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Flight of the Raven Pt. 01

By: Demonnox



Hi there! This is my first story and as such any helpful advice, constructive criticism or positive feedback would be much appreciated. :)

Anyway, onto the important part. This story will be posted under the 'Sci-Fi and Fantasy' section. However, that doesn't mean that it will not contain themes from other genres. So, if you feel you'll die if you read anything containing possible Non-Human, Non-Consent, Erotic-Horror or (heaven forbid) Romance elements then I'd recommend you grow a pair and continue reading.

What I don't recommend is reading this for a quick fix shall we say as the first post will not contain any sex scenes (although they will come soon enough). Yes, I didn't resort to making that a pun. I could have, but I didn't. You owe me...

The story will be a long one, expect another 10 or so posts of this length (possibly more) before its finished. However, I will try and keep you informed of my progress so you don't feel I'm just leaving you hanging.

Finally, this story will also contain: strong language, gore, violence, explicit sex scenes, bouts of philosophy, intimate relationships, magic, demons, misuse of kitchen equipment, different perspectives (both 1st and 3rd), a complete disregard for geographical locations and a vastly unrealistic representation of our solar-system.

If you feel you can handle all the above then I warmly invite you to delve into my imagination to your heart's content.

-- Demonnox --

Chapter One -- Rude Awakenings

I awoke to the sound of my mother, screaming my name.

Crap...

I tried to hide my head under the pillow. Hoping the sound would go away. It didn't, somehow, the shouting got louder.

Seriously, how is that even possible. I'd bet my left nut that she was in the kitchen, waiting for the toaster to work its magic, so how the fuck could I hear her so well.

Urgh...

We live in a Town-house, three stories if you count the loft. Which I do considering I live in it. The kitchen and lounge are on the ground floor. My mum's bedroom and the bathroom are on the second floor. My bedroom, 'The Loft', makes up the third floor. So, despite being two floors above her; separated by a thick wall of brave loft insulation which attempted to battle my mother's screams each day, but instead ended up retreating in shame every morning. I could still hear her. Loud and clear.

That's when it hit me. It must be Monday. My weekend of rest, relaxation and xbox domination was just a memory.

"Urgh..." I groaned, groggily, slipping once more into the welcoming arms of sleep. My head tucked under the pillow to muffle the annoying voice from downstairs.

I slowly opened my eyes and, after blinking away my morning dizziness, quickly realised that a few minutes must have passed since my mum had called my name. I came to this conclusion from a number of different sources. All pointing to the same fact -- time had, unfortunately, not stopped. The first thing I realised was that my mother stood in the room. There are two flights of stairs to get from the kitchen to the attic. I knew that running up them took several seconds at least. The second thing was that I saw my mother eating a slice of slightly burnt, brown toast from a white china plate. This was actually two things that told me time had passed. The first was that my mum didn't run, with food or cutlery, in the house. Holding both meant she had definitely not run up the flights of stairs, and had instead walked. The second was that her toast was burnt. My mother hated burnt toast. She'd eat it, being a firm believer in not wasting food, but boy did she not enjoy it. This meant she'd probably gotten annoyed with me -- for not instantly appearing in the kitchen after violently shouting my name.

Right. Like I could just teleport down two floors, while simultaneously dressing myself...

When my mum gets annoyed with me she often forgets what she's doing, and focusses instead on how to get even. This leads to incidents like the one I assume happened this morning. She began thinking of a plan to get even with me. Completely forgetting the toast. Burning it, and now being even more annoyed. Culminating in her taking longer to reach my room as she would have had to think of a more devious plan -- having just burnt her toast. Which was clearly my fault too for not coming downstairs instantaneously.

However. I think that the third, and most important observation for time having marched on relentlessly was the skylight directly over my head -- which at that moment looked more like a gaping hole -- spewing forth ice cold water onto me, my bed and most of the floor around the bed. Including where I had painstakingly thrown my school clothes when I got home last Friday.

Seriously it took a lot of effort to throw clothes onto one patch of carpet so consistently.

I had to hand it to my mum though. It was a fucking great plan. Evil, but great.

I swear it's always raining in London. We'd only been here a couple of weeks; having moved down from Birmingham at the end of the Christmas holidays. In those two weeks, I'm pretty sure, there was a day that it didn't rain. Maybe. However there's a distinct difference from getting wet outside, while bundled in a large amount of warm clothing, and getting drenched in bed wearing only boxers.

Man. How I loved Mondays.

I could feel the water soaking my skin through the blankets, and gathering in the space between them and the pillow -- which happened to be my back. My pillow, thankfully, was still protecting my head from the worst of the rain.

"Fuuuuuuck!" I literally screeched as I rocketed out of bed. My face narrowly avoiding the wooden rafter above the bed as I leapt from beneath the sheets.

"Well. At least you should be on time for school now." a pause. "No need for a shower!" I heard my mother say with barely contained mirth from beside the bed; just beyond the range of the freezing rain.

I glared at her, while wrapping a towel around my waist, and using another one to rapidly dry myself.

My mother's name is Sophie Parker; although we still use my father's surname of Raven -- as he married her before leaving us. We don't speak about it much; it's still an incredibly sore subject to brooch with my mum, and it all happened a few months before I was even born anyway. It's not like I miss my dad. I've never met him so I can't really miss him.

I glared at her again when she reached up for the string which would close the skylight. Making sure she wasn't going to try anything else. Sophie's thirty-eight, stands at around five and a half feet, has long, glossy, black hair that reaches to the small of her back, and blue eyes that still shine with youthful exuberance. At least when she isn't thinking about Michael Raven -- my father. She has a shapely figure despite her athletic frame, and good muscle tone from teaching me kendo, jujutsu and aikido for over a decade. I'm pretty sure she started the lessons when I turned eight, but it's so long ago that I can't remember precisely.

She never told me why she wanted to teach me martial arts, or why she started when I was so young, or even how the fuck she was proficient with at least three separate disciplines! I asked a few times but never got a real answer so I long ago decided to stop the questions, and instead to enjoy the training with my mum.

I love Sophie but we kind of rub each other the wrong way a lot. Training with her is different though as she's a lot calmer, and we tend to get on well despite not seeing eye to eye outside of training.

Sophie finished closing the skylight, and turned round as I began to shake the water out of my school clothes.

"The bus will be here in around ten minutes Luke. Want me start some toast, while you sort this mess out?" she said evenly.

I rolled my eyes at her -- fairly decent -- attempt to keep a straight face over the state of my room.

"Yea a couple of slices would be great." I said equally evenly. I couldn't quite stoop down to offer a polite thank you for the offer -- A man has his pride damn it!

She smiled teasingly as if she knew exactly what I was thinking and headed downstairs humming Queen's 'We are the Champions', while she leisurely walked down the steps, still eating her toast.

After shaking out most of the water from my school clothes. I laid them on my chair and sat on the one corner of the bed that wasn't soaked, looking at my room with a sigh. It's one of those standard attics, often found in terraced houses. Something about space being extremely valuable in towns and cities. So people started building thick chimney like buildings, and then stuck twenty or thirty of them in rows alongside the street. I'd been here for two weeks and I didn't care how 'standard' these lofts were. I could barely fucking stand in mine.

I'm just over six foot tall and have messy, black hair that occasionally gets in the way of my eyes. These are grey and my mum says they go 'lighter' when I get really emotional until they're almost ice-blue with just flecks of grey. I've never been able to confirm this as it's pretty damn hard to get that emotional in front of a mirror, but my mum has no reason to lie so I took her word for it when she told me. I briefly looked into the small mirror on top of the bedside cabinet. Confirming, once again, that I wasn't born with any abnormalities and was, in fact, still 'normal' looking. I like to think I look handsome -- or on a good day, rugged! What with my black hair, grey eyes, tall, athletic frame with lean, defined muscles from all my martial arts training with my mother and 'devil may care attitude' that I tried to exude. Although, I think, trying to have an attitude defeats the point, but it's pretty hard to be totally honest with yourself when you're looking in a mirror.

