[ Softly did the Shadows Bloom ]

[The Midnight Channel]

Someone had knocked on the shower door, telling Terran to shut up. Terran presumed it was the guy, Roand, his new roommate. Terran turned of the shower and wrapped his towel around him. As he went into his room no one was in there. He shruged his shoulders and got dressed. He looked at himself in the mirror. "These clothes clash with my hair..." Terran sighed, and opened up his laptop.

Then it happened. The desktop with him and Liz from last years Christmas party (Don't ask... you don't want to know) did not appear. Instead, the computers coding showed up. And in the center of the infinite"1"s and "0"s was a message.

We have outsmarted your brightest...

We have created a source...

The dense silence has become our weapon...

And the ever-growing fear has become our shield...

Softly did the shadows bloom as they whispered our name in fear...

With the power of the Eclipse, we shall awaken It...

With the power of the Abyss, we shall reach our destiny...

This is the only warning you'll ever get...


As soon as Terran finished reading it, the screen went blank. And slowly, a new message was typed.

Terran Stromrider, you and your friend Elizabeth... are next.

Thats when Terran heard something outside. He went to the door and saw three things. A man, surrounded by others, who was in pain. Someone jumping out a nearby window. And finally, the very same message, in red, written on the wall. And beneath the message, were the flowers Terran had gotten Elizabeth. The only difference, was the white rose, was now black.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

Tavish had gotten help and it had turned into a huge scene. He was almost frantic himself and after seeing a man who had been quite literally "sliced and diced" he was having a hard time staying calm. On top of all that the peoples emotions around him seemed be become more and more unstable and he wasn't sure how long he could hold them off before he was affected.......he noticed a guy he was sure he saw earlier by the name of Terran.

He walked over to him to ask why he looked so shocked, but that's when his phone rang.............he answered it. " Hello??" There was static and crackling. He turned the volume all the way up and put it on speaker. A high pitched voice said.
"We have outsmarted your brightest...

We have created a source...

The dense silence has become our weapon...

And the ever-growing fear has become our shield...

Softly did the shadows bloom as they whispered our name in fear...

With the power of the Eclipse, we shall awaken It...

With the power of the Abyss, we shall reach our destiny...

This is the only warning you'll ever get................"

There was more static and a deeper voice said. " Tavish we know who and what you are.........you can not escape, nor can you interfere. We have you in out grasp........." There was hysterical laughter and the phone hung up. Tavish dropped the phone..........

 

[Soleil]

Lazerith smiles evily and vanishes with so much speed, that the only thing giving away the fact that he was there, is a faint image of himself. He reappears behind the leader only his blade is once more covered in blood. He sheaths the sword and smiles as the man explodes when a click is heard.

In a flash of black light, he stands as he once was in his human form. He turns to Princess Jayde and extends a hand to her. To his surprise, she backs away in fear on account that she saw him in his frightening form. He sighs and kneels to her eye level.

"I won't hurt you, Princess. I came to rescue you and I am sorry that you had to see me like that."

OOC: Ehhh? Wow. Didn't see that coming. Anyway... I won't be available for the next eight hours due to an extremely long car trip.

 

[HeartofTwilight]

Being herself, Naya had skipped lunch to get caught up with the classics teacher who she needed to work out a high level course with. She cursed as she realized it was after three. She raced to her dorm. As she was running she heard screams in the hallway. She paused and took a deep breath. ‘Just take your medicine, everything is fine’ she continued, a little slower than before. Something was not right. She could tell. (then again she is pretty far from mentally stable right now.) “Nothing is wrong, just go, take your medicine, take a nap, and everything will be better.” She told herself out loud. She got to the dorm hall. She could feel her chest contacted, it was getting harder for her to breath.

She broke into a jog towards her dorm. Quickly she unlocked the 2 locks and the thumbprint pad. She swung the door open and slammed it shut. Diving for the box under her bed, she pulled out the envelope with today’s pills and took swallowed them dry, only after looking for water. She went into the bathroom and drank some from her hands. “Ok, now a short nap” she told herself, even though she highly doubted it, seeing as she rarely sleeps, let alone in the state of mind. She walked over to her bed and let out a scream. There was a note, folded neatly on her pillow. It was not there when she left. Naya slowly opened the paper. ‘There is no way anyone got in here. I would be able to tell.’

