Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 11, 2014 10:18:10 GMT -5
(A/N: This is what I had originally posted in the prologue thread to Fright Island. I have since updated my canon entry and moved this post here for archival purposes. Please do not reply to this, as this version is out of date and no longer what applies to my characters in the Fright Island story arc. Enjoy if you want, but I would suggest you go to the full prologue thread for my current interpretation.)
One hour before the mist...
"Face it, Evan, we're lost."
"We are not lost!"
"Are you kidding me? We're about as lost as... Lost!"
Evan sighed and rubbed his temples. "Okay, okay, I get it. So I don't know where exactly we're going. Big deal. We're just exploring anyway; it's not like we had a set destination. And if we can't find our way out, we'll just use the key to unlock a path. No biggie."
Carter stared deadpan at the forest surrounding them. "Fair enough. But what the heck is wrong with this place anyway?! First we were in the city and now suddenly it's a rainforest??"
"Well, this island is -from what I can tell, at least- the epicenter of the multiverse. This kind of oddness is to be expected. It doesn't make it any less unsettling, though..."
"Hey, you were the one who decided to stay on this weird-@** island," Carter grumbled. "We could've gone back to Summer Snow when we had the chance; things may be hectic there, but at least they're familiar! But noooooooo..."
"Oh, calm down! Can you blame me for being curious?" Evan looked around with a hopeful smile. "We're in a new world, Carter. There's a vast landscape of new opportunities for us. Who knows what kind of marvels we might run into?"
"I sure don't... and that's what worries me."
Evan waved his dog off and continued walking. Not a minute later, Carter tensed up and turned around upon catching wind of a certain scent. "What the...? Is that...?"
"What? You smell something?"
To any passersby, Carter was barking the kind of bark a dog would let out if someone was outside its owner's house, but to Evan, he was shouting, "Kendall?! Is that you?! Where are you?!"
"Kendall?" Evan followed Carter's gaze. Sure enough, his barking had caught someone's attention, and that someone flew down from between the trees and landed right in front of the duo.
The angel stared at them in disbelief. "Evan? Carter?"
"Kendall?!" Evan smiled, laughed and charged towards the angel with open arms. "Oh my God, it's so good to see you, man!"
With a laugh of his own, Kendall met him halfway and returned the embrace. "Aw, it's great to see you too! What are you guys doing here?!"
Evan's excited laughter died down into an awkward chuckle. "Well, let's just say a little encounter with Sanguine ended up dumping us here, and once I learned what this place was, I decided to stick around for a while. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I come here every so once in a while. You remember Jeff, right?"
"The crazy old wizard who lives in Canton's sewers?"
"Yeah, him." As Kendall patted Carter on the head, he explained, "We've been on good terms for years, so following an accident that wound up sending me here, I decided that I liked it enough to keep coming back. Jeff sends me here, I use the ITS to go home when I'm done."
"Well, it's great to finally run into someone familiar!"
"I bet! Are the others here too?"
"No..."
"Oh, well, they're probably worried about you, Evan. Would you like me to go back to our world and tell them you're alright?"
Evan's smile resurfaced. "You'd do that? That'd be great! Thanks!"
"No problem." Kendall gave Evan a friendly bump on the arm. "I'll be back in a little while. Don't you be getting into trouble."
"I won't make any promises," Evan snickered as Kendall started to fly off. "Hey, see if anyone wants to come with you and check this place out!"
"Can do!" Kendall yelled before disappearing through the trees.
"Great," Carter sighed. "You just HAD to open the door for everyone else to come to this nightmare world."
"They deserve to know what's going on. Besides..." Evan knelt down to meet Carter's eyes with a mischievous grin. "You know what tonight is, right?"
"Yeah, I know what tonight is, and frankly, I've had just about enough of this Halloween bull****."
"Well, sucks to be you, then, 'cause I'm gonna embrace every horrific, spine-chilling, heart-stopping minute of whatever this island throws at us!"
"Someday you're gonna eat those words, kid..."
Even Carter wasn't expecting that quip to come into fruition so soon.
----------
Nearly an hour had passed since their run-in with Kendall, and in that time frame, Evan and Carter had made their way northward to the outer limits of Void City. Evan couldn't help but smile at what he saw. He was filled to the brim with nostalgia as he watched all the little kids in their cute and spooky costumes, running door-to-door with bags full of candy in their hands. He really missed those days; his past few Halloweens in Summer Snow Valley had played out very much like monster movies, and even if he was expecting no less here on Dimensional Island, he did at least hope things would be somewhat different.
