothing threatening about it as if the altercation of just now hadn¡¯t happened. It didn¡¯t even have a bruise on its jaw, from the hit it had taken from the baton.


    ¡°Mrrrrr?¡±


    Jacob startled as the creature suddenly looked at him directly, the entire face of the creature was pointed at his face. He got the distinct feeling that the creature was losing patience with him, by him not responding to the outstretched hand. A treatment like the police officer had received was not on his desirable outcomes list.


    ¡°Uhhh, you want this?¡±


    He held the golden mobile phone up, and the creature eyed it greedily with a wide toothy grin. People had gathered around them in a large mass, to watch the spectacle in the shopping street. Some of them that also had working mobile phones, were recording the altercation with the creature. Jacob felt sweat building up on his forehead, he desperately did not want to end up like the police officer, but he didn¡¯t want the man being beaten up by the creature further either, nor did he want one of these people that were crowding them to get hurt. He could hear some of the things they were saying among themselves.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°What do you think that is? Someone dressed up?¡±


    ¡°Must be, it¡¯s good makeup though.¡±


    ¡°Did you see how he decked that copper?¡±


    ¡°With one hit it took him down. I don¡¯t want to tangle with that.¡±


    Paula had edged her way to the police officer, keeping out of reach of the creature, and had put her coat under the police officers head. His eyes were open but slightly crossed and unfocused. Paula was whispering to him but Jacob couldn¡¯t hear what she was saying.


    Jacob felt panic well up as he was unsure of what to do now. The police officer was down, nobody here seemed to be inclined to help him, and this creature stood before him with those pitch black creepy eyes. Jacob noticed that the creature didn¡¯t possess any nipples, he couldn''t see any seams either nor discolorations from makeup. After his experience in the cave, he didn¡¯t feel comfortable with the assumption that he had overheard, that this was just a costume. He felt much more comfortable with the assumption that this was a real creature, whether alien or another origin, that could hurt you. Maybe it had come from the cave, or the darkness, or somewhere else. What was important right now was to not get beaten into a pulp by this curious creature that reminded him of a miniature fat crocodile Dundee.


    He took a step back and the creature followed, looking at the mobile in his hand. He took a step sideways and the creature followed him again.


    ¡°Mrrrm! mrr grrr!¡±


    ¡°Why do you want this mobile?¡±


    ¡°Mrrr grrrr hrrr.¡±


    Jacob took another step backward and the creature followed again. The people behind him made room for him and the creature, as they got closer. The police officer was sitting upright now, rubbing his forehead gently. Paula had run off somewhere, Jacob couldn¡¯t see her anywhere at least. Maybe she had gone off to get help for the injured police officer.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t quite understand what you are saying.¡±


    ¡°Mrrh hrrnn hrnnn MRRRRUMMM¡±


    Jacob took another step back and was now outside of the circle of people, that had now spread out and formed a crescent behind the creature, it followed him again.


    ¡°Does MRUUMM mean you want this now?¡±


    ¡°Mrrr hrr hrrrr¡±


    As Jacob spoke he kept moving backward slowly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Paula running back with something that seemed like cord slung over her shoulder and a large U-shaped bicycle lock. She waved to him to get his attention and he nodded at her, feeling relieved that he wasn¡¯t alone anymore in dealing with this creature, the other people just seemed to watch without contributing. Paula was talking rapidly to some of the men in the back and pointed somewhere.


    ¡°Can you understand everything I¡¯m saying?¡±


    ¡°MRR hruum hrrr hruuuummm!¡±


    ¡°Right.¡±


    Paula had fixed one end of the cord to the bicycle stands, that were embedded in the ground in a side street, and motioned him to move into her direction. She looped the other end of the cord through the U rod of the bicycle lock and then hid it behind her back. Jacob took a step back into her direction.


    ¡°Okay, so you want this golden mobile badly right?¡±


    The creature didn¡¯t reply but it took an eager step towards Jacob, it¡¯s hand under the mobile Jacob was holding. He made a quick step backward to build up a more comfortable distance to the creature. He was now near Paula, and she was edging sideways, hugging the building behind her to move behind the creature, which started to look irritated Jacob thought.


