Chapter 1: A Ghastly Meeting

The beginning

May 29th 1988

    Rain was pouring heavily on a small abandoned town in the eastern United States. The town sat right beside the coast, which overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. No one used the town for anything anymore. Not since a horrible catastrophe decimated the town to near extinction. Shop windows were broken, abandoned cars rusted, skeletons of dead animals and humans are easily seen all around the town. One could only imagine what happened to the town.
    In the old deserted bar, four hooded figures were playing cards. Their faces were hidden, but the hands could easily be seen. A pair of dark skinned hands placed its cards face down and coughed.
    “I’m all in.” he said.
    “Same,” said the figure next to him.
    “I raise 15.” said another, who sounded like an old man.
    “I raise five.” finished a slithery voice.
    The cards were revealed and the man with the dark skinned hands won. He gathered all his dust covered chips and laughed.
    “Seems I took you chumps to school.”
    “Shut up Lucifer. You only won by luck.” said the slithery voice.
    “Poor Nyx. You feel sad without your snakes?”
    “At least I didn’t kill my family” he hissed.
    Lucifer stood up in a rage and grabbed Nyx by the scruff of his neck. He got in his face and growled.
    “Say. It. Again I dare you”
    “Family killer”
    He threw Nyx across the room and heard the man crash into some chairs and a table. He put his arms down and his hands began short circuiting. The aura around his hands was as if he was surrounded by electricity. Nyx got up and readied himself. His hands turned a silver color and moved his hands forward, like he was pushing someone. Silver shards released from his palms and fired at Lucifer. As they were about to hit him, they were stopped in midair by a force. They all turned and saw a hooded figure, soaking wet and looking very tired. It had its arm extended. 
    The figure rested its arm and the shards fell to the ground. It went to the poker table and sat down by the man with dark hands.
    “Evening, Brone. How’s the kids?” It said in a feminine voice.
    “Good,” said the man.
    “So, why are these to fighting about now?”
    “Insults,” said Brone.
    The hooded woman stood up and walked to the two scared men. In a sudden turn, they were both floating into the air, surrounded by a gray aura. They begun spinning around until they began feeling sick. She finished by throwing them into the wall.
    “You stupid idiots this isn’t the time for fighting something has happened in the world”
    “What?” asked a hooded man.
    “Another has been born.” she said.
    “Another what?” asked Nyx.
    “Another Fire User, you dolt”
    “So, what do you expect us to do?” asked the same man.
    “Well, Salem, we are not gonna do anything until he comes of age. Plus, HE has returned to us.”
    “You mean?” stuttered Brone.
    “Yes. Our leader has returned, but he is imprisoned in a most particular prison.”
    “Which is?” asked Lucifer.
    “You will find out soon enough... All of you will.”
    Meanwhile, miles away in a small town in Columbus, Ohio, a tall, dark haired man and a woman with strawberry blond hair had just arrived home with a bundle in their care. As they entered their old fashioned home, the woman sat down in a rocking chair, bundle in her arms. She unwrapped the bundle and revealed a baby boy. The woman kissed her newborn on his forehead and looked at her husband.
    “Oh, John. Look at him. So cute, so small, so innocent.”
    “Yeah,” he laughed. “We made one good looking kid, nice work.”
    He leaned down and kissed her lips. They stared at the wonderful creation that they had made. The baby boy slowly opened his eyes and John dropped his cup of coffee. Desaree, John’s wife, looked down at the baby and moved her hand over her mouth. The boy’s eyes, mostly his irises, were bright red. They saw what appeared to be a fire burning inside his eyes.
    “J-J-John? Are his eyes...?”
    “Yes,” he said sternly. “His eyes are red.”
    “I noticed it at the hospital, but I thought it was the lighting.”
    The baby moved his small hands and touched Desaree’s palm. She squealed and blew on her hand. John looked at her palm and saw a tiny finger mark on her skin, like a farm animal being marked by its owner. He blew on it some more until it was just a mark. The little boy yawned in exhaustion. She carefully took the boy to a crib upstairs, which was in a room filled with walls decorated in farm animals. She placed him into his crib, tucked him in, and kissed him.
    The baby’s hot body went down to a normal temperature. Desaree smiled and walked nearly out of the room. She placed a finger on the light switch.
    “Good night... Jack.” she said softly. “Hope you have pleasant dreams.”
    The light went out. Little Jack closed his eyes quickly and drifted into a long sleep. Downstairs, Desaree joined her husband, who was lying on the couch. She sat on his legs and lay down on top of him. He kissed her forehead and sighed.
    “What just happened?” he asked.
    “I wish I knew.”
    “You think his... “Condition” will go away?”