His hopes were dashed when an unseen force clawed open a portal right in front of them. Evan and Carter jumped back and quickly got into defensive poses, expecting a Præt'nos to come crawling out at any second. But instead, they were greeted by a group of encouragingly familiar faces...
Among them was Kendall, who had a sort of you-can-thank-me-later smile on his face, a young woman with brown hair and a green top, a young man with glasses and a blond stripe in his dark brown hair, a blond-haired teenager in mismatching clothes, and an awkward green-eyed boy who was closing the portal behind them.
Evan smiled at the newcomers. "Jen! Darien! Toby!"
"EVAN!!" The blond-haired boy ran up to Evan and gave him a tight hug.
"Patrick!" Evan could hardly breathe as his best friend practically strangled him. "It's great to see you guys!"
"Good to see you're still in one piece, bro," Jen replied. "Nice of you to up and vanish on us."
It was a friendly sister-to-brother tease, but once Patrick released his hug and Evan could breathe again, he quickly pleaded his case. "Hey, now, I didn't come here by choice. And I'm only staying because... has Kendall told you?"
"Yeah, he told us that this island connects all dimensions," Darien answered in that thick English accent of his. "It sounded fascinating, so we decided to come and see for ourselves."
"The others stayed at the valley to protect it," Jen continued. "You know, what with it being Halloween and all."
"I figured as much." Evan rubbed his arm. "Well, since it is Halloween, and we're together and surrounded by characters of every shape, size and alliance, what should we do first?"
Before anyone could respond to that, Kendall hunched up and grabbed his head, moaning in shock and discomfort. Everyone reacted in their own silent way; they knew too well this meant that he was receiving a premonition, and an awful, foreboding one at that. The tension lessened slightly when he loosened up and looked around with concern in his deep blue eyes.
"Kendall, you alright, buddy?" Patrick asked. "What's going on?"
"I... I-I don't know," Kendall murmured.
After a moment of silence, Kendall suddenly unfolded his wings and took to the sky. "Sorry, guys! I have to check something out!" he shouted over his shoulder as he headed westward.
The others regarded this with raised eyebrows. "What's wrong with him?" Toby meekly asked.
"I'm not sure..." Evan mumbled. Whatever it was, though, he knew it had to be bad. He had been on the island long enough to know that when disaster struck, there would be severe consequences.
----------
I hope I'm not too late. I hope I'm not too late. Please tell me I'm not too late!
The Ghost Town came into view overhead. Good thing, too, because Kendall was on the verge of losing his mind.
The premonition he had received was... foggy, to say the least. He couldn't quite understand what was being conveyed to him. All he knew was that it was bound to be horrific, it would affect the whole island, and it originated from this general area.
"Don't worry about it, Kenny..." Kendall said to himself, his voice shaky in a poor attempt at optimism. "You've been through tougher scenarios. One little... curse... that affects everyone somehow... can't be that bad!"
To say he was a sweaty, teary-eyed mess would be an understatement.
"There it is..." At last, he found the exact place from his vision. He prepared for a landing, hoping beyond all reason that he could stop this before it started.
Nope.
Just as he reached his destination, a blast of purple mist burst out of the hut. The force of the explosion sent Kendall flying backwards and crashing hard through several of the abandoned buildings.
Everything around him became a jumbled mess as the purple mist's dark energy clouded his aura-sense. All around him, there was nothing but darkness and a retched, disturbing, evil force. At the very least, his own holy aura seemed to protect him from the cloud, but it wasn't enough to make him able to focus through it. The fact that he had hit his head numerous times didn't help either.
Despite his efforts to get up, despite his pleas, despite his desire to fix whatever had been exposed to the island, the overexposure to dark energy and his head trauma became too much for Kendall. Then and there, the Angel of Time passed out.
----------
"I'm really worried, you guys," Jen said as the Summer Snow gang strolled through downtown. "Why wouldn't Kendall tell us what's wrong?"
"Maybe he doesn't know for sure," Evan responded. "Maybe something was blocking his visions. Whatever the case, though, we'll have to keep an eye out. This island is unpredictable."
"Exactly the reason I wanted to go home!" Carter protested.
"But let's not let that put a damper on things!" Patrick cheered. "We're supposed to feel scared at this time of the year! We oughta embrace the spooks to come!"
Don't be so laid back about this, Patrick, one of the voices in Patrick's head warned. I would think that you would be able to understand the severity of the forces at work on All Hallow's Eve.