I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth, grabbed my books -- which were scattered around the room where I cunningly stowed them last Friday -- and shoved them all into my backpack. Checking the clock by my bedside I saw that I had five minutes before the bus arrived. It would take me around a minute to walk to the bus-stop, so I still had four minutes to spare. I hung the bedding on the radiator and turned it up hoping that would be enough to dry off the dampness and bounded downstairs for breakfast.

You know when I said my mum's plan was evil but great. I think just plain evil would have covered it more truthfully.

Sitting on a chair around the kitchen table looking up at me was my mother. A huge smile on her face and an empty chair next to her. A plate of burnt brown toast, completely burnt brown toast, was resting on a white china plate in front of the empty chair.

On the plus side at least there was a glass of orange juice, next to the plate of stuff pretending to be edible.

I gave my mum a huge smile too, gulped the juice down, spared a glance for the burnt toast that had endured so much -- Sophie had even buttered it -- and dashed out the kitchen shouting. "I've gotta rush mum! I promised I'd meet Tony before the bus arrived. Thanks for the toast; you can finish it off if you want. It'd be a shame to waste it!" I smirked, while running down the hall to the door knowing, full well, that my mother would either have to eat the burnt toast or would suffer for 'wasting food' which she was so loath do to.

"Luke." I heard my name spoken softly from behind me.

I froze. I'd never heard my mum use that tone of voice before. Never. I couldn't quite place it. She didn't sound angry, sad, confused or happy. She sounded afraid.

My suspicions were confirmed when I had turned around far enough to see her eyes, as she was standing at the other end of the hall. I'd never seen her eyes look like that, but I instinctively knew what she was feeling. Fear.

I slid my backpack to the floor as I walked over to her and wrapped her in my arms. We may not always get on with each other, but apart from my father whom I've never met. My mum is the only family I have in this world. Heck, she's pretty much my only friend too.

"It's okay Sophie." I whispered to her. Stroking her long, black hair.

I softly spoke into her ear. "I'll be careful. Like always. I promise"

My mum always, and I mean 'always' tells me to be careful each morning. I long ago realised that it traversed the, normal, anxiousness mothers seem to acquire for their children.

This was something more. She had never looked, or sounded like this before. There was always an intensity to her when she would tell me each morning to be safe. To be careful, but it was never this profound.

She gently pushed me away. Wiping a tear from her cheek.

What the fuck was going on. My mum doesn't cry. Ever. For anything!

I stood rooted to the spot, while she gazed into my eyes with the overwhelming love a mother has for her child.

"Luke." she whispered. "Today is the eclipse. I need you to promise me. No matter what happens. You'll be careful today." she still hadn't blinked. Man this was fucking intense.

I knew that this was serious. The eclipse had been on the news for the past few weeks, but everyone on TV agreed that despite it being exceedingly rare. Something that hadn't occurred for like ten thousand years or some shit. It was still only that. Incredibly rare. Not dangerous, world threatening, or a cause for any worry at all. Loads of scientists and astronomers had been on TV recently, and none of them expressed any concern over the coming eclipse. Of course, the fact that it was apparently going to last for twenty-four hours was pretty weird. But once again. Weird. Not dangerous.

I looked at my mother; at her eyes that were so full of fear I had never seen in them before. I knew that I had to promise. I had to mean it. I owed it to her.

"I swear to you. I give you my word that today, of all days, I will be careful Mother." I said clearly, while staring into those pain filled orbs to her soul.

I wanted to comfort her, to keep hugging her until the fear left her eyes, but she stepped back.

With a smile she said. "Thank you. You need to get going Luke, or you'll miss the bus."

I gave her a hard look, but I knew that she wouldn't tell me whatever it was she knew. She had never opened up about her past, and I could tell that she wasn't about to now.

So instead I decided to focus on keeping my promise. That meant catching the bus on time, and that meant leaving. Now.

I bowed to her. I had only ever bowed to her during training, but for some reason it felt right to do it now.

Sophie smiled at me; love mixing in with the fear in her eyes. She bowed -- mirroring me. We both smiled weakly as some of the tension dissipated from the hall.

I picked up my backpack from the floor saying. "I love you Mum. I'll see you after school." I smiled again and turned, waving over my shoulder as I walked out the door.

"I love you too Luke." Sophie said from the doorway. In a voice so soft I barely heard it over the rain and wind, she whispered. "Be safe my son."

I heard the door shut as I began to jog from the house. Trying not to think about the mornings conversation I checked my watch, and saw that the bus should be there already. This was going to be a close call.

At least the poor weather meant that my mother's prank with the skylight was nullified. My damp clothes were soaked anyway after a few seconds in the rain. By now, I was running full pelt towards the bus-stop. Backpack swinging wildly on my shoulder.

I ran around the corner out of Wiltover Close. We live right at the end of the street, and there's got to be like forty terraces on each side of the road. It's a damn long road. Still running quickly as I cleared the corner; I almost slammed into Tony as he was climbing up onto the bus.

"Hey!" I panted to Tony. Trying to get my breath back as I climbed up behind him.

"Morning Luke." He replied rather sullenly. I didn't blame him. I'd only only known the guy for a week. We'd met on my first day at Hargraves School, while we were both waiting for the bus. I'd quickly struck up a friendship of sorts with him. I guess, as the new kid at school, I was one of the few who hadn't made his life miserable, and also because of my status of 'New Kid'.

Seriously, who the fuck is retarded enough to consider that a respectably passable insult...

Apparently, this meant that I was also open for bullying to the majority of Hargraves Pupils. I guess Tony took this to mean something like 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Since we both got bullied he had stuck around me, during most lunches and breaks, for my first week. As well as sitting next to me in classes we shared.

I didn't dislike the guy or anything, but it was a bit disconcerting having some guy you don't know follow you around everywhere.

However, after a couple of days I relented and started engaging the kid in conversation.

He was pretty damn bright! Not smart in the way that most people, instinctively, know not to walk down a dark alley; after seeing a couple of guys in hoodies smoking, drinking and looking pretty out of it at the entrance to aforementioned alley.

Yea, Tony was definitely not street-smart. At all. But man was he intelligent! In the classic nerd sense, the guy was a genius at things that interested him; like computers, sci-fi, and. Erm. Computers?

I shook my head. Cringing with the memory, from the day before, of going over to his house to play video games, and being regaled for literally an hour; over the pros and cons of the various different weapons in 'Halo 3'.

Following Tony's back we, eventually, found two empty seats together near the back, and seated ourselves before the driver threw a shoe at us.

Seriously, these school bus drivers are all fucking crazy!

Tony had let me take the window seat. Knowing that I hated the aisle one as it didn't offer a view except of the inside of this shitty bus, and the shitty people within it.

Looking out the window as the driver released the handbrake, and started to pull away from the curb. I could just make out my house right at the end of the street, as we passed the turning for Wiltover Close.

Sighing, I tried to dispel the bad feeling I had, creeping up from my stomach, after the conversation with my mum.

It was no good, the feeling kept gnawing at me the more I tried to dismiss it. I decided to instead focus on studying the king of transportation, that I had the privilege of sitting in.

I attend Hargraves School; It's around a five minute car drive, or a 10 minute bus journey in one of their school-buses. Not because we have to make a lot of stops. Heck, my stop is the last one so the journey from home to school is as straight as an arrow.

However, just because the route is the same as a car might take doesn't mean that we complete the journey in similar times.

Hargraves buses are fucking awful. I mean truly, literally awful. The newest was probably bought sometime in the 80's. They're all covered in this sickly, bright-yellow paint with 'Hargraves' clumsily drawn on both sides, unevenly, in black. They all have different numbers of seats. Not because they're different sized buses, but because some have had more seats thrown out than others -- after they had been sufficiently damaged and defaced by pupils. They never go above 25mph as most of the wheels have been slashed so many times, and patched with so little skill that going fast over a slight bump, or crack in the road would open up many of the wounds that the tires were sporting.

As you can imagine, all this meant that these buses weren't able to pick up much speed, or turn with much finesse, and they definitely weren't able to break or start quickly.