The sheet contained a long complex web address. The handwriting was her own. Naya fell down. She heard a crash behind her. Spinning around she saw a picture that had been on her wall when she got there lying on the floor 4 feet from the wall. “Damn! Not again. This is not the time!” She grabbed the paper and her messenger bag and ran out of her room locking everything again. She ran down the halls not even watching where she was going. She finally collapsed near the boy’s dorms. A light bulb overhead shattered and the glass fell on top of her, cutting her a few times. “No more!” She yelled, backing up against the wall the paper scrunched in her hand.

OOC: Wow I had a lot to write

 

[stickxkeyblade]

Liz saw Bryan run off. She stopped walking and sighed. Maybe that hadn't been a very good way to go about an introduction. Oh well, they were likely to run into each other again and she could make any sort of amend that was needed.

Her planner buzzed. She pulled it out and saw that someone was calling her. It was a private number. She stuffed it back in her bag. If they really wanted to get a hold of her, they'd leave a message. She stretched, wondering how long it would be until she had to meet Terran... A couple hours? She should probably start getting ready or something. She didn't have any more classes or anything, and she was excited. She wondered where he would take her this time--

As she started walking, her planner buzzed again. She looked at it and, again, the same unknown private number. Whoever it was, they must have tried calling again. She tried to think of someone who would have a private number... Maybe someone back home? A lot of them had numbers like that...

She flipped open the speaker and hit "talk" just out of curiosity.

"Hello?"

There was a strange pause. She half expected to hear someone start breathing into the phone like in one of those cheesy horror movies. She was about to hang up when suddenly a strange male voice spoke:

"We have outsmarted your brightest... We have created a source..."

"...what?"

"The dense silence has become our weapon... And the ever-growing fear has become our shield... Softly did the shadows bloom as they whispered our name in fear... With the power of the Eclipse, we shall awaken It..."

"What the hell? Who is this--"

"With the power of the Abyss, we shall reach our destiny..."

"Look, I don't know who you're trying to prank, but it's not going to work."

There was another strange pause, then:

"This is the only warning you'll ever get."

The person on the other line hung up. Liz was left standing in the hallway, confused and slightly annoyed. That had clearly been some sort of prank meant to scare her. But... Something about that last line started to creep her out a little. She looked around and realized that she was the only person in the hallway, and decided it would be best to get back to the dorm rooms. Quickly. She started to walk there, and dialed the operator for her phone. The lady on the other end picked up.

"Hello, someone just called my phone but their number was private," Liz said into the speaker-piece, "Could you please trace it and get me a last name or something?" The lady on the other end started to speak, but was suddenly cut off. There was another pause. Liz could already guess, to her dismay, what would happen next.

"Now now, Miss Elizabeth. That's not one of your pieces. Do you like chess? How about we play a little game." the cold voice spoke with just a hint of amusement, "But this time, I get to be the player, and you get to be one of my pawns..."

There was a yell from the dorms. Liz took off at a run, strange laugh could be heard from the phone until she hung up and stuffed it back in her pocket. Soon she burst through the door to the study room, panting and quite out of breath. As soon as she surveyed the scene within, however, her hands flew to her mouth in horror. Bryan was a bloody mess on the floor. Several of the university's doctors and the like had surrounded him and were working on moving him out of the room. She rushed forward, asking if they needed help and if he was alright (a stupid question, in retrospect, as he looked like he'd been attacked by a pointy meat-grinder--of course he wasn't alright) but they assured her they had everything under control. She found Terran and that guy, Tavish, across the room. She was about to run over to them, but her foot brushed against something. She leaned down to pick it up--it was a bouquet. It was full of lovely white lilies, but the rose on the inside was black. She held the bouquet in her arms for a moment, almost as if it were a newborn baby. Her eyes didn't seem to focus on anything as she processed the information.

"...there's no such thing as black roses..." she muttered quietly, "...they're really dark purple. Phone calls, phone calls... Private number..." she licked her lips and looked up and noticed the message on the wall, colored in dark red. "Blood... Can't be old otherwise it'd be brown..." her eyes flitted around the room now. She felt a bit like throwing up, "Have to find somewhere where you could get purple roses... Eclipse... Eclipse, when's the next eclipse...?"