"Oh, lighten up, Van," Patrick said loud enough for everyone to hear (not that this wasn't a common occurrence). "You know I don't think that deeply."
Clearly... Van murmured.
"G-Guys...?" Toby spoke up. "What is that?"
Everyone looked towards where Toby was pointing, thoroughly terrified of the purple mist rushing towards them from the west.
"Evan..." Jen choked. "Is that normal?"
"Uh..." Evan shivered as they were bathed in the strange substance. "No, I don't think so..."
"GAH!!!"
There was a simultaneous jump when Darien suddenly cried out in pain and doubled over. Of course, Jen was the first to react. "Darien! A-Are you okay?!"
Darien grabbed his chest, his breaths heavy and ragged. Shudders wracked his body. It didn't take long for everyone to put two and two together, but they still didn't understand WHY it was happening.
Nevertheless, Jen's concern for her boyfriend kept her from leaving his side. "Darien... You're gonna be okay. Just listen to me; you'll be okay."
"Jen..."
"Don't panic. Everything's gonna be fine."
"Jen, get away..."
"W-What?"
"I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"
Everyone yelled in panic and gave Darien his space. He collapsed onto his hands and knees in a heap of spasms, his clothes tearing as his muscles expanded and his bones loudly shifted into new positions. His chest bulged and his abdomen receded. His whole body stretched vertically and several disgusting cracks were heard as his spine realigned into a more canine posture. His face contorted, ears stretching into points atop his head, lips and nose becoming a conjoined muzzle. His teeth elongated into sharp fangs and his fingernails lengthened into equally sharp claws. His shoes were ripped off as his feet expanded and his shinbones shortened. Dark brown hair grew out of every pore in his skin. And all the while, his human groans of agony deepened, becoming animalistic snarls.
While this was going on, Patrick turned around and noticed that, likewise, Toby was on the ground with his head in his hands, rocking on his knees as he groaned in discomfort. "Um... T-Toby...? Are you..."
"Darkness..." Toby seethed between raspy pants. "Darkness everywhere. Chaos. Destruction. It's trying to take me, Patrick. I can't... Can't... TAKE IT!"
Evan anxiously looked back and forth between Darien's werewolf transformation and Toby's freakout. How did he not see this coming? Why had he not anticipated disaster? And more importantly... what smelled so darn good?
Darien and Toby simultaneously threw their heads up and screamed horrifically at the sky. Jen stared in fear at the wolf-like beast that was once her boyfriend. Patrick stared in just as much fear as wisps of shadows surrounded Toby and the boy literally burst out of his skin, his inner Præt'nos taking full form.
Luckily, Jen and Darien had heeded Kendall's advice and brought their guns with them, all of which were in Jen's handbag. Panic was etched onto her face as she pulled two of them out, pointing each at her transformed friends. If it was anyone besides Darien and Toby, she wouldn't have been so afraid; pointing a gun at your friend is different than pointing a gun at your enemy.
Darien shook and growled, his mind quickly falling apart as his wolf instinct kicked in. His golden eyes scanned his surroundings; the beast dominating his thoughts didn't recognize any of the people surrounding him. All he knew was that they had weapons. Weapons that could kill him.
And he DIDN'T WANT TO DIE!
With a fierce roar, Darien crouched and lunged at his human opponents.
Toby, meanwhile, was dealing with his own internal struggle. While he may have been forced to physically transform into the green-eyed Præt'nos, his human mind was still fighting for control. Instinct told him to attack, to strike down the pitiful humans and take the Paramount Key. But he couldn't hurt his friends. Could he? No! But they were right there, practically defenseless. NO, they were his friends!
"Guys... Help... me..."
Unable to contain his rage, Toby lunged and aimed to strike. The others dodged just in time so that Darien and Toby collided with one another. Their shared bestial aggression caused both of them to engage in combat. Darien clawed and snapped at Toby. Toby scratched at attacked Darien with shadowy tendrils.
Jen, Patrick and Carter were frozen with fear. They had no idea what was happening or what had triggered these sudden transformations, and they had no idea what to do about this.
Evan, though... he was just... confused. Something about Darien's werewolf form seemed familiar, though not in the way he would've expected. Something deep inside him felt a strange connection to him, but not as a friend. As a... follower.
And the others... Somehow Evan could smell them... feel the heat radiating from their bodies... hear their hearts pumping blood through their veins. The very thought of it was... mouthwatering.
Wait, what the heck?! Was he actually thinking about EATING his best friend and older sister?!