    “Perhaps. What I’m more worried about, Hun is how he will be accepted when he goes to school.”
    “That could pose a problem. No child has ever been born with red eyes. I don’t want our son to be a target of harassment.”
    “Well, we could home school him. Well, until we send him away to “our” school.”
    “That won’t be for 13 more years. We have loads of time to figure it out.”
    “Yeah. Time.”
    For the rest of the night, they slept on their couch, holding each other and wondering about the future for their son Jack. Outside their house, something was slithering across the wet grass and coming toward the house. It wasn’t a snake or any animal. It wasn’t even a physical object. It was more like a shadow. This “shadow” was weak. It wanted to find something to rest in or it would’ve died. Then it found it.
    It slithered up the side of the house and entered through a window. It slid across the floor, up the side of the crib and gazed. It had no face, no body, no physical appearance. Even though it was a shadow, it spoke in a quiet, but evil voice.
    “Yessssss. I have found him. He will serve as my vessel until the time is right.”
    It slid down the bars, onto Jacks body and entered through his ears. His eyes opened suddenly. They changed from bright red to dark black. The shadow laughed hysterically.
    “Haha No one will find me now”
    It rested in his mind, waiting the day when it would be released. At the same location Nyx and Lucifer fought, rain pouring onto the roof was the only sound that was heard. The hooded woman sat in a corner of the bar, sitting silently as if waiting for something or someone. The others were playing a new round of poker, with Brone leading. Other than their rowdy voices, it was like being in a ghost town.
    The door quickly slammed wide open and another hooded figure emerged from the dark, rainy outside. Everyone stood up with a fright. The woman walked slowly to the new figure, not caring if she was attacked.
    “What news?” she asked.
    “It has happened.” he said slowly.
    “Our leader is alive. This we already know, my friend.”
    “No Another... “User” has been born.”
    “They are born every day. Why is this one so special.”
    “Because, you wretched woman, this User is the rarest of us all” he yelled.
    “You mean?” shouted Lucifer.
    “Yes. After 500 years, another Fire User has been born.”
    The men murmured to each other, deciding what should be done.
    “I say we go to his home and kill him before he grows up” said Nyx.
    The hooded man grabbed Nyx by the scruff of his neck and raised him high.
    “You absolute idiot” he yelled. “Our leader is associated with this newborn. Killing the child would mean the absolute death of our master”
    “So what do you propose we do?” asked Brone.
    “We wait.” answered the woman. “We wait until he is of age and see if he is aware of the power he has inside him.”
    The man put Nyx down, who had his hood down. He appeared to resemble a young man, maybe in his late 20's. His black hair was slicked back, like a 50's haircut. Nyx walked over to Lucifer, who also put his hood down. He was much taller than Nyx, but was one of the smartest. A man in his 30's with dark red hair and a personality like a rabid dog.
    “So,” started Nyx. “You guys just continue your duties at the school with the rest of us just trollop and dance in a field of flowers?”
    “If you want to.” she replied.
    The woman and man left with a quiet manner. She came back after a few seconds with another idea in mind.
    “Contact Bane. Tell him to report to the school in one week. I have a special mission for him.”
    “Will do” shouted Lucifer.
    The door shut quietly and rain was all that was heard once again. Outside, the two figures were talking in secret.
    “We cannot tell a living soul about this. Master would punish us if word got out.” said the man.
    “What about Alan? If he found out about this, we might have to kill him.”
    “If it comes to that, it will be done. We cannot have any interference in this mission.”
    “And the boy?” she asked concerned.
    “He is of no importance right now. It will be the same when he starts out at school.”
    “Will he be important when he comes of age?  And knows how to control his power? ”
    “We will deal with it when the time comes. For now, let us continue our deception and “assist” that fat a*s Alan.”
    “If you say so.”  

Author's Note

Please be honest. Point out grammar and punctuation mistakes. I want know how you like the story. How do you feel about Jack and all the other characters, and the character development?

Reviews

[Leslie Philibert]

wyrd got it right, a fine piece of writing in the fantasy/horror genre, which is doing very well at the moment, good write.

[wyrd]

loved this. I am a huge fan of old pulp fiction books and this in title and story fits very well, very fun. Stylistically this seems more a movie or graphic novel in it's approach. Your descriptions and character development are fine but a bit emotionally distancing, Like one were reading the script for a movie. and thats just a quibble, loved the story