She walked on over to Terran, slowly. She tugged on his sleeve.

"Terran, what happened?" she said distractedly. She looked over at Bryan, unconscious, being carried away on a compactable medical bed. They passed right by her. They'd tried to cover up the wounds as best as they could, and some staff were already trying to clean up the grizzly message on the wall. But those wounds... The wound on his shoulder. Who could have done this...? Was it a student? That's the likely story... But who could he have pissed off enough to have done this? And it was happening to all of them, not just him. What was going...

...not a student.

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts and keep from throwing up. Her knees were feeling a bit weak, and her mind was going on overdrive. She connected some dots and came to a conclusion.

"I need... I need an anatomical chart. Excuse me."

Still holding the bouquet, she started to head up the stairs to her room.

 

[Trunks]

School was already over, and so he headed to his car to go back to his dorm. "What a day...., and man i'm hungry.." said Anthony as he opened the door to the car. He then turned on his car, and drove out of the parking lot to the dorm building. Even thou the dorm building was close to the school, he would wake up with only a few minutes to make it to school, so he used his car to get on time even faster. He entered the dorm parking lot, and parked his car. He then entered the building, and heard a scream. "I wonder what was that". He then headed to the direction of the screams.

He was surprised at what he saw, he saw a student from school that went by the name of Bryan that looked like he had been cut pretty badly. He saw that he was being carried away in a compactable medical bed. He saw his friend Tavish, and told him what had happened. He then looked at the ground, and saw the blood of Bryan all over the floor, "I wonder who could of done this"...

 

[Hazen Gregory]

" This just friggin great. I heard that things at this school were crazy, but this is just insane. I don't have time for........" He looked over to Terran and sensed a massive emotional buildup. This was not the time. Tavish was too weak to fend against that.

He had a very good memory and suddenly thought about the pattern of the slashes on Bryan's body.......they were in the mark of the.....

"I need... I need an anatomical chart. Excuse me."

Tavish rushed up the stairs after Liz, as it seemed that she might be thinking about what he was. He didn't want to startle anymore than she appeared ti be already, so simply called out "WAIT!!!!" as he was about 10 stairs behind her.

 

[The Midnight Channel]

Terran stood there, unmoved. He was in shock. Liz and Tavish had come up to talk to him but Terran was afixiated. He stood there staring at the blood. And he wondered "What kind of monster would do this... What human could do this to a person." Terran felt frustration and anger build up. He had to realese it. And he did so. By punching through the thin, plastor dorm walls. Terran remembered two things. The black rose bouquet that Luiz had taken (He would need to find her later about that) and the window. An odd looking man had jumped out the window. A window three storys off the ground.

Terran walked over to the window and looked at it. Glass shards clung barely to its frame. And outside on the ground... was nothing. Just shatered glass. "There should be a body..." Terran sighed, but then quickly noticed one quick thing. A small piece of fabric, clinging to a small glass shard. Terran gently picked it up and walked back to his room with it. He opened up his drawer, pulling out a ziploc bag, just like the CSI's did. He then heard an odd noise.

It had come from his computer. F minor. Thats what it was. He had learned about it from one of his old TV shows that he watched. He looked at his screen, and F minor was sounded again. And the screen rippled. Litterally. Three dots appeared, and a caklce came over the speakers. But not from the computer, the schools speakers. "Prepare yourselves. The shadows are now in full bloom."

Terran wondered what it ment, and he got up to look out his window to see if there was a body, yet he already knew there wouldn't be one. He looked at his windowsill garden angered, and the plants quickly wilted. Terran sighed, feeling stupid. "Great. More plants destroyed." But then, the all... changed. Changed into... more black roses.

And thats when Terran knew, he had to go find Liz.