Darien and Toby's battle came to a halt when Darien was thrown into a building. He painfully collected himself, let out a threatening roar and took off running.
"No!" Jen screamed. She started to run after him, but stopped after a few steps. "Darien..."
To her surprise, Evan actually did start running after him in a shockingly desperate manner. "Darien! Darien, WAIT!"
"W- Evan?!"
Patrick turned from the scene and watched Toby start to stir in his suffering again. His face was buried in his hands, breaths heavy and distorted.
"I have to get out of here. I can't hurt them. Gotta get OUTTA HERE!"
Then, without a moment of hesitation, he retreated into the nearest darkened area and vanished into the shadows. "Wait!" Patrick screamed. "Toby!"
Quickly, Jen and Patrick looked at each other in agreement. "You go find Toby!" Jen ordered. "We'll go after Evan and Darien!"
"Got it!"
And then they were off. Patrick began his pursuit of their demon-possessed friend. Jen, with Carter running alongside her, picked up Darien's discarded glasses and chased after her little brother and werewolf boyfriend.
----------
It didn't take long for Evan to lose sight of Darien. By that point, he was starting to feel lightheaded. How or why any of this was happening was suddenly the least of his worries. All that mattered was that he was disoriented and alone with no idea what he was supposed to do.
He weakly leaned against the nearest building, which just so happened to be a public restroom. Gratefully, he pushed the door open and stepped inside, immediately reaching out for the sinks. He turned one on, splashed the cool water on his face, and turned it off again. Then he leaned over the sink and took a moment to breathe.
What was wrong with him? Why were his thoughts so jumbled? All at once, Evan felt lost, confused, desperate, longing... hungry, angry, uncontrolled... And he had no idea what to do about any of them. It was as if any sense of self-commitment had vanished. He was slowly losing the will to listen to his own initiative... losing his own identity.
So he stood there, shaking, begging for some direction.
"You don't look too good."
Evan looked up and faced the source of the voice. The teenage boy he was staring at was giving him a deadpan gaze. For some reason, Evan got the feeling that he should know this person, yet at the same time he felt a deep mistrust of him. His scattered brain never registered the fact that this person was his own reflection.
"Something's missing," the reflection said plainly. His hand seemed to reach out and offer Evan something. "Here, try this."
He took what was given to him and studied it. It was a tube of lipstick. He wasn't sure what he was expected to do with this, but he felt obligated to follow the order given to him. Thus, he popped it open and messily smeared the pink stuff over his mouth.
Once he had done this, his reflection slowly nodded, his deadpan stare never changing. "Now kiss me."
Evan dropped the lipstick tube and mumbled something incoherent. Then he took a step forward, tripped on his own two feet and smacked his face on the mirror, his lips pressing against the dirty glass in a needing, wanting way. The lipstick rubbed off as Evan simultaneously swayed his head and slobbered all over the mirror, letting out a series of strange noises all the while.
A shrill scream tore him away from the mirror and he turned around to find a woman standing by the stalls. Of course. It would've been stupid to assume that he had gone into the men's room.
"You sicko, get outta here!" the woman screamed, picking up the lipstick tube before proceeding to smack Evan repeatedly with her purse.
Evan simply hunched up and held his hands out defensively. That fear and confusion started to return...
Why is she doing this?
This repetitive attack was starting to get on his nerves.
Why won't she stop?!
His fight-or-flight instincts slowly kicked in.
Enemy... she is an enemy... Her attack must be stopped.
Growls of frustration arose from his throat.
Don't want... Can't die... Must LIVE...
He slowly looked up at the woman, his eyes turning from brown to amber, whites turning a glowing yellow.
This thing... doesn't belong...
Seeing this, the woman slowly stopped hitting him, backing away when she realized he meant business.
Doesn't belong... Not one of us... Must destroy... MUST... KILL!!!
Finally, with an ear-shattering screech that could wake the dead, Evan threw himself at the woman, teeth bared and aiming for her neck.
Outside the restroom, one could hear the high-pitched screams of terror and the deep-throated roars of pure rage that followed this attack. Only a few seconds later, these loud, terrifying noises were replaced by the softer yet more disgusting sounds of flesh and muscle being torn and devoured.
When this came to a halt, Evan slammed the door open and stumbled out into the open, hunched over with hands half-clenched like a gorilla. He breathed hard through clenched teeth, blood dripping from his face and arms. His head darted back and forth, glowing yellow eyes searching about for... something. What that something was, he didn't know.
