NeutralNexus — Roleplayer Guild

"Should we call the cops?"

Six college students were now the first on the scene of a crater amidst a forest in the reaches of Old Town, Maine.  Currently studying for their finals at the University of Maine in Old Town, these six young adults had found themselves a nice, empty forest to ease their stress with each other’s company, mixed with a fair bit of alcohol and a hefty slice of hormones judging by some only wearing pieces of their original attire from their arrival in the forest.  However, most had sobered up fairly quick when the spatial object now embedded in the Earth before them made its powerful impact with the ground.  

“What?  Are the cops going to arrest the space rock for property damage?”  One of the boys said, slapping another upside the head lightly. “Get real, Mike.”

The man called Mike, a skinny brown-haired sophomore, rubbed his head with a groan as the other group chuckled at his comment. “Well, I dunno...maybe they’re the ones to deal with asteroids or some shit...you think they got some code for this, Deryl?”

“I think you’re talkin’ crazy, Mike.”  The man named Deryl responded, scratching his curly black hair had he looked over the scene. “Half of us here are carrying, dude.  Why would the cops help out here?  It’s just an asteroid.”

“Okay, okay, let’s stop picking on Mike.” One of the young women said, placing a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “He just panicked because he’s from Belfast, and nothing scary happens out there, does it, Mike?”

“You know what?  Screw you, Sarah.”  Mike huffed, shrugging the young lady’s hand off of his shoulder. “I don’t see any of you coming up with any suggestions.”

“Suggestion?  This is a blessing!”  Another young woman piped up, practically bubbling at the edge of the crater causing her black, dreadlocked hair to bounce. “Do you know how rare it is to witness such an event?  Let alone have evidence?  We should bring this into class tomorrow, it’ll go great for my Astronomy presentation!”

“Seriously Kamille?  We’re in the middle of the woods and you’re worried about your grades still?”  Deryl responded, “You’re already passing with straight A’s, do you really need to be so ‘above and beyond’?”

“Are you kidding?  Astronomy is my life!”  Kamille responded. “With Lost Haven showing us an entire world outside our knowledge, think about what kind of anomalies exist outside this planet!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”  Deryl said. “What do you think, Jesse?”

“Pft, I came out here to get fucked up and fuck bitches.”  Jesse responded, still holding a large joint as he leaned against a tree, seeming to have no interest in the crater. “You guys want a hit?”

“God dammit, Jesse, you’re such an ass,”  Sarah groaned, glancing back at the popped collar prince. “I can’t believe we used to date.”

“Pft, like coming over at midnight wanting to “Watch a Movie” wasn’t really dating.” Jesse snapped back, offering his best sneer towards the young brunette.

Sarah offered a glare back for a moment before turning her attention to the object at the very center of the impact.  She could not get the best view of it from the limited lighting they had available, a few flashlights and cell phones barely illuminating the black spherical shape at the bottom. “Still...do you think it’s still hot?”

“Of course it is, it just fell through the atmosphere!”  Kamille jumped in, gesturing to Sarah to stay back. “We’re lucky as much of it came down as it did, things tend to burn up before they ever make it to Earth.”

“Oh, right.”  Sarah chuckled. “No problem, I wasn’t gonna touch it anyway.”

However, the last member of the group, a very drunk woman by the name of Tammy, had already hopped down the slope and stumbled her way towards the obsidian object. “Whoaaaa...it’s like...rocky an’stuff. “She slurred, losing one of her heels in the dense sand.

“Tammy, don’t!”  Kamille objected, jutting a hand out to try and stop her. “You’ll burn your hand off!”

But the young woman was either not listening or did not care, as she collapsed and scooted right up to the rock, her hemp shirt drifting off one of her shoulders as she reached up to touch the object.  Even in her inebriated state, she could see the object was pure, solid black in color.  Despite Kamille’s protests, the young Tammy reached up and placed a hand onto the structure, and almost instantly her entire body shuddered, causing her to giggle in sudden delight. 

“Whoaahah!”  She hiccuped, jumping a little. “Izlike...cold an’ stuff...are you sure yer a Astronomy major, Kammy?”

“Wh-what?”  Kamille said, now letting her curiosity get the best of her as she too scooted down the crater. “That’s impossible, the re-entry would cause it to be--” She cut herself off once the cool touch of her hand against the material caused her to shiver as well. “W-well I’ll be damned…”

“What?  What is it?”  Mike said, hanging over the crater’s edge. “Is it a rock?”