I sighed at the prospect of yet another day at Hargraves. I couldn't remember liking any of the schools that I had gone too, but this was definitely shaping up to be the worst one yet. My mother moved around a lot; almost every year if she could afford it. She never told me


Flight of the Raven Pt. 02



Hi again! Before you start I would strongly recommend that you read Chapter 1 first before this part or bits will not make sense to you :)

To reiterate from my first post. This story, despite being posted in the 'Sci-Fi' section, will also include: Non-Human, Non-Consent, Erotic-Horror, Group-Sex, Mind-Control and (heaven forbid) Romance elements so I'd recommend you grow a pair and continue reading if any of this scares you.

The story will also contain: strong language, gore, violence, explicit sex scenes, bouts of philosophy, intimate relationships, magic, demons, continued misuse of kitchen equipment, different perspectives (both 1st and 3rd ), a complete disregard for geographical locations and a vastly unrealistic representation of our solar-system.

If you feel you can handle all the above then I warmly invite you to delve into my imagination to your heart's content.

-- Demonnox --

Chapter 4 -- Escape

"Luke."

I groaned.

"Luke."

I groaned some more, my head was pounding mercilessly.

"Luke, come on, you have to wake up."

I tried to swat away the voice, but realised I couldn't move my arms. It took even longer to remember that voices weren't magically silenced by random arm movements.

"Please Luke. I'm worried about you."

That sounded like Cathy. Cathy was worried about me, but why?

Then it all came rushing back to me, the eclipse, the demons, the explosion. Everything.

Forcing my eyes to open I stared into Cathy's blurry face. Why the hell was her face all blurry.

I was mortified with myself. I felt embarrassment colour my face and thanked God I hadn't said that allowed. Seriously, did I really just think Cathy's face was blurry. Just how hard had I hit my head I wondered.

After my headache had calmed slightly, and my vision was back to normal I looked up at Cathy's regular face, and asked. "So, I guess It worked?"

I didn't get an answer. Instead Cathy started crying and wrapped her arms around me, smothering me in a friendly hug.

Well I suppose that was an answer in itself I thought with a smile, returning the hug, thankful that she was all right.

After a few seconds I disentangled myself from Cathy's arms and asked. "How long was I out?"

She sobered up at this, becoming grave. "You've been out for almost three hours Luke. It's almost 7 o'clock." She bit her lip, unsure how to continue.

"What is it?" I supplied.

"Luke, there aren't many of us left. It's been pretty crazy while you've been out. John's tried to keep things under control, but a lot of people have fled the school, despite the ash falling again. It's crazy." She took a deep breath. "There are 62 people here in the school, and almost all of those were part of the group in the cafeteria that you saved. A lot ran when the imps got in, and still more decided to leave afterwards. We're not sure how many the imps killed." Her face went slightly green and she looked like she was about to throw up. "It's unclear how many bodies there are in the cafeteria. It's... It's hard to tell."

I hugged her again and she buried her head against my shoulder, whimpering softly.

"I can't believe there are so few of us left." I whispered sorrowfully. Cathy nodded her agreement into my shoulder.

"Was that the first time you've tried to wake me?" I asked.

"Yes." Cathy replied. "I wanted to let you rest."

"So, why did you try and wake me now?" I pressed.

Cathy pushed herself up and wiped her eyes of tears, smiling sadly. "There was another earthquake, a few minutes ago. The crack outside grew so much that it's caused some of the cafeteria's wall to crumble. John asked me to try and wake you as we'll have to leave if anything else comes out the crack, but there's been nothing so far."

"I see, and where's everyone else" I said, as I looked around, examining the empty classroom.

"Most of them are in the other room across the hall, it has a view of the crack outside. I think John and a few others are around the school, I'm not exactly sure what they're doing though." Cathy replied.

I grunted in pain and started to stand, slowly. Very slowly. "Wait! You shouldn't be getting up yet, it could be dangerous." Cathy scolded, but helped me up nonetheless.

"Thanks." I said, gratefully. "What would I do without you."

Cathy tried to look annoyed, but she couldn't keep the smile from her face and ended up chuckling, stating. "Come on then mister. If you're so damn sure you want to be walking about, then I can't exactly stop you."

I opened the door to the corridor, crossing the threshold and was reaching for the handle of the room opposite when I heard a noise.

Looking to the right I spotted John, followed by Mr Woodstock and Mr Harrel blazing down the darkened corridor, their flash-light beams dancing madly across the walls, as if the forces of Hell were at their back.

I suppose that could literally be true I thought with grim amusement, hoping I was mistaken.

I wasn't.

By now I wasn't even surprised.

"Luke! Cathy! We have to get everyone out. You know where to go Cathy, we'll guard the rear " John bellowed at us, while still running down hall.

Cathy wasted no time and breezed past me, opening the door to the other classroom and sticking her head in. "It's time to go people! Get your supplies and follow me. No running, stay behind me and keep your heads, okay?"

"Yes, Ms Jones." Replied a large group of people on the other side of the door.

"Wow." I told Cathy in amazement after she had given her orders. "What the hell happened while I was asleep."

She switched on her torch and pointed it ahead. Answering while we walked down the corridor, towards the stairs, 60 people in tow. "It's all John really, he's made sure that everyone knows who's in charge. He's made it clear that everyone is to listen to his instructions, as well as mine and yours." She stopped me as I began to argue, evidently knowing what I was going to say. "Luke, almost everyone here was in the cafeteria until you managed to get them out. They all saw what you did and the ones who weren't trapped have all heard the stories. Whether or not John asked them to follow your orders is irrelevant, I guarantee that they all would anyway. So it's not worth complaining about." Cathy finished with a sly smile and a wink, causing me to laugh.

"I guess not." I agreed, shaking my head. "How come everyone seems so organised now? With the bags and stuff." I wondered aloud, motioning to the various sports bags people were carrying behind us.

"John again." Cathy replied. "He made everyone pack supplies into sports bags we collected from the changing rooms. He then gave everyone a bag or something that didn't fit in a bag to look after. He said it would help prevent us from leaving stuff behind if we had to move and would make for a faster exit if we all knew what we had to take and no one was taking more than they could carry."

"Seems to be working so far." I said, impressed. "Last question, I promise." I continued, making Cathy chuckle as we began to walk down the stairs. "Where are we going exactly?"

"The car park." Cathy dead-panned.

I nodded, keeping silent as I stopped myself from asking another question.

Cathy glanced at me, smiling devilishly as she saw my internal struggle. Finally she released me by saying. "You can ask another question if you want."

I grinned stupidly and asked "Why the car park?"

"To get on a bus." Cathy told me.

I wish I hadn't asked.

No really, I wish I hadn't asked. If there was one thing I hated more than this demon apocalypse -- it was Hargraves buses.

"What's wrong?" Cathy asked me, obviously picking up on my discomfort.

"I hate buses." I mumbled, hoping she wouldn't hear me.

Cathy laughed heartily, evidently I hadn't been quiet enough. I ignored her and focussed on walking, trying not to think about Hargraves buses and to focus on less horrible fates instead, like being eaten alive by imps, or burnt to a crisp by ash.

As we pushed open the double-doors leading to the car park, we were met by a truly distressing sight.

A Hargraves bus was parked, facing away from the entrance with its doors open, ready to be boarded.

I was almost sick. Maybe I could just stay here and fight whatever we were running from I thought, hopefully.

Cathy dashed that hope. "Right, on the bus Luke. I'll follow you on when everyone else is accounted for." And with that Cathy sealed my fate as she withdrew a piece of paper from her pocket and began ticking names off as people passed her.

Sighing heavily, I got on the bus.

I chose a window seat in the back row and looked towards the line of people exiting the school, hoping I'd see Tony. I really should have asked Cathy about him I thought, guiltily.

As the bus started filling up I began to worry about Tony. There couldn't be many more people left. Luckily, as I had this thought, John came through the doors with Tony at his side.

I sighed in relief as I watched them board the bus. Cathy following close behind, evidently having completed the registration to her satisfaction.