He then ran off into the night on all fours, beginning his quest to find answers, help, and above all else, food.
Must go... must find others... must Kill... must EAT... MUsT tAKe OvER thIS WOrLD!!
One hour before the mist...
"Face it, Evan, we're lost."
"We are not lost!"
"Are you kidding me? We're about as lost as... Lost!"
Evan sighed and rubbed his temples. "Okay, okay, I get it. So I don't know where exactly we're going. Big deal. We're just exploring anyway; it's not like we had a set destination. And if we can't find our way out, we'll just use the key to unlock a path. No biggie."
Carter stared deadpan at the forest surrounding them. "Fair enough. But what the heck is wrong with this place anyway?! First we were in the city and now suddenly it's a rainforest??"
"Well, this island is -from what I can tell, at least- the epicenter of the multiverse. This kind of oddness is to be expected. It doesn't make it any less unsettling, though..."
"Hey, you were the one who decided to stay on this weird-@** island," Carter grumbled. "We could've gone back to Summer Snow when we had the chance; things may be hectic there, but at least they're familiar! But noooooooo..."
"Oh, calm down! Can you blame me for being curious?" Evan looked around with a hopeful smile. "We're in a new world, Carter. There's a vast landscape of new opportunities for us. Who knows what kind of marvels we might run into?"
"I sure don't... and that's what worries me."
Evan waved his dog off and continued walking. Not a minute later, Carter tensed up and turned around upon catching wind of a certain scent. "What the...? Is that...?"
"What? You smell something?"
To any passersby, Carter was barking the kind of bark a dog would let out if someone was outside its owner's house, but to Evan, he was shouting, "Kendall?! Is that you?! Where are you?!"
"Kendall?" Evan followed Carter's gaze. Sure enough, his barking had caught someone's attention, and that someone flew down from between the trees and landed right in front of the duo.
The angel stared at them in disbelief. "Evan? Carter?"
"Kendall?!" Evan smiled, laughed and charged towards the angel with open arms. "Oh my God, it's so good to see you, man!"
With a laugh of his own, Kendall met him halfway and returned the embrace. "Aw, it's great to see you too! What are you guys doing here?!"
Evan's excited laughter died down into an awkward chuckle. "Well, let's just say a little encounter with Sanguine ended up dumping us here, and once I learned what this place was, I decided to stick around for a while. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I come here every so once in a while. You remember Jeff, right?"
"The crazy old wizard who lives in Canton's sewers?"
"Yeah, him." As Kendall patted Carter on the head, he explained, "We've been on good terms for years, so following an accident that wound up sending me here, I decided that I liked it enough to keep coming back. Jeff sends me here, I use the ITS to go home when I'm done."
"Well, it's great to finally run into someone familiar!"
"I bet! Are the others here too?"
"No..."
"Oh, well, they're probably worried about you, Evan. Would you like me to go back to our world and tell them you're alright?"
Evan's smile resurfaced. "You'd do that? That'd be great! Thanks!"
"No problem." Kendall gave Evan a friendly bump on the arm. "I'll be back in a little while. Don't you be getting into trouble."
"I won't make any promises," Evan snickered as Kendall started to fly off. "Hey, see if anyone wants to come with you and check this place out!"
"Can do!" Kendall yelled before disappearing through the trees.
"Great," Carter sighed. "You just HAD to open the door for everyone else to come to this nightmare world."
"They deserve to know what's going on. Besides..." Evan knelt down to meet Carter's eyes with a mischievous grin. "You know what tonight is, right?"
"Yeah, I know what tonight is, and frankly, I've had just about enough of this Halloween bull****."
"Well, sucks to be you, then, 'cause I'm gonna embrace every horrific, spine-chilling, heart-stopping minute of whatever this island throws at us!"
"Someday you're gonna eat those words, kid..."
Even Carter wasn't expecting that quip to come into fruition so soon.
----------
Nearly an hour had passed since their run-in with Kendall, and in that time frame, Evan and Carter had made their way northward to the outer limits of Void City. Evan couldn't help but smile at what he saw. He was filled to the brim with nostalgia as he watched all the little kids in their cute and spooky costumes, running door-to-door with bags full of candy in their hands. He really missed those days; his past few Halloweens in Summer Snow Valley had played out very much like monster movies, and even if he was expecting no less here on Dimensional Island, he did at least hope things would be somewhat different.
His hopes were dashed when an unseen force clawed open a portal right in front of them. Evan and Carter jumped back and quickly got into defensive poses, expecting a Præt'nos to come crawling out at any second. But instead, they were greeted by a group of encouragingly familiar faces...