 

[HeartofTwilight]

Naya watched as things around her continued to fall apart. Another bulb had already shattered. A table in the corner tilted and all that was on top of it fell to the ground. She grabbed the things she had with her and she ran again through the halls. ‘Focus Naya. Focus it” She chanted to herself. ‘Focus…Focus’. She could not tell where her fear and panic was taking her. Suddenly she ran into the crowd in the hallway. She stopped short. She could she Bryan’s body, blood on the ground. She tried to push her way inward, but the crowd of students and adults was too thick. She had seen people beaten up before, this was different, almost systematic. She cursed herself for instinctually looking for a pattern, but there certainly was one.

Suddenly a wave of curiosity rushed over her, masking the panic for a while. The picture in the corner stopped shaking as well. She pulled out her laptop and rapidly typed in the website. It was completely blank black. As she was about to retype the site text appeared, “typed” on the screen the way old computers used to start. you are not alone_ Naya tried to take a screenshot of the page to show it if need be. do not do that_ Naya pushed the computer away. come back when you are alone_ Naya shut the computer and ran to an empty classroom.

She opened the computer, the webpage was gone. She typed the site in again, surprised that her browser didn’t try to fill it in. Heart racing she pressed enter and the black screen appeared again. we knew you would return_ Naya breathed heavily she slowly moved her mouse over to the “view source” button. go ahead_ She clicked the button. Instead of the code she had expected it read

We have outsmarted your brightest_

We have created a source_

The dense silence has become our weapon_

And the ever-growing fear has become our shield_

Softly did the shadows bloom as they whispered our name in fear_

With the power of the Eclipse, we shall awaken It_

With the power of the Abyss, we shall reach our destiny_

This is the only warning you'll ever get_

Naya muffled a scream with one hand and grabbed a paper and pen from her bag. Somehow she didn’t expect the message to be there long. She read it over and over in her mind, scribbling down words. Outsmarted, source, silence weapon, fear shield, our, Eclipse, awaken it By now the text had vanished and the page was black. Abyss she added to the list and put the computer away. And stepped out to where the crowd still gathered.

 

[Ashes Remnant]

Bryan faded in and out of consciousness. He saw flashes of things happening around him. He saw doctors around him, talking. He faded back out, and then felt being lifted up. He opened his eyes again, and saw a brief image of an ambulance. He fell into darkness again.

This time, he was aware of it though. It was as if he was standing in darkness. He looked down, and felt his body. He felt normal...looked normal.. But he was in unconsciousness. "This unconsciousness is... unreal... Where am I?"

As soon as he spoke the words, the beings that attacked him appeared, and began to circle him. They began speaking, almost sounding random, yet in tune. "We have outsmarted your brightest...

We have created a source...

The dense silence has become our weapon...

And the ever-growing fear has become our shield...

Softly did the shadows bloom as they whispered our name in fear...

With the power of the Eclipse, we shall awaken It...

With the power of the Abyss, we shall reach our destiny...

This is the only warning you'll ever get"

They repeated, over, and over. Bryan fell to the ground, and covered his ears, trying to block them out, but it didn't change anything. He screamed, but they sounded the same.

 

[Trunks]

Soon after Tavish rushed up stairs after liz, Anthony was about to run after them but then thought to himself "I want to help but..I shouldnt just get into other peoples business, maybe i should just go home". And Anthony did just that, and headed to his room. He was in an empty hall, as he headed to his room, and suddenly he saw a figure with a red mask with a weapon that had blood on it. "Could that be the one that attacked Bryan?" said Anthony hesitating. The masked figure soon saw him and tried to run away.

"arrgh his running away, i need to stop him" said Anthony as he ran after him. He soon was able to catch up but he was still ahead of him. He then extended his arm to reach for him but was able to get his mask, then the person swung his weapon back and Anthony tried to dodge it but was cut, but it was no serious wound. As he got distracted from his wound, the mysterious person had successfully run away. Anthony was able to get his mask but was unable to see his face. "What in the hell is going on..?",, asked Anthony to himself...

 

[Soleil]

OOC: I'm free form the eight hour car trip of doooooom!

It was already nightfall. As she walked through the courtyard, Jayde couldn't get the disturbing message out of her head. It was haunting her like a ghost. Judging by the maessage itself, whoever sent it apparently was being serious. But still, it was rather puzzling. What did it all mean?

Jayde heard a noise behind her. She turned around and saw the most frightening image she had ever seen. So frightening that words couldn't describe. She backed away and fell on her knees trembling.