    ¡°Okay. But what will you do with it when I give it to you, will you give something back in return? Like a trade?¡±


    The creature paused and cocked its head for a moment as it seemed to overthink Jacobs words.


    ¡°Mrruu hurr hummm mrum mrrrrr.¡±


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s a yes?¡±


    Paula was now behind the creature and busy pulling a bit of cord her way, coiling it at her feet. Jacob pretended to give the mobile to the creature, only to stop at the last moment as if something had come to his mind.


    ¡°You know this is a really valuable thing right? Most people have to work for two years to pay for such a thing. I want to make sure we get something as valuable back for this mobile.¡±


    At the mention of the value of the thing it desired, it seemed as if the creatures breath tempo increased, and it jutted it¡¯s coarse hand forward even more as it stepped closer, almost ready to grab the mobile from Jacobs'' hand, who lifted it higher, out of reach of the creature, and then took a step back.


    ¡°Now now, no grabbing it out of my hand. I just want to know if it will be a fair trade.¡±


    ¡°MRRRRR hrr hrr RHRR!!¡±


    The creature stomped on the ground with its feet in clear annoyance and had its fist balled at its sides. The greedy grin was clearly replaced by an infuriated snarl. Paula had edged behind it, and with its fury fully focussed on Jacob, it paid no heed to Paula''s actions. Paula had the lock part of the bicycle lock in her right hand, and the U part with the cable attached, in her other hand. She looked Jacob shortly in the eyes over the creatures head, and let her breath out quietly.


    As the creature bent down through its knees slightly, as if it was ready to jump on Jacob as it had with the police officer, Paula stepped forward and shoved the U part around its neck, and clicked it shut with the lock at the other side, and spurted away from the creature.


    Jacob did the same in the other direction and ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.


    ¡°MRRRRUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!!¡±


    The enraged growl resounded through the street as the creature set to chase after Jacob, dragging the cable behind it, one hand trying its best to pull the lock loose, the other hand stretched out like a claw, ready to grab onto Jacob as it would reach him.


    The creature was fast, Jacob felt his legs grow heavier, and no matter how he breathed in as he ran, the air that filled his lungs didn¡¯t seem to be enough. He felt his sides burning as he risked a glance over his shoulder, and saw that the creature was only a few steps away from him. He looked forward to where he was going and doubled down his focus on moving forward, forcing his legs to run, even though they felt like lead.


    ¡°HURK!¡±


    Jacob looked over his shoulder at the sound and saw that the creature had finally reached the end of the cord, and had been violently jerked back by it, sending the creature sprawling on its side. He stopped running, and rested with his hand on a building wall, trying to regain his composure and breath.


    He looked up after a few moments and saw Paula standing at the other end of the side street that ended in the shopping street, with the other people gathered around her. They held large square, dark wooden tables in front of them. It looked as if they had been taken from a restaurant or a pub. The group of people that were carrying the tables formed a wall, that blocked off the entire street with the tables. They moved as a group forward, trying to keep the entire street blocked off, without giving an opening for the creature to jump through. Paula seemed to be leading the group forward, edging a group on that lagged behind, and reigning in a group that moved to fast for the others.


    The creature got up and looked at Jacob. It then felt at its throat and the lock that was around it, trying to find a weakness in it, but it found none. It then tugged at the rope, but it wouldn¡¯t give.


    ¡°Hrrr¡­ HRRRRR!¡±


    It shouted at the group that was approaching, and pulled the baton from the pouch it had been stored in, and looked at the group that was approaching it. It ran to the group, its baton raised for an attack, with inhuman speed. The basket on its back was swinging left and right, with each of the large leaps it made forward.


    It crashed full speed into the table, moving the table back a fair bit, sending the people holding the table awkwardly off balance. It jabbed and hit with the baton at the people holding the tables at the sides that were not exposed.


    ¡°Get that table up! Move back! close the gap!¡±


    Paula yelled her orders, and the people tried their best to close the gap, but the creature that was clawing at people, and hitting them with the baton, made it hard to follow those orders immediately. The creature tried to push through an opening it had created with its flurry of attacks. An older grizzled man lifted his leg and kicked it squarely in the face as it had gotten its upper body through but had trouble with the basket.