Among them was Kendall, who had a sort of you-can-thank-me-later smile on his face, a young woman with brown hair and a green top, a young man with glasses and a blond stripe in his dark brown hair, a blond-haired teenager in mismatching clothes, and an awkward green-eyed boy who was closing the portal behind them.
Evan smiled at the newcomers. "Jen! Darien! Toby!"
"EVAN!!" The blond-haired boy ran up to Evan and gave him a tight hug.
"Patrick!" Evan could hardly breathe as his best friend practically strangled him. "It's great to see you guys!"
"Good to see you're still in one piece, bro," Jen replied. "Nice of you to up and vanish on us."
It was a friendly sister-to-brother tease, but once Patrick released his hug and Evan could breathe again, he quickly pleaded his case. "Hey, now, I didn't come here by choice. And I'm only staying because... has Kendall told you?"
"Yeah, he told us that this island connects all dimensions," Darien answered in that thick English accent of his. "It sounded fascinating, so we decided to come and see for ourselves."
"The others stayed at the valley to protect it," Jen continued. "You know, what with it being Halloween and all."
"I figured as much." Evan rubbed his arm. "Well, since it is Halloween, and we're together and surrounded by characters of every shape, size and alliance, what should we do first?"
Before anyone could respond to that, Kendall hunched up and grabbed his head, moaning in shock and discomfort. Everyone reacted in their own silent way; they knew too well this meant that he was receiving a premonition, and an awful, foreboding one at that. The tension lessened slightly when he loosened up and looked around with concern in his deep blue eyes.
"Kendall, you alright, buddy?" Patrick asked. "What's going on?"
"I... I-I don't know," Kendall murmured.
After a moment of silence, Kendall suddenly unfolded his wings and took to the sky. "Sorry, guys! I have to check something out!" he shouted over his shoulder as he headed westward.
The others regarded this with raised eyebrows. "What's wrong with him?" Toby meekly asked.
"I'm not sure..." Evan mumbled. Whatever it was, though, he knew it had to be bad. He had been on the island long enough to know that when disaster struck, there would be severe consequences.
----------
I hope I'm not too late. I hope I'm not too late. Please tell me I'm not too late!
The Ghost Town came into view overhead. Good thing, too, because Kendall was on the verge of losing his mind.
The premonition he had received was... foggy, to say the least. He couldn't quite understand what was being conveyed to him. All he knew was that it was bound to be horrific, it would affect the whole island, and it originated from this general area.
"Don't worry about it, Kenny..." Kendall said to himself, his voice shaky in a poor attempt at optimism. "You've been through tougher scenarios. One little... curse... that affects everyone somehow... can't be that bad!"
To say he was a sweaty, teary-eyed mess would be an understatement.
"There it is..." At last, he found the exact place from his vision. He prepared for a landing, hoping beyond all reason that he could stop this before it started.
Nope.
Just as he reached his destination, a blast of purple mist burst out of the hut. The force of the explosion sent Kendall flying backwards and crashing hard through several of the abandoned buildings.
Everything around him became a jumbled mess as the purple mist's dark energy clouded his aura-sense. All around him, there was nothing but darkness and a retched, disturbing, evil force. At the very least, his own holy aura seemed to protect him from the cloud, but it wasn't enough to make him able to focus through it. The fact that he had hit his head numerous times didn't help either.
Despite his efforts to get up, despite his pleas, despite his desire to fix whatever had been exposed to the island, the overexposure to dark energy and his head trauma became too much for Kendall. Then and there, the Angel of Time passed out.
----------
"I'm really worried, you guys," Jen said as the Summer Snow gang strolled through downtown. "Why wouldn't Kendall tell us what's wrong?"
"Maybe he doesn't know for sure," Evan responded. "Maybe something was blocking his visions. Whatever the case, though, we'll have to keep an eye out. This island is unpredictable."
"Exactly the reason I wanted to go home!" Carter protested.
"But let's not let that put a damper on things!" Patrick cheered. "We're supposed to feel scared at this time of the year! We oughta embrace the spooks to come!"
Don't be so laid back about this, Patrick, one of the voices in Patrick's head warned. I would think that you would be able to understand the severity of the forces at work on All Hallow's Eve.
"Oh, lighten up, Van," Patrick said loud enough for everyone to hear (not that this wasn't a common occurrence). "You know I don't think that deeply."
Clearly... Van murmured.