Gazing out the window I was amazed by how dark it was. Sure, it was always dark by now at this time of year, but it was never this enveloping. London's streets and buildings are covered in lights which illuminate the city with a yellowish, hazy glow, but almost all of those lights were off, I guess due to the earthquakes. In their place our only light sources were from the two dirty headlamps of the bus, the thin, greenish hue of the strip light above the school's outer-doors, the gloomy, white glow of the Half Moon and the sparse distribution of flash-lights among our group.

Wait... Where the fuck was the red light of the eclipse? Hmm, I guess we wouldn't have to see that menacing, crimson glare until sunrise. At least, I hoped so.

I was interrupted In my reverie by a hand clasping my shoulder.

Startled, I looked up and saw Tony standing there with a big grin on his face.

"It's good to see you're okay Luke, we were all worried about you." Tony told me matter of factly.

"Yea it's good to be back" I replied. "Hey Tone, does it feel weird to you being back on the bus?" I asked.

Tony looked confused, saying "What do you mean?"

"Well, I can't believe what's happened since we got on the bus this morning and now we're getting on another. It Just feels strange that's all." Tony's look of bewilderment prompted me to change the subject. For someone that smart he really was dense.

"How come we're leaving?" I asked, hoping Tone might have an answer.

I was in luck. Although, it didn't feel like luck when I saw Tony's face pale visibly, but at least I got my answer. "John told me something else has come through the crack. He wasn't sure what, but he said he saw arms gripping the side and heard what sounded like groaning." Tony paused, took a deep breath and continued. "He said the arms were grey and had hands, not claws. He said... He said they didn't look like imps." Tony shivered as he told me the last part, seemingly wanting no part in any of this. I didn't blame him.

"I see." I said, thoughtfully. "Well at least we made it out before anything could get to us this time, eh Tone?" I added cheerfully. I also crossed my fingers and prayed that I didn't jinx the situation.

No windows smashed, no doors viciously mauled apart and everyone's still alive. Check. Looks like my jinxing days are over.

"Why don't you sit down Tone?" I proposed, patting the empty seat next to me, when I noticed that for some reason he was still just standing in front of me.

I mean come on, there are five seats in the back row and last time I checked I only take up one of them.

"Oh, I didn't want to intrude." Tony nervously stated, avoiding my gaze.

I raised an eyebrow at him, completely at a loss and asked. "Intrude?"

Tony looked sheepishly about as if searching for an escape; when none presented itself he resigned himself to his fate and spoke "Erm... Well... I figured you would want to sit with Cathy... Seeing as the two of you are... Erm."

Thankfully, I clicked it before his brain overheated and I rushed to release him from this predicament. "We're just friends Tone. Honestly, nothing more than that."

"Wha--" Tony tried to interrupt me, but I raised my hands, placatingly, managing to silence him long enough to explain. "Seriously Tone, we've spoken about it and we both know that we're just friends. It's not my place to tell you exactly what happened but please believe me when I say we're not together, okay?"

"Ah. Okay. Erm... Sorry Luke, I guess I rushed to conclusions." Tony apologised, sitting down in the centre seat.

That's right. He made sure to leave an empty seat between us, I guess I hadn't fully convinced him.

At least I would have some peace I surmised.

No sooner had I thought this when my peace was utterly shattered by the scent of fresh peaches. However, it wasn't Cathy's arrival that disturbed me, I was prepared for that. What I was not prepared for was Kate. What I was even less prepared for was her choice of seating.

 When I got my hands on Tone I would kill him I thought grimly, while surreptitiously watching Kate sit beside me.

I looked up at Cathy, desperately hoping she'd get me out of this. She just smirked knowingly. "John's having trouble starting the bus." She announced, waving airily behind her. "Anyway, he's gone to get some diesel from the bus shed. It seems Mr Harrel didn't check the fuel gauge when he parked the bus and we're running on empty." At this she raised an eyebrow and continued. "John's driving and he asked if we could look after Kate for awhile. I said we'd be more than happy to. Any questions?"

Tony shook his head and preceded to look absolutely anywhere but at Kate. I didn't blame him, she really was a brat before all this had started.

I decided to mimic Tony's plan, it seemed pretty damn good from where I was sitting, so I too shook my head and studiously ignored Kate. I also took no notice of Cathy, as penance for her part in my now awful seating arrangement, and went back to staring out the window. I hoped that John would hurry up so we could be on our way. The quicker we left the sooner I'd be able to put distance between myself and Kate -- A lot of distance.

Although, this did spark a question I hadn't asked. "Cathy, do you know where we're going?" I said, as I heard her slip into the seat beside Tony.

I still wasn't looking at her, the presence of Kate beside me kept reaffirming that Cathy's punishment would last for awhile.

Luckily, she answered me anyway. "We're going to the Marsh. It's close by, with multiple routes in case any roads are blocked. Also, a lot of people's families live on the estate. Much more than anywhere else and John wanted as many people as possible to have the chance to be reunited with their families. We all spoke at length about where we would go when we left the school. After the imp attack no one was under the illusion that the school would be a safe place to hide." Cathy cleared her throat and continued, sounding embarrassed. "A lot of people wanted to leave as soon as we'd decided on the Marsh, but I convinced everyone to wait until either something happened, or you awoke. You'd be surprised how many people agreed with me so readily. You really made an impression Luke."

God damn it. How was I supposed to ignore her after she'd admitted that. I glanced up at Cathy and smiled gratefully, truly thankful for her friendship.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to avoid Kate's gaze as I looked at Cathy and what I saw shocked me to my core.

She was smiling, actually smiling. What the fuck happened to the Kate I'd encountered this morning. She looked a lot nicer without her heavy make-up too, less of a glamorous bitch and more of a normal school girl.

Well, until she started screaming and pointing at me that is. What a spectacular return to form.

At least, that's what I thought was happening, but then she started shivering and whispered the words. "They're coming." over and over again, barely loud enough for me to hear.

I realised that she wasn't pointing at me, but past me. swiftly turning I stared out through the gloomy night in the school's direction. Nothing.

Looking around the bus I met the fearful stares of students and teachers alike. None of them had heard Kate's whispers but they had all heard her scream and were looking out the windows in distress, dreading what they would see in the darkness.

I looked out the windows for John, hoping he would be back with diesel by now, but there was still no sign of him. The silence outside was unnerving.

Tony was still pretending Kate didn't exist. I didn't blame him, the guy had been here for years, I'd only had to endure her and her ilk for a week. Thankfully, Cathy had taken on the neglected role of carer and had Kate wrapped up in her arms. She was still shivering, but at least she wasn't repeatedly murmuring.

I felt strange, like I held an important answer in my grip, but couldn't for the life of me remember the question. It was like clutching at something just out of reach, something that you couldn't quite make out, but you knew was significant.

Threads began to weave together in my head. Images flashed before me: Kate arguing against leaving the first time, Tony saying he felt strange after surviving the Hell-Fever, the feeling of something clawing its way into my mind when I went through the same thing, the voice inside me that 'knew' to dive to the ground a split-second before the imps would have had me and finally Kate again seeming to know something that we all didn't.

Singly each of these events were meaningless, but together they formed a whole. A truth I couldn't ignore. Something had happened to us when we survived the Hell-Fever. We weren't the same as we were before. However, it was a thought for another time. I still had nothing concrete to go on so everything was just guesswork and, more importantly, John was still no where to be seen.

It didn't take that long to get a can of fuel... Did it?

I had a bad feeling about this.

Apparently, so did Kate. She sat bolt upright in Cathy's arms and spoke clearly, loud enough for the whole bus to hear. "They're here." After saying her piece Kate slumped into Cathy's embrace, out cold.

Fuck.

Well, at least no one was screaming this time. Although, the silence was so pressing that I might have preferred the screams.

Everyone on the bus just sat there, hardly daring to move, speak, or even breathe, looking fixedly out the windows for... Demons.

A couple of kids near the front wailed in panic at something in the gloom. This, obviously, prompted a few more students to bawl. You'd have thought, after all they'd been through, that these people would be slightly tougher. I guess not.

Relief coursed through me and the rest of the bus's occupants as a figure came jogging from the darkness, and into the shine of the headlamps. John, jerry-can in hand, came to a standstill at one side of the bus, deftly opening the bus's tank and pouring in the diesel.