“I...I don’t know…”  Kamille said, now looking over it with her flashlight.  The object was smooth, no marring or burning whatsoever, despite the black smoke drifting off of the mass.  She could not see through it or identify the material, only that for the moment, the mass was solid. “It’s like nothing I have ever seen before…”

“Duh, don’t you get it, bish?”  Tammy slurred, trying to grab hold of Kamille’s blouse, causing her to jolt back away from the drunkard. “Itz a gift...from...from Mother Gaia….”

“Oh god, not this paganism bullshit again.”

“Em seriouz, Mark!”

“It’s Mike”

“Whatever, pig.”  She waved a hand at the man before turning back to the rounded obilesk. “The Earf Mother gave us a gift...a majickal healing stonne....”  She knelt before the object, swaying lightly as if in a mock trance. “We can...heal ours soulz....become one with the sky…”

“Oh my god, please stop.”

“Sarah, back me up, ho!”  Tammy turned and shouted “You dug this shit last night!”

“Because I was higher than a kite, Tammy.”

“Whatevs, you know this is--”

“Uh, guys?”  Daryl interjected, his face suddenly losing its color as his jaw began to quiver.  “I-I-I think...I think it just moved….”

“What?”  Kamille said, looking back at the object. “Now that’s just absurd, it didn’t--”

Her voice trailed off as the ground began to shuffle and rumble beneath the object, the mass beginning to twist and turn, losing its rigid form as it sunk into the ground as what was originally thought of as smoke began to sway and coalesce, swirling around the mass. 

It had let these beings observe it for long enough, it was time for Umbraxis to launch an experiment of its own.

All at once, the shadowy form twisted and swerved, causing the screams of the entire ragtag gang.  It turned its attention to the kneeling one, the one they referred to as “Tammy”.

She never got to rise from her position before an obsidian spike found her stomach.  What a sound she made!  An utter cacophony of terror and pain, a mix of shock and horror from the rest of the group as her body was lifted by the gaping hole in her stomach, screams turning to gurgles as her flesh sunk down the tendril, sliding into the mass of Umbraxis’ avatar.  So rarely was the shock so instant, so wonderful was the terror on what Umbraxis’ assumed was their faces.  It was utterly enthralling, a warm rush of joy spreading over the entity as it lurched forward, twin orbs of white appearing on the formless shape as the crowd dispersed into the forest.

As it converted Tammy’s body into a matter compatible with itself, the woman’s memories flushed into its head, enlightening it to this...human culture.  While not atypical of most species, things began to stuck out to the creature as it perused Tammy’s thoughts.  There was evidence of prejudice and hatred, subjugation and fear-mongering, though there were no other species on this planet smart enough to have such hate for.

Other than humans.

How strange, Umbraxis thought as it followed the one they called ‘Mike’, casually drifting between the trees, the blanket of darkness blocking out the moonlight as it spread amongst the mighty trunks. While all similar in physiology, they had such discrimination amongst itself.  They hated one another for such impractical things such as skin color and gender, or who they decided to breed with, they hated one another for beliefs in government of their respective societies, for something they called ‘money’.

What an odd race, Umbraxis would make a mental note to look into these practices as it travelled this planet, perhaps seeing these humans interact would give it some understanding.

Mike was almost out of breath, no longer able to see any pathway or even the trees in front of him as the horrid darkness covered the moonlight.  He never saw the blade of dark matter swinging through the air, slicing straight through his waist and causing his torso to careen into a tree.  His shrieks of pain becoming music to Umbraxis as it covered the two halves of the boy, absorbing him into the wispy void now encircling his pieces, the body dissipating into nothing.

Jesse and Kamille, who somehow found one another near in the midst of the chaos, had made a bolt for the cars, now within view of Jesse’s Mustang only a few hundred feet away in a clearing outside the forest.  

“Come on!  We have to leave, now!”  Jesse shouted, grabbing Kamille by the arm and beginning to drag her with him.

“Wait, wait!  what about the others?!”  Kamille shrieked back, trying to root herself to avoid being tugged away.