"G-Guys...?" Toby spoke up. "What is that?"
Everyone looked towards where Toby was pointing, thoroughly terrified of the purple mist rushing towards them from the west.
"Evan..." Jen choked. "Is that normal?"
"Uh..." Evan shivered as they were bathed in the strange substance. "No, I don't think so..."
"GAH!!!"
There was a simultaneous jump when Darien suddenly cried out in pain and doubled over. Of course, Jen was the first to react. "Darien! A-Are you okay?!"
Darien grabbed his chest, his breaths heavy and ragged. Shudders wracked his body. It didn't take long for everyone to put two and two together, but they still didn't understand WHY it was happening.
Nevertheless, Jen's concern for her boyfriend kept her from leaving his side. "Darien... You're gonna be okay. Just listen to me; you'll be okay."
"Jen..."
"Don't panic. Everything's gonna be fine."
"Jen, get away..."
"W-What?"
"I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"
Everyone yelled in panic and gave Darien his space. He collapsed onto his hands and knees in a heap of spasms, his clothes tearing as his muscles expanded and his bones loudly shifted into new positions. His chest bulged and his abdomen receded. His whole body stretched vertically and several disgusting cracks were heard as his spine realigned into a more canine posture. His face contorted, ears stretching into points atop his head, lips and nose becoming a conjoined muzzle. His teeth elongated into sharp fangs and his fingernails lengthened into equally sharp claws. His shoes were ripped off as his feet expanded and his shinbones shortened. Dark brown hair grew out of every pore in his skin. And all the while, his human groans of agony deepened, becoming animalistic snarls.
While this was going on, Patrick turned around and noticed that, likewise, Toby was on the ground with his head in his hands, rocking on his knees as he groaned in discomfort. "Um... T-Toby...? Are you..."
"Darkness..." Toby seethed between raspy pants. "Darkness everywhere. Chaos. Destruction. It's trying to take me, Patrick. I can't... Can't... TAKE IT!"
Evan anxiously looked back and forth between Darien's werewolf transformation and Toby's freakout. How did he not see this coming? Why had he not anticipated disaster? And more importantly... what smelled so darn good?
Darien and Toby simultaneously threw their heads up and screamed horrifically at the sky. Jen stared in fear at the wolf-like beast that was once her boyfriend. Patrick stared in just as much fear as wisps of shadows surrounded Toby and the boy literally burst out of his skin, his inner Præt'nos taking full form.
Luckily, Jen and Darien had heeded Kendall's advice and brought their guns with them, all of which were in Jen's handbag. Panic was etched onto her face as she pulled two of them out, pointing each at her transformed friends. If it was anyone besides Darien and Toby, she wouldn't have been so afraid; pointing a gun at your friend is different than pointing a gun at your enemy.
Darien shook and growled, his mind quickly falling apart as his wolf instinct kicked in. His golden eyes scanned his surroundings; the beast dominating his thoughts didn't recognize any of the people surrounding him. All he knew was that they had weapons. Weapons that could kill him.
And he DIDN'T WANT TO DIE!
With a fierce roar, Darien crouched and lunged at his human opponents.
Toby, meanwhile, was dealing with his own internal struggle. While he may have been forced to physically transform into the green-eyed Præt'nos, his human mind was still fighting for control. Instinct told him to attack, to strike down the pitiful humans and take the Paramount Key. But he couldn't hurt his friends. Could he? No! But they were right there, practically defenseless. NO, they were his friends!
"Guys... Help... me..."
Unable to contain his rage, Toby lunged and aimed to strike. The others dodged just in time so that Darien and Toby collided with one another. Their shared bestial aggression caused both of them to engage in combat. Darien clawed and snapped at Toby. Toby scratched at attacked Darien with shadowy tendrils.
Jen, Patrick and Carter were frozen with fear. They had no idea what was happening or what had triggered these sudden transformations, and they had no idea what to do about this.
Evan, though... he was just... confused. Something about Darien's werewolf form seemed familiar, though not in the way he would've expected. Something deep inside him felt a strange connection to him, but not as a friend. As a... follower.
And the others... Somehow Evan could smell them... feel the heat radiating from their bodies... hear their hearts pumping blood through their veins. The very thought of it was... mouthwatering.
Wait, what the heck?! Was he actually thinking about EATING his best friend and older sister?!
Darien and Toby's battle came to a halt when Darien was thrown into a building. He painfully collected himself, let out a threatening roar and took off running.