    ¡°Get back you ugly bastard!¡±


    The creatures head snapped back thanks to the impact from the force and was forced back behind the tables by a second kick from the same man. The group closed the gap as the creature got back to its fee.


    ¡°Pull the cord! Hold the tables so we can pin it!¡±


    A group of people that had stayed back didn¡¯t respond to Paula''s command but just stood there looking interested.


    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there! Pick up that damned cord and pull!¡±


    Some people startled at her aggressive words, and picked up the cord and started pulling it. The slack cord pulled taut quickly, as all the remaining cord was reigned in by the group. As the cord pulled tautly the creature braced itself, with coarse hands holding the U-rod of the lock trying to get away from the tables. It dropped the baton in its efforts to fight against the pull group. A few grunts could be heard from the group, as the creature was inching closer and closer to the tables, by their joined efforts. The group with the tables moved forward, pushing against the creature, pinning it against the tables. Two of the four tables broke free and circled the creature, boxing it in between the tables.


    ¡°Keep the cord tight! We have it but it might break free if it can move!¡±


    Jacob moved over to where Paula was, now the creature was boxed in. He could see the tables tremble as the creature was pounding them, and the loud knocks on the wood echoed loudly throughout the streets.


    ¡°Now what? We can¡¯t hold it forever like this.¡±


    Paula looked at him irritatedly, and he backed off holding up his hands in defense


    ¡°Hey, sorry, that wasn¡¯t meant to offend. I apologize!¡±


    Paula moved a strain of hair out of her face, and glared at him, before shifting her look back at the tables and the group that was visibly having trouble keeping the creature contained.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know, I hadn¡¯t thought further than this.¡±


    Jacob looked around for options and his eyes fell on a van that was driving in the distance. He turned to the crowd behind and yelled at them.


    ¡°Hey, any of you have a delivery van or truck?¡±


    ¡°I have a delivery van. I use it to deliver my cakes.¡±


    Jacob moved to the woman that had spoken up. She was a slightly heavy set and had black hair that was bound back.


    ¡°Can we use it to trap that creature? Does it have a sealed compartment?¡±


    ¡°Sure, for what he did to that officer, he should be punished, no good to let the little bastard get away. It has a separate compartment for the goods, and the doors can only be opened from the outside, it¡¯s more a truck than a van really.¡±


    ¡°Can you get it here fast?¡±


    ¡°Sure thing. I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    The woman moved broke off from the group to get her delivery van, and Jacob moved on to the police officer that was lying there on the ground, with its head resting on Paula¡¯s coat. His eyes were open and looking around, but it was clear that he wasn¡¯t in any capacity to help.


    ¡°Hey, how are you?¡±


    ¡°I feel as if I got hit over the head with a rolling pin.¡±


    Jacob went down through his knees and put his hand on the shoulder of the downed police officer.


    ¡°We need to move you, we have the thing captured, and a van will come so we can detain it, and you¡¯re lying in the middle of the street in the way.¡±


    ¡°You got the bastard eh? Help me up, I think I stand at least.¡±


    Jacob pulled the heavy man up with some considerable effort, the man was much heavier than him, and it was clear the man wasn¡¯t in a state to be able to help him. With a heavy grunt he finally got the man up and an arm wrapped over his shoulder. They stumbled to the side of the road, where Jacob let the man down in a sitting position. He ran back and brought Paula¡¯s coat over, and covered the Police officers legs with it.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got to keep you warm don¡¯t we?¡±


    ¡°Yea, I might go in shock otherwise. Good thinking. You don¡¯t happen to have aspirin on you, or do you?¡±


    Jacob shook his head in denial. He wrapped the edges under the police officers legs to get them off the cold ground. The police officer extended his hand to Jacob which he took, and felt a what could be a firm grip around his hand.


    ¡°Officer John Perkins.¡±


    ¡°Jacob Douglas¡±


    ¡°Well Jacob, this has not been a good day for me today. I¡¯m in shambles and require assistance, my colleagues are all busy coordinating relief efforts, and my radio is shot thanks to that bastard. Can you help me when the creature is contained to get it to the police station?¡±


    Jacob now saw that the plastic of the transceiver was broken, and the antenna in a strange angle. He looked back at Paula and the group with the tables, that were doing their best to keep the creature contained, the loud bangs and angry grunts that resounded as the creature rained its fists on the tables, were a constant background sound now, it didn¡¯t seem to tire easily. Jacob nodded to John.