"We should strap her in. Looks like we'll be leaving soon." I said, glancing at Cathy who was still cradling Kate's limp form to her chest.

She nodded and placed her gently back in the seat, buckling her in.

Suddenly, a piercing jolt shot up my spine exploding in an agonising wave in my head and forcing me to my knees. I could feel warm blood dripping steadily from my nose, I could see only vague shapes and sharp colours, and I could sense them. The demons. There were eight of them, slowly marching through the gloom, getting closer and closer to the bus.

These weren't imps too. They felt bigger, more powerful, more dangerous.




Flight of the Raven Pt. 02



I forced myself to stagger upright, still in a world of pain. I had to get John. We had to go. Now.

I heard Cathy shout something behind me, I had no idea what. I just kept going, picking up speed as I stumbled down the aisle. Eventually I reached the door and gracelessly slid out the bus, landing in a pile on the concrete of the car park.

John looked up from his task and stared in shook and bewilderment at my prone form.

Fighting through the pain I managed to hold on to enough of my mind to articulate one word. "Hurry."

I saw John hastily close the tank's lid and run towards me. The jerry-can was still sloshing about, the sound attesting to its half-full state.

At least he believed me I thought with relief as my vision started to fail. Soon John appeared only as an indistinct, gloomy blur.

"Get him inside, quickly." Was that John I wondered? It sounded like John

I felt arms wrap around me and heard the voice of Tony beside my ear. "I've got you buddy, hang in there Luke."

I would have laughed at the situation if I wasn't in so much agony. I couldn't believe that Tony was carrying me all on his own. I must have been nearly twice his weight. Of course, the world re established its laws of physics when I heard another voice in my ear. "It's okay Luke, You're going to be all right. I promise." That explained things. It wasn't just Tony carrying me but Cathy too.

Everything was right once more. Well, except for the eclipse, the demons and the infernal torment that was mercilessly corroding my sanity.

I was haphazardly carried back to my window seat -- only bumping into a couple of things along the way.

A solid effort I thought as I began to drift off, despite the still intense pain, my head resting on something soft and warm that smelled of peaches. I realised it was Cathy's blouse and smiled, glancing out the window as the sound of the bus roaring to life started putting me to sleep.

Of course, what I saw beyond the glass managed to put an immediate halt on my sleeping plans.

A pair of glowing, red eyes were glaring at me through the window. The pale light from the crimson orbs dimly illuminating the rest of the creatures face: grey, decaying skin, mouldy, rotten teeth, straw-like hair that was crawling with various insects, but the most startling feature was the shape of the head. It was human. It was like looking at a decaying human corpse that just so happened to have red, glowing, baleful eyes.

The face was only there for an instant, but I shuddered regardless, feeling waves of terror course through me at the sight.

As the bus pulled away from the school I slipped once more into the line between waking and sleeping. The twilight between the two realms. I couldn't believe what I had seen. I needed to say it. They needed to know.

"Zombie..." I murmured almost incoherently. Hoping someone would hear me.

I couldn't stay to find out. The pain was too much. My brain was shutting down. I could feel every sense turning off, one by one.

The last feeling I had was of the soft fabric beneath my head, gently cushioning me as I drifted away.

Chapter 5 -- A Mother's Love

Sophie sighed tiredly as she put down her pen. Writing the letter had taken far longer than she thought it would. Not to mention the pain it had caused her to relive those times, but Luke might need her knowledge and if that meant dredging up distressing memories -- then so be it.

She walked from the kitchen, up the stairs and into her own bedroom. Briefly glancing at the clock by her bed informed Sophie that it was now 11 o'clock; she couldn't believe how long she'd been writing for.

There had been a lot to say she realised, not for the first time.

Searching through the drawers beside her bed she eventually found what she was looking for: a small pot of red sealing wax that had been tucked behind various odds and ends she'd picked up over the years.

Sophie placed the letter in a plain envelope with 'Luke' already inscribed on the front and proceeded to heat the wax with a lighter.

She almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. She'd once used this same wax to seal letters to incredibly important people: politicians, influential businessmen, inquisition officers, even royalty -- and now? Now, she was using a disposable, bright-yellow, plastic lighter that had set her back 99 pence to melt the wax. The wax which she would then use to seal a hastily scrawled letter of her life and leave under the bed for her son to find.

How the mighty have fallen Sophie chuckled to herself as she placed the sealed envelope in the large trunk under her bed.

Her humour was short-lived however as she thought of the circumstances that had forced her into writing the letter in the first place.

She just couldn't believe 10,000 years had passed since the last eclipse. All the books she'd studied made it feel like such an ancient event, which it was, but she'd never fully appreciated that the next eclipse would be in her lifetime.

Sophie lay on her bed with her knees to her chest and her head in her hands and did what she promised herself she wouldn't do. She broke down in tears. She cried about her relationship with her son, the distance she'd always kept between them. She bawled about her mistakes and failures in life, she wailed like a baby at the coming eclipse, knowing in her heart that this would be the one. The one they would fail to stop.

Most of all Sophie grieved for her son, she knew the hardships he would face, the struggles, the uncertainty, the pain. She prayed that he would be okay, that he would survive the coming darkness and that he would forgive her. Oh, how she hoped he would one day forgive her.

Sophie used her training to collect herself after she'd had her moment of weakness. She wiped her wet eyes and promised herself that she'd be strong from now on. She would have to be.

She couldn't believe how foolish she'd been. She had spent 18 years running with her son from city to city. New schools, houses, jobs, she'd even used false names to find work, although she had never let Luke find out. He had to go through enough as it was, but after all this, all this care and careful preparation, they'd still found her.

Shuddering, she once again extended her senses and confirmed the presence of six cultists across the street. Sophie was beside herself with worry. They had arrived an hour after Luke left for school, thankfully. She dreaded to think what they would do to her boy if they had found him too.

She knew she couldn't run and so she'd spent her time writing the letter to Luke. Now that was done, and everything that may be of use was secured away and hidden from all but him.

Now she could only wait, she had donned her combat outfit earlier in the morning and had her sword, Light-Bringer, strapped securely to her back. Truth be told, Sophie was getting bored.

Of course, the boredom stretched only for a few seconds before it was replaced by fear as she sensed the cultists moving in.

She checked off everything in her head, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She hadn't. Luke would be as prepared as she could make him with the tools at her disposal.

Sophie walked stoically down the stairs into the kitchen, accepting the fate that was before her, before everyone. She sat on a cheap wooden chair and faced the door. Her eyes blazing with the righteous anger of a mother protecting her child. She would have to kill four. No matter what happened she needed to kill at least four. Inquisitors of her strength required two or more powerful psychics to control and she knew Michael would have ordered her brought to him alive, not dead.

If she couldn't kill four then there would be nothing stopping one from remaining to wait for Luke, she couldn't allow that to happen. She smiled devilishly as the men outside reached the door -- she wouldn't allow that to happen.

The door imploded inwards in an explosion of force and fire. Show-offs.

Sophie drew her blade and in the same motion threw it through the gaping hole where the door used to be. As the lead cultist crossed the threshold he swiftly raised his own sword to block the hurtling blade, bracing the sword with his hand.

Sophie could sense the shield around him, it was one of the strongest she'd ever encountered and reminded her of a thick bubble of perspex. Even if he failed to block her blade the shield would probably still deflect it.

Fuck that, she thought with a sneer of contempt as she readied herself to unleash her power.

As the blade reached the cultist's sword Sophie abruptly threw a wave of telekinetic force at the man's arms, forcing them down and opening up a path that would make him a pin cushion -- except this particular pin was bigger than the cushion...

She was a little irked at the unworried attitude the man still exuded as the sword sliced into his shield, carving its way through the air until suddenly halting, inches from his chest, motionless, suspended in flight like some cheap magic trick.  

Sophie smiled a little smile, more than matching the one plastered on the cultists face as she released one of the runes painstakingly inscribed on her sword. Water gushed from the tip and flooded through the small hole in the shield her weapon had created, quickly filling up the sphere.