"No!" Jen screamed. She started to run after him, but stopped after a few steps. "Darien..."
To her surprise, Evan actually did start running after him in a shockingly desperate manner. "Darien! Darien, WAIT!"
"W- Evan?!"
Patrick turned from the scene and watched Toby start to stir in his suffering again. His face was buried in his hands, breaths heavy and distorted.
"I have to get out of here. I can't hurt them. Gotta get OUTTA HERE!"
Then, without a moment of hesitation, he retreated into the nearest darkened area and vanished into the shadows. "Wait!" Patrick screamed. "Toby!"
Quickly, Jen and Patrick looked at each other in agreement. "You go find Toby!" Jen ordered. "We'll go after Evan and Darien!"
"Got it!"
And then they were off. Patrick began his pursuit of their demon-possessed friend. Jen, with Carter running alongside her, picked up Darien's discarded glasses and chased after her little brother and werewolf boyfriend.
----------
It didn't take long for Evan to lose sight of Darien. By that point, he was starting to feel lightheaded. How or why any of this was happening was suddenly the least of his worries. All that mattered was that he was disoriented and alone with no idea what he was supposed to do.
He weakly leaned against the nearest building, which just so happened to be a public restroom. Gratefully, he pushed the door open and stepped inside, immediately reaching out for the sinks. He turned one on, splashed the cool water on his face, and turned it off again. Then he leaned over the sink and took a moment to breathe.
What was wrong with him? Why were his thoughts so jumbled? All at once, Evan felt lost, confused, desperate, longing... hungry, angry, uncontrolled... And he had no idea what to do about any of them. It was as if any sense of self-commitment had vanished. He was slowly losing the will to listen to his own initiative... losing his own identity.
So he stood there, shaking, begging for some direction.
"You don't look too good."
Evan looked up and faced the source of the voice. The teenage boy he was staring at was giving him a deadpan gaze. For some reason, Evan got the feeling that he should know this person, yet at the same time he felt a deep mistrust of him. His scattered brain never registered the fact that this person was his own reflection.
"Something's missing," the reflection said plainly. His hand seemed to reach out and offer Evan something. "Here, try this."
He took what was given to him and studied it. It was a tube of lipstick. He wasn't sure what he was expected to do with this, but he felt obligated to follow the order given to him. Thus, he popped it open and messily smeared the pink stuff over his mouth.
Once he had done this, his reflection slowly nodded, his deadpan stare never changing. "Now kiss me."
Evan dropped the lipstick tube and mumbled something incoherent. Then he took a step forward, tripped on his own two feet and smacked his face on the mirror, his lips pressing against the dirty glass in a needing, wanting way. The lipstick rubbed off as Evan simultaneously swayed his head and slobbered all over the mirror, letting out a series of strange noises all the while.
A shrill scream tore him away from the mirror and he turned around to find a woman standing by the stalls. Of course. It would've been stupid to assume that he had gone into the men's room.
"You sicko, get outta here!" the woman screamed, picking up the lipstick tube before proceeding to smack Evan repeatedly with her purse.
Evan simply hunched up and held his hands out defensively. That fear and confusion started to return...
Why is she doing this?
This repetitive attack was starting to get on his nerves.
Why won't she stop?!
His fight-or-flight instincts slowly kicked in.
Enemy... she is an enemy... Her attack must be stopped.
Growls of frustration arose from his throat.
Don't want... Can't die... Must LIVE...
He slowly looked up at the woman, his eyes turning from brown to amber, whites turning a glowing yellow.
This thing... doesn't belong...
Seeing this, the woman slowly stopped hitting him, backing away when she realized he meant business.
Doesn't belong... Not one of us... Must destroy... MUST... KILL!!!
Finally, with an ear-shattering screech that could wake the dead, Evan threw himself at the woman, teeth bared and aiming for her neck.
Outside the restroom, one could hear the high-pitched screams of terror and the deep-throated roars of pure rage that followed this attack. Only a few seconds later, these loud, terrifying noises were replaced by the softer yet more disgusting sounds of flesh and muscle being torn and devoured.
When this came to a halt, Evan slammed the door open and stumbled out into the open, hunched over with hands half-clenched like a gorilla. He breathed hard through clenched teeth, blood dripping from his face and arms. His head darted back and forth, glowing yellow eyes searching about for... something. What that something was, he didn't know.
He then ran off into the night on all fours, beginning his quest to find answers, help, and above all else, food.
Must go... must find others... must Kill... must EAT... MUsT tAKe OvER thIS WOrLD!!