Her question was answered by the wails of what was clearly Daryl, the sounds of what appeared to be his bones crunching echoing over the forest’s clearing.  Giving Jesse a quick look, Kamille bolted with him to the Mustang as fast as their legs could carry them.

Nearly leaping into the car, their panting being all they could hear as Jesse frantically fumbled with his pocket for the keys.  Kamille, trying to lock the doors, could now see that the being had made it out of the clearing, her jaw dropping to see how it had changed since their original meeting.

It had taken a shape, obviously mimicking the human form as it walked free of the trees, the swriling darkness following suit as it eaked out from the trees, surrounding the being as two white lights, presumed to be eyes, began to scan the clearing.

Right up until they made direct eye contact with Kamille.

“Oh god.”  She whispered. “Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh jesus, please don’t let me die.”

The Mustang began to turn over, the engine beginning to roar and hum as Jesse rocked the gear shift in a desperate attempt to peel out of the dusty roadway.  However, even as they heard the engine screaming for their freedom, the wheels spinning in a desperate attempt to move, they found they were making no progress forward.

“Ah ah ah, let’s not get hasty.”  Came a voice booming into their heads, the shadows beginning to creep alongside the windows as the entity drifted closer. “The night is still young, and we still have so much time to play."

The two terrified young adults could not decide which was more unsettling about the situation.  That the being was now addressing them personally, or that it sounded exactly like Mike.

“Y-y-y-you can talk?”  Came Jesse’s voice, his hands still gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity.

“Well, I couldn’t when we first met...but after absorbing a few of your friends, your base language became clear to me.”

“You sick fuck!”  Jesse screamed at the windshield, the darkness now entirely enveloping the car. “What kind of sicko space mutant are you?!?”

“Tsk tsk tsk, careful with the language.”  Umbraxis responded. “From what I can tell, some of those words should be considered offensive, and I can tell you firsthand that I don’t respond well to such disrespect, just ask your friend Sarah.”

Upon its vile words, Sarah’s face appeared out of the darkness, slamming into the window and cracking into the glass.  Her eyes, dilated and empty as her mouth hung open in a soundless scream, the rest of her body absent as her head hung in a empty void.

“Believe me, she offered me a wide vocabulary of your naughty words, a mighty foul mouth on her...then again, you should know, shouldn’t you Jesse?”  Umbraxis’ voice shifted and changed as it spoke, the voice of Sarah etching out to the horror of Jesse, now drenched in cold sweat.

“You psychotic monster!”  Kamille shouted. “What...what are you!?”

“I’ve bore many names over my existence by cultures now lost in time and space.”  The creature began, the Mustang beginning to creak and moan with the sound of pressure being increased upon it.  At this point, there was no moonlight shining through the car, a dim car light being the only source of illumination. “In your tongue, I would bear a few names, The Endless Darkness, The Great Void, a few unimaginative subjects titling me with a name such as ‘The Dark One’, but the most appropriate term I can find that you could even pronounce would be...Umbraxis.”

“Oh yeah?  I call you a sadistic sunuva--”

One of the windows immediately shattered at Jesse’s comment, a tendril spiking him directly through the skull before yanking him out into the blackness.

“How rude, at least let me get my entry before you interject....Now, where were were?”

Kamille, no longer speaking, found herself in the fetal position, panicked yelps being the only thing leaving her mouth as the car continued to bend and snap, the flowing blackness eaking into the car as Umbraxis’ voice began to amalgamate the voices, dropping the pitch to a hefty bass, as if this was its true voice all along.

“As I was saying...I am all the things described to you, but it is more important for you to know I am a definitive and unmistakable end.  All things, big and small, need an end, young Kamille.  As a scientist, you know this to be an irrefutable truth.  In order for life to go on, life must end and begin anew, as nothing is created without the destruction of what came before it.  I am that end, young Kamille, an end to all things in the Universe.  I am the reality of fate made real, the endless darkness of space come to claim what was once spawned from its whims.  I am an agent of oblivion, incomprehensible and unstoppable in its purpose.  I am an inevitable reality that all life must face.

I am Umbraxis, and I am the end of your planet.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The headline of a newspaper the following day:

MANHUNT BEGINS FOR SIX MISSING UMO STUDENTS: Abandoned station wagon found in forest, no sign of other vehicle or six brilliant college students studying at the Univerity of Maine in Orono...
NeutralNexus Member

Status

Bio

Most Recent Posts