She smirked with grim amusement as she saw the man's smile fade to be replaced by a look of terror. He couldn't release the shield without allowing the sword to gut him, but likewise he couldn't keep the shield without the water drowning him. Caught between a rock and a hard place had never been such an apt description Sophie thought with a chuckle as the man desperately looked about, searching for an escape.

There was none. He didn't even have the courage to end it quickly by the sword, such was his fear of death. The sphere filled from top to bottom with clear, sparkling water and he began to drown.

Unfortunately for Sophie there were still five more cultists to deal with and as the drowning man's life slowly slipped from him so too did his shield, until with a bright flash both the shield and his soul were gone, the water crashing down and gushing across the hallway.

With a clang Light-Bringer dropped to the floor and the remaining cultists walked past the body now cluttering her hallway. Even in death he was a nuisance Sophie thought darkly as she watched the five men walk down the hall, eyes alert after witnessing her performance.

They entered the kitchen and surrounded her -- unspeaking -- standing as still and silent as death itself.

Sophie smiled, despite the circumstances she found herself in. Running was all well and good, but it had been eighteen long years since she'd felt the thrill of battle -- there was nothing quite like it.

She had an instant of peace where she savoured the air with an impossibly long breath, knowing full-well it could be her last -- until the assault started.

To an observer the scene would have looked quite comical, five men were surrounding one woman, all of them quiet and yet everyone's face showing a great strain, as if they were each trying to lift some huge weight.

In reality the five cultists were throwing all their mental powers at Sophie in a bid to destroy her defences and take control of her mind -- ending the fight with no further losses.

Unfortunately for the cultists -- Sophie was in the mood for blood and nothing was going to get in her way.

With a mental roar she released all the pain she'd bottled up inside. Eighteen years of having to hide, to run, to worry, everything he'd put her through and everything he'd put Luke through. She used all the hate she had for him: vast oceans of malice, and violently unleashed it all -- the cultists never had a chance.

One died before he could withdraw, his mind obliterated by the strength of her will and his body slumping to the floor in a graceless heap.

The others were more fortunate. They'd sensed the wave of raw power she'd released and had managed to leave her mind before they too became victims of her roiling emotions.

However, Sophie had made one fatal error. She had gone against her own advice. The advice she'd drilled into Luke ever since he was a little boy: always use your head.

She hadn't. Being so caught up in her emotions had weakened the restraint on her powers and she'd unwittingly created a psionic blast more powerful than any she'd ever used before. Much, much stronger than was necessary.

She had ignored the limits even magic held: you cannot create without destroying. The basic principle in the conservation of energy. She'd created too much and now it was time to destroy. The problem with that of course was where the energy had come from: herself.

Sophie dropped to her knees in agony. Her mind a maelstrom of tormenting visions from the past, each more horrifying than the last. She'd been trained to use painful experiences in her life to block out the agony of the transfer -- luckily she was never short of those.

The technique to lessen the torment of the transfer was not an exact science. It involved using one pain to dull another. Obviously, this had its drawbacks. Sophie clenched her eyes shut as another wave of images assaulted her, forcing her to expel the remaining air in her lungs.

Sophie shuddered to think how close she had come to completely losing control and the dire straits that would have left her in. Despite remembering her training she was still in danger of allowing the pain to sweep her away in its destructive waters, such was its intensity.

After a few seconds the agony of the transfer was manageable enough for her to open her eyes and look around. She wished she hadn't. Lying on the white tiles of her kitchen floor was a body, a headless body. The corpse was covered in blood. The force of the psionic blast had caused the head to explode, showering the room in crimson gore and bits of grey muck that Sophie thought was brain. At least, she hoped it was.

Groggily looking around her kitchen Sophie desperately tried to get her bearings and stop her head from pounding. She was still on her knees and tried, unsuccessfully, to stand. As she fought through the pain her ears popped and voices immediately lanced through her, causing her to stiffen with concentration as she attempted to retain enough awareness to listen.

What she heard caused her redouble her efforts.

"--Call for assistance." finished a formal, toneless cultist.

"Are you mad?" Countered a shrill, reedy voice. "The Lord will skin us alive and let his pets have us if we fail."

"But I've never seen power like that! We need help Kesin, regardless of the Lord's displeasure." Argued a voice choked with fear.

A strange silence settled upon the room causing Sophie to hold her breath in fear, hoping the pounding of her heart wouldn't give her away.

"Enough." announced a deep, booming rumble. "Kesin is right. We have no choice but to continue. Besides," The rumble proclaimed off-handedly, "look at her."

Sophie shut her eyes and stayed dead-still, she could feel their gazes and hoped they hadn't seen her moving.

"See?" The rumble asked after a few seconds. "She's used too much energy -- I'd wager she can't even stand."

Sophie reddened with indignation, even though the cultist was correct. She'd never felt so helpless.

"You're right Bran. Ha, I can't believe one woman's caused so much trouble." The thin, reedy voice answered in relief.

That must be Kesin, although she wasn't sure how that knowledge could help her. Not In the state she was in. Every muscle, every joint, every bone stung, throbbed and ached respectively. Sophie could barely think through the pain.

"Prepare yourselves." The rumble -- Bran -- spoke. "We go in once more, carefully this time, and be ready to flee her mind at a moments notice. We don't want to end up like Corbin."

Sophie heard grunts in affirmation and stiffened with fear. She couldn't erect a defence, she was in too much agony to concentrate. She wouldn't be able to stop them. No one had successfully invaded her mind since she was an initiate, and now four cultists were going to try. Sophie let out an involuntary whimper and her eyes opened wide in fear.

The blast hit her like a solid wall. A mental probe that lanced into her skull and physically threw her body backwards to the floor. She could feel its tendrils creeping into every memory, every experience, every thought as it searched for her core. The part of her brain that defined her. That controlled her.

Sophie screamed as the probe seeped into her brain, deeper and deeper through her subconscious. The added pain from the invasion seized up her limbs and held her, paralysed, on the floor.

She desperately tried to think, she was losing herself to them, her sense of identity was becoming foggy. There was something Sophie needed to do, but she just didn't know what it was.

Struggling to remain conscious was all she could do, it was all the fight she had left. Her own name was just a blur to her, the last thing she could remember. Even that was fading, soon she wouldn't know who she was and she found herself less and less troubled by the thought.

Luke. Her Luke. Her son. A surge of electricity rushed through her, banishing the fog enveloping her memories. Sophie knew what she had to do, but that didn't make it any easier. The cultists were still searching for her core, and they were getting closer -- she didn't have much time.

With the last remnants of her flagging strength Sophie fought through the fog surrounding her spirit and desperately released the last of her power.

The remaining cultists pulled back with unnatural speed and braced themselves against a psionic blast like the last time, but are left confused when no such energy is released.

"Wha--" A cultist is cut short when Sophie's sword comes flying from its place in the hall, impaling him through the back with such force that both sword and man continue until they collide against the kitchen wall.

A smile was plastered on Sophie's face even as she began to lose consciousness. Her defences had crumbled completely and she was more exposed than any other time in her entire life, and yet, she couldn't get the vision of the cultist pinned to the wall by her sword, feebly struggling to breath while his lungs fill with blood, out of her head. The sight gave her hope, after all, she only had one more cultist to kill.

Her mind filled with darkness as the remaining cultists once more encircled her, deadly intent in their eyes. She tried to stay awake as their probe once more invaded her mind, but it was like trying to keep the wind at bay. It found more and more cracks in her armour forcing her deeper and deeper into slumber despite her struggles. Until, mercifully, her head lolled, her eyes closed and her thoughts ceased.

The last thing she remembered were two uttered words. "found it." Then she was falling through darkness. Complete, unyielding emptiness.

Chapter 6 -- Hate, Lust and Drugs, a Concoction for Disaster

"But why not Bran? Look at that body! Besides, the Lord only ordered us to bring her to him alive, he won't even know if we have a little fun with her beforehand anyway." Fang's grating voice pierced through Bran's ears like razor wire, causing him to stiffen in annoyance.