    ¡°Sure. We got this far didn¡¯t we.¡±


    A loud honking resounded behind Jacob, and a delivery truck backed into the street, making the turn carefully to align its backside to where the group with the tables were. It nearly hit the corner of the shop on the corner. Eventually, it had made the turn completely, and the truck backed up to the group with the tables, the cable dragging a trail along its side, creating a loud scraping noise.


    The black haired woman got out of the driver''s side and moved to the back. She opened the large back doors of the truck with the latch and swung them open. Paula commanded the group with the tables to move closer to the truck. Jacob quickly got to the other side of the truck than where the woman was, so he could close the door from that side. He nodded to the woman, and she understood his intention and nodded back.


    The group with the tables split up and formed half a crescent around the truck, boxing the creature in with the only way out, the open doors of the truck.


    ¡°Cut the cord some slack!¡±


    The group that had held the cord under tension let go of it and it slid through their fingers as the creature moved around.


    ¡°Mrrrmmm?¡±


    The creature was clearly surprised at the sudden movement freedom it had now. Paula pulled out of her pocket a golden colored lipstick and held it up.


    ¡°Hey ugly, want this? Come and get it!¡±


    Paula threw the lipstick in the truck, it¡¯s golden colored shell reflecting the sunlight brightly. The creature tracked it with its pitch black eyes, its face aligned with the trajectory of the golden projectile. As it hit the floor in the truck, it let out an eager grunt and jumped in the truck and ran to it. It grabbed the lipstick and hugged it to the chest.


    The group with the tables quickly got out of the way as Jacob and the black-haired woman closed the doors of the truck and closed the clasps with loud clicks. A startled creature reacted to the sudden darkness.


    ¡°Mmmmhhhhhh!¡±


    A couple of loud bangs could be heard as the creature inside banged the walls. All the people there eyed the van doors warily, to see if the thing would burst out of it even though the doors were sturdy. When after a couple of really loud bangs the doors still didn¡¯t give, the group relaxed and put the tables upright on the ground, and started to congratulate each other. The other group that had handled the cord approached the table group and came to look. Paula went to the other end of the cord to unhook it and returned with it, coiling it around her arm. She then attached it to a bar at the underside of the truck and fixed the coiled cord against a hook that was beside the fuel tank.


    The black haired woman approached her as she was affixing the coiled cord that traced one end to the back of the container doors. The black haired woman hooked the cord behind several other things, to prevent it from getting caught whilst driving.


    ¡°Good work, now what do we do with that thing?¡±


    Paula got up and faced the black haired woman. When she was about to reply, Jacob, who had just joined them, replied.


    ¡°The police officer wants it transported to the police station. Do you think you can give us and the police officer a lift there?¡±


    The black haired woman nodded, then looked troubled over to where the police officer was sitting on the ground, wrapped in Paula¡¯s coat.


    ¡°Sure thing. It might get a bit uncomfortable, it¡¯s not that roomy in the cabin. Will John be alright?¡±


    ¡°I think so, he was able to limp over with my help, and he seems pretty clear in his responses.¡±


    ¡°Alright, no use dawdling, let''s get this thing out of my truck as soon as possible, before it destroys the insides.¡±


    Paula and Jacob went over to John to help him up in the truck, and the black-haired woman cleaned out the passenger side to make room for them. With some maneuvering and shared efforts, they got John into the passenger side. Jacob sat beside him and all seats in the cabin were taken, with no more room for Paula. She climbed up anyway and sat down on Jacobs lap. Jacob felt how her soft and cold flesh sat down on his lap, rubbing up against him as she got comfortable, and he had to do his best to not let his body react to this sudden intimacy. He felt his face turning warmer and did his best to hide it from the others in the truck. The truck started and coursed down the street, and Jacob could feel every hump and bump clearly, having the most uncomfortable time of his life, trying not to react to the rubbing sensation that every curve and bend Paula''s behind made on him, especially as she seemed to warm up in the warm van.