"I won't hurt you, Princess. I came to rescue you and I am sorry that you had to see me like that."

"Pr-princess? Who are you? And why do you call me princess?" asked Jayde

 

[HeartofTwilight]

OOC: First of all, I think the cause of all this is more supernatural than some group of people, like the attackers are solid forms of shadows or something. Sticky can clarify anything she wants, But trunks, if there were a masked figure in the crows, which was in a hallway in a school, it would have been seen way before.

Also, my last post got cut short for some strange reason PLEASE GO BACK AND READ THE EDITTED VERSION

 

[Trunks]

OOC: First of all, I think the cause of all this is more supernatural than some group of people, like the attackers are solid forms of shadows or something. Sticky can clarify anything she wants, But trunks, if there were a masked figure in the crows, which was in a hallway in a school, it would have been seen way before.

Also, my last post got cut short for some strange reason PLEASE GO BACK AND READ THE EDITTED VERSION

First of all who said they were a group of people?, the supernatural thing could possibly take form to a figure of a human, and the masked figure wasnt in the crowd it had run away right after he attacked Bryan, it was in a hall where nobody was at, and nobody had seen the one that attacked Bryan.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

He was almost to his room, when out of nowhere, an arm came in front of him. He fell back, and people in strange outfits gathered round about him. They had strange...weapons? What were those? Suddenly, blood rushed into his mouth, and he spat it out on the floor. He quickly looked around, and realized noone else was near.
OOC- Oh noes!!! Bryan got hurt by the wierdos!

Geez............you are both right and wrong.

 

[HeartofTwilight]

First of all who said they were a group of people?, the supernatural thing could possibly take form to a figure of a human, and the masked figure wasnt in the crowd it had run away right after he attacked Bryan, it was in a hall where nobody was at, and nobody had seen the one that attacked Bryan.

Sorry yea you are right, sorry to jump to conclusions. But Bryan saw a group of figures as it says in the post, just letting yu know. If you have a plan that works, run with it. This is just going realy fast and no one is at the same place or time.

We all need to regroup and get on the same page as to where everyone is. If anyone cares, Naya is right at the scene of here Bryan was attacked on the side closer to the dorms. It doesn't matter the time of day for me, but i was thinking before dinner, like 5 ish.

It may help if people state that stuff about their charecter before they post until we come together. Just an idea

 

[stickxkeyblade]

Tavish, another boy from her class earlier that day, followed her up the stairs. She waited at her room for him, trying to keep her thoughts altogether. A couple deep breaths here and there. Deep down she knew this was no time to panic, and she was honestly trying her best to calm down. There were many, many factors of the equation that she was trying to solve and put together all at once.

She sighed nervously, 'Just relax... You have time, and not even Sherlock Holmes ever solved anything without help...' she thought to herself.

She opened the door, letting the way in for both of them. It seemed like one of those situations where they didn't need to talk about much--just what was on hand. She dropped the bouquet on the floor near her door and crossed the room without so much as a second glance backwards. She went straight to her desk, opening the third drawer down on the left side and rifling through its contents. Soon her hand emerged, carrying with it a folded up piece of paper, which unfolded into a rather large diagram of most of the workings of the human body.

She laid it out on the floor and looked up at Tavish, "This should work." she swiped her thumb across one of the colored bars printed at the bottom. A twist of pixels and the diagram now showed the muscular system. Liz bit her lower lip and calculated for a little bit. Then she spoke.

"...that doesn't make sense. I can't think of any human that might have the upper arm strength enough to effectively make that kind of wound. You'd have to weight at least..." she looked up towards the ceiling, "four-hundred pounds to have enough backforce for that sort of thing. And there's no way they would have escaped so fast if they did..."

She put her hand to her forehead.

"Nevermind then. I thought I might have had something. What do you think?" she looked up at him and happened to glance at the flowers. With all the other thoughts in her mind at the time, it took a bit for her to realize just what she was seeing. The white lilies were shriveling up and turning purple.

No. She could tell. These weren’t natural roses. They were actually black.

A voice came on over the loudspeaker. It was the same voice that called her phone earlier. "Prepare yourselves. The shadows are now in full bloom."