Fang was a short, thin, grimy man with dirty, long-brown hair, brown, beady eyes and the personality of a weasel with a score to settle.

Bran towered over Fang in both size and stature. He was a six foot ten block of muscle with short, militaristic black hair, two days worth of stubble, piercing blue eyes and pale skin, criss-crossed with a multitude of scars.

He used this physical advantage to stare down at the much shorter cultist, glaring at him until Fang could no longer meet his gaze.




Flight of the Raven Pt. 02



Bran gave a silent sigh of relief that he'd managed to pacify the man. However, it wasn't out of any sort of decency or honour that he was against the defilement of their target. It was solely due to his fear of their Lord. A fear the rest had yet to fully grasp.

The others in his squad were all fairly new recruits, only recently having completed their first summoning. Their inexperience was apparent by the three dead bodies littering the house. One inquisitor, no matter how powerful, should not have been able to inflict these sorts of casualties on a full circle of cultists.

This wasn't the first time Bran had led a circle to kill or capture members of the Inquisition either. However, this was the only occasion he had lost cultists under his command due to combat.

Occasionally, one would attempt to summon something they couldn't yet control in their eagerness to prove their ability, or simply to brag about to the other cultists. Needless to say, many of these summonings resulted in a very pissed off demon, and a very dead summoner.

Still more common were the deaths caused by drug abuse. The cultists were provided with a supply of drugs called Adrenathol, which were similar to Ecstasy, but far more potent. These were used to expand the mind and were often ingested before cultists used their power to keep the pain at bay. However, many cultists were addicted to the stuff and ended up overdosing on the pills.

Bran chuckled at the thought that more cultists died each year from simple drug addiction than in the many deadly skirmishes against the Holy Inquisition. Of course, a grimace replaced his smile as he realised that he had personally overseen the deaths of three psychics, no matter how inexperienced, in what should have been a simple kidnapping.

A circle was made up of a specific number and class of cultists. Designed to be extremely effective at killing or capturing lone inquisitors, and incredibly hard to evade, circles were feared by almost everyone that knew about them.

There were six members in a circle, five were psychics and it was their job to find the target, subdue the target, and, if necessary, execute the target. The sixth cultist was put in charge of the group as they were often extremely experienced veterans, but that wasn't the only reason they were in command. The sixth cultist made a circle so deadly because they were always, without fail, gifted.

A gifted individual is exceedingly rare. Almost everyone with access to magic is only able to use one form of it or another. A gifted one is able to use all of them. It was their job to protect the other cultists from forms of magic they couldn't fight against, and to give them time to penetrate the mind of their target.

As the sixth cultist in the circle it was Bran's fault that three men had fallen under his watch. He would have to include the deaths of Nessel, Corbin and Unas in his report to the Lord upon his return. Bran would have preferred to face an angry behemoth with just his bare hands.

Bran was interrupted in his reverie by the arrival of Kesin from the stairs. He had sent the man to search the house while he and Fang bound their target to one of the kitchen chairs.

Kesin was the older brother of Fang and as such was a taller, grimier version of his twin.

"Find anything?" Bran asked tiredly, not expecting much.

"Nothing much, the kid's rooms got some weaponry and stuff, but none of it's enchanted. The only thing that's odd is under the woman's bed." He leered lecherously at the still unconscious Sophie before continuing. "There's a large chest which I can't open. I can't find a keyhole or anything like that, and I can't even move the thing, let alone lift it. It's weird as fuck.

Fang interjected before Bran could even open his mouth, evidently sensing an opportunity to one up his brother. Something the twins devoted most of their lives to.

"Bah, you fucking pansy. I'll go up and deal with this 'super' chest, you moron."

"Ha! You couldn't deal with a small rodent let alone a magical object. Just because you changed your name to Fang doesn't mean you're not still the same 'Reggie the Retard' that all the other kids bullied at school.

"Fuck you! I'll take you right now you piece of shit!"

"Yea right, you co--"

"Enough!" Bran bellowed, thoroughly pissed off with the both of them. "Leave the chest, we've got what we came for anyway. I'll leave one of you to wait here for her son, like the Lord commanded. Just in case he survives the eclipse and somehow makes it back here, but beyond that we're done. So for fucks sake stop your pathetic squabbling and make sure her mind's contained." He gestured to Sophie's limp form, slumped in the chair and bound with both mundane and magical ropes.

Kesin and Fang both grumbled under their breaths, but obeyed Bran's commands, neither wanting to incur the wrath of the huge man. However, once they were only inches from Sophie, their hands on her forehead while they checked for weaknesses in the bonds, they both had an epiphany. She was fucking hot.

Fang had been the first to notice, and now his brother was having the same thoughts. They both wanted this woman, and their minds quickly lost control as the Adrenathol in their systems served to boost the lust they felt towards the captive. They grinned lewdly and communicated mentally to each other while Bran busied himself with incinerating the bodies of the fallen cultists -- black flames leaping from his fingertips to engulf the lifeless corpses that he'd pulled into the kitchen. Luckily for the house, the fire gave off no smoke, sound or heat, and didn't touch anything but the bodies.

Within a few seconds the twins had formed a plan and Bran's fire had completely consumed Nessel and Corbin, leaving nothing but two human shaped black stains on the kitchen floor. Unas however, was giving him trouble.

The young Egyptian was still pinned to the kitchen wall by Sophie's sword, the blade completely embedded in the dry plaster and skewering the lifeless Egyptian spread-eagled against the beige paint.

This wasn't a problem for Bran: he'd simply pull the sword out, let the body fall to the floor and consume it in flames. Except, he couldn't pull out the sword. He'd tried using both magical and physical means but both were insufficient to even budge the blade.

Frustrated, Bran raised his hands and let out a jet of black flames, much larger than needed, at the body still pinned to the wall. After a few seconds the flaming torrent ceased and the kitchen wall was revealed once again, further aggravating the even-tempered cultist.

The corpse was pristine. It was as if the fire that had completely engulfed Unas a second ago was nothing more than an ineffectual breeze. Bran growled as the sword glinted knowingly at him, taunting his ineptitude.

He turned towards the twins, not able to stand the sight of the mocking weapon any longer and was met by an empty room. An empty chair. Where the fuck was their target Bran wondered, his hands balled into fists and his stomach was in knots as he looked around the kitchen.

A noise from upstairs calmed Bran. He knew where she was. The twins. The fucking twins.

Bran stomped upstairs, arriving at the closed door to what he assumed was the woman's bedroom. Wasting no time he smashed through the door shoulder first, wood splintering in a dozen directions as he shattered the door frame.

Striding into the room, Bran couldn't believe how stupid two people could be. The twins had completely ignored his orders and were drooling like two sick puppies at the foot of the bed, staring intently at the still form of their target. At least she was still bound he sighed, as he used his power to check on the mental ropes surrounding her mind.

"We're leaving. This house in nothing but trouble. Fang, You're staying here in case the boy returns. Kesin, You're with me. Both of you ready the portal in the kitchen while I strengthen her bindings for the trip." Bran walked to the bed, intending to use his power to make sure the woman was securely contained, but he didn't get that far.

"No." Two sets of voices replied.

"No?" You dare go against my orders?" Bran turned menacingly towards the duo, hoping his threat would bring them to their senses, avoiding a confrontation. The Lord would be beyond angry if he failed in this mission.

The twins seemed unconcerned, both wore small smiles and smug expressions, as if they were party to a joke that only they found amusing.

"Yes, we would." Kesin replied, smirking darkly.

"We found a way to get what we want." Fang continued.

 "It's simple. We get what we want, or we kill her." They both concluded, eyes glinting maliciously.

Bran, for the first time in his life, was stumped. He simply couldn't imagine disobeying the commands of his Lord. He knew the twins were fairly recent recruits, but he didn't think they were stupid enough to go against their Lord's instructions.  

Bran, struggling for words, finally managed to string a sentence together. "If you kill her... He'll do things to you that I can't even imagine. You must know this, surely?"

"We're prepared for that. Besides, we do things our way and no one need ever know. We have our fun with her. We deliver her, alive, on time to the Lord and no one needs to mention what went on in this room." Kesin countered, obviously failing to spot the hole in his logic.