"...Prepare ourselves...?" she wondered aloud. What little white was left in the bouquet quickly vanished. "...I think we should get out of here." Who could do something like that, turning plants black and switching their species entirely? The only person with any sort of plant manipulation abilities was…

She dashed up to the door, “We have to go find Terran. Bring the chart with us if you want.”

 

[HeartofTwilight]

"Prepare yourselves. The shadows are now in full bloom."

Naya looked around in shock, but it seemed the people around her had heard nothing. She approached one of them and asked. "What are you talking about? You must be hearing things." The other student responded. Maybe she was going crazy. Maybe she should take a rest. started walking back to the girls dorm. Suddenly she felt as if something was behind her. She began to walked fasted. 'Breath...' she told herself over and over.

As she turned on of the corners, she felt something push her. She fellforward , the paper that she had been clutching in her hand flew forward. She turned back, scanning the hall for who had pushed her, but she saw no one. Turning back around to gather her things she noticed the paper was gone. Slowly she replaced the pens and a pencil that had fallen out of her bag, as well as her lighter. She stood up and looked around again.

Naya had chosen her room because there was an escape route. She had a system in place, a way that getting stuck would be hard. Her room was the safest place she could think of, the closest anyway. She went from a fast walk to a jog than to an all out run. Whatever it was, it hadn't gone away. She spun around the corner and say the row of dorms. She skidded to her own room. She undid the thumb lock and the code lock. She stuck her hand in her bag, but her keys were gone. She suddenly remembered they to fell out in the hall.

She debated running back to get them. 'What other choice do I...' Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly she felt as if the world tilted to the side. She fell over, slamming into one other the other doors. She could here voices. At first she thought she had gone even more insane, and then sherealized the voice was coming from just inside the door. "Help!" She screamed at the door. "The...The shadows..." She collapse, breathing heavily.

 

[Mistearea]

Roand smiles as he saves the document and closes the program he was using to type it. He was about to shut down when he notices a new E-mail notice. He opens the message and reads it. He blinks at the bizzare message and sighs. Obviously someone was playing a joke. He then noticed the name of the sender and blinks. "Lazerith Cresent."

"How the hell did they get that name!? I haven't told anyone about it!"

He then notices a post script and blinks as it reads, "I will save Princess Jayde." He suddently gets worried and closes it. He ignores the bottle with the brown spit and accidently knocks it over onto the floor. Luckily it wasn't full enough to spill. He tries to think of where Jayde might be at this hour and gets an idea so he heads to the courtyard.

When he arrives, he sees Lazerith just as Roand had pictured him. Roand then sees Jayde and is suddenly hit by a memory that he had dreamed this all before. He didn't know wheather or not he survived, but he knew that he would grab Jayde and run with her. He doesn't like to hesitate at all so he casts the thought out and runs to her. He grabs her by the wrist and pulls.

"I suggest we run from him. That's Lazerith's demon form and he is one bad-ass!"

OOC: For those that don't know, dip is a smokeless tobacco that comes in a can and the user puts it in his mouth and spits until the flavor runs out. Now please hold your ewws for now.

 

[The Midnight Channel]

Terran was running down the hallways. A few yelled at him as he accidently hit them, but Terran kept going. He had to get to Liz. He didn't know why, he only knew he had to find her.

The words "The shadows are now in full bloom..." resonated. Something sounded odd. How could a shadow bloom? Shadows move as their master moves and how the light hits them. Or maybe the meaning was deeper. Maybe shadows actually bloomed... Maybe they... were growing into something. Blooming to reveal... Whts inside. But what would that be?

Terran finally reached the hallway were Liz's room was. Terran saw her at the doorway, mentioning how her and someone else needed to find Terran. Terran tapped her on the shoulder and whispered, "No need to look for me. I'm right..." He saw the boquet. All the flowers were black now. Black Roses.

"This is... impossible." They weren't deep purple. They were the most devoid black he had ever seen. "This is impossible for any flower... Not even I could do this." Terran looked at the flower, trying to get the life sense he got from most flowers... There was none.

Terran turned to Liz. He pulled out the ziploc with the cloth and handed it to her. "Do you know what kind of material this is? I believe its from one of... those people's clothing."