 Bran, however, did not. "What's to stop me from simply informing our Lord of your insolence upon my return?"

"Well, that's what we've been talking about while you were downstairs." Fang replied, smiling smugly before he continued. "We wouldn't be the only ones that have her." He paused, as if savouring the moment. "You would too."

Bran was enlightened when Kesin saw the look of confusion on his face. "If we all use her then the Lord will punish us all if he finds out. So, if you decide to speak out then you'll share whatever torture is inflicted upon us. Understand now?"

He did. He didn't want to, but he did. It was fucking crazy the logic that these two held, but it made sense. He either let them kill her, failing his mission, or he participated in the rape, condemning himself to death if the Lord ever found out. Thus buying his silence. Bran sighed, crazy bastards.

"Alright. How do we do this?" Bran asked in a soft voice that seemed out of place from such a huge man.

Kesin checked the clock on the bedside before replying. "It's simple. We've got to get back with her before the Eclipse. It's twenty past eleven now, so we've got three and a half hours to get back. It'll take around half an hour to rebind her and form the portal to Rome, so we've got three hours to do whatever we want with her." Bran thought Kesin might start drooling as he talked about how much time they had.

"You'll have to heal her after we're done as well, to conceal the deed." Fang stated, staring at bran restlessly.

"Alright... You win." Bran said, simply. Seeing no way to get out of his predicament. He grinned slightly when he looked towards the bed. She really was beautiful.

"Untie her then! Let's begin already, we're wasting time." Fang's eyes were alight as he imagined all the things he would do to her in just a few moments.

"You're sure she's contained?" Bran asked warily, having moved to the bed and begun untying the ropes around her body. He may have been gifted, but the twins were still more accomplished psychics than he was.

 "Yes, yes, we're sure. Untie the ropes and we'll drop the sedative bindings around her mind, while keeping the control bindings in place." Kesin replied hurriedly, as if speaking slowly would diminish the time he had with her. His brother nodded mindlessly -- completely focussed on the lithe form sprawled on the bed.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Bran sighed, finally dropping the last of the rope to the floor; switching places with the twins as they stood opposite Sophie, their palms resting on either side of her head.

"Awaken." They commanded together, their voices infused with a small spark of power. This spark slithered into her mind and shattered the sedative bindings surrounding her consciousness, leaving the control wards that would keep her as a mindless drone untouched.

Sophie awoke, instantly. Gasping for air as if she'd been underwater and had finally broken free of the murky depths. After she'd caught her breathe she looked around the room wildly, not recognizing anything, including the three strange men standing around her.

"Calm yourself." Kesin intoned in a deep voice, laced with power. "We are your masters. Our pleasure is your pleasure. You will do everything we ask of you willingly, without exception. You will feel no shame or sadness, only desire."

Fang took over, his voice also deep and baritone, the polar opposite of his regular speech. "You will remember nothing of your previous life. You will remember nothing of this day and will never reveal to anyone what happened in this room after we are finished."

The brothers spoke together again, their voices intertwining as their powers combined, flowing into Sophie. "Do you understand our commands?"

Sophie seemed to think for a moment, her eyes closed as each command was repeated over and over again in her head. At last she nodded, her dull eyes opened wide and she spoke tonelessly. "I do, Masters."

"Finally." Fang whispered, leaning down and slipping his hands into her shirt, caressing the soft skin beneath.

Kesin followed suit, running his palms along the inside of her thighs in small circles, slowly making his way up to her covered mound.

Bran was slower to act, standing listlessly as he watched Sophie writhe and moan on the bed as the twins finally got their wish.

Fang noticed Bran's preoccupation and leant closer to the squirming woman, whispering in her ear. "Call to your master."

"Please Master! Please come to me!" Sophie cried, motioning to the speechless cultist waving her hand in a 'come hither' gesture.

That was all Bran could take. He stripped off his shirt, revealing his chiselled chest, covered in even more scars than the rest of his body, as he all but ran to the bedside.

Reaching the writhing woman he bent down and enveloped her lips in his, hungrily tasting her and devouring her tongue with his own.

Fang had ripped off his own shirt and was busy sucking a line down to her breasts, discarding first her shirt then her bra when they impeded his mission. Finally reaching her uncovered orbs he took one in his mouth, sucking on the small, rigid nub, while his restless hands explored and groped the other, equally exquisite globe. Caressing her nipple in their grip, causing her to cry out in pleasure.

Kesin had torn off her skirt, leaving her clothed in only a pair of tiny, white, cotton socks and her black-lace panties. He took a moment to admire her perfectly sculpted figure as his eyes ravaged her flawless body, further igniting the raging inferno of lust the woman brought out in him. She ground her legs together, trying to rub her sopping wet pussy while Kesin stripped; his member already rock hard and dripping precum as he feasted on her wanton act of desire.

Bran could barely think as she returned his kiss with a passion he had never experienced before. She moaned loudly into his mouth as she was stimulated by the three men, her dull, glazed eyes the only indication that she wasn't truly throwing herself into the act. Bran paused briefly in the lip-lock to pull off the rest of his clothes, his rigid cock springing free and settling on her warm, smooth arm as he threw himself back into the passionate kiss, gasping into her mouth as her hand found his rod and gently pumped it over and over.

Fang disrobed too, his rigid cock standing to attention as he continued lustfully devouring her tits. Swiftly becoming heated, he straddled her chest, determined to find release as he pressed her soft, fleshy globes around his cock, enveloping it in her warm flesh. He spat a line of saliva against her breasts, rubbing the liquid into her skin, giving it a soft shine as he used it as lube to quickly start thrusting his throbbing member against her body. Her soft skin seemed to stick slightly to his dick each time he pulled back, as if wanting to keep it nestled within her mountainous orbs, causing him to groan loudly in absolute bliss.

Hearing his brother groan, Kesin redoubled his efforts on Sophie's body. He tore off her black panties with his teeth, the sweet smell of her nectar causing him to almost completely lose control. Inhaling the scent he dived down into her dripping slit, his tongue lapping up her juices as his mouth caressed the lips of her pussy and his hot breath causing her to shudder as it assaulted her exposed clit. Reaching down he grabbed her ankles, slipping off her cute little socks and wrapping her warm, sweaty thighs around his head as he continued stoking her fire.

Bran shuddered as he felt her have a small orgasm, the vibrations making their way into his mouth. His self-control evaporated as she screamed into down his throat again. Breaking the kiss he climbed onto the bed, standing with his feet framing Sophie's head. Squatting down he let his hard dick and sweaty balls dangle a few inches from her nose, enjoying her attempts to sit up and take them in her mouth while he held her head down with his hands. At last, unable to tease her any longer he bent down lower, his sack brushing her lips as she opened her mouth wide, taking in both his balls at once and sucking on them while her moist tongue caressed the sagging skin.

He groaned as her hands found his hard member and resumed pumping him for all she was worth, while her warm mouth caused him to quiver excitedly as she found the sensitive spot he had on the underside of his sack. Once she'd discovered this location she wasted no time in rubbing it sensually with her tongue, making him cry out in pleasure. When he felt himself near release he withdrew his sack from her reluctantly parting mouth and replaced it with his cock, unable to stop himself from face-fucking her repeatedly as Bran found his release, her hands on the back of his head urging him on, screaming wordlessly as he felt himself erupt deep inside her hot mouth, her hungry tongue lapping up his seed with relish and greedily swallowing every drop.

Completely spent Bran turned and sat on the bed, his legs on either side of Sophie's head as he watched the twins finish up with her through glazed, contented eyes.

Fang was the next to explode as Sophie used her now free hands to pull him down for a mouth watering kiss, crushing her breasts around his member as he continued thrusting against her in long, swift strokes, her sweaty orbs leaving wet trails across his thighs as she moaned in ecstasy. He devoured her lips as he roared his pleasure into her mouth, thrusting impossibly fast into her soft flesh as he sought his release. Within a few seconds Fang was gasping atop her incredible body, his member spewing large amounts of his cum across her chest, her breasts, her neck and her face, while she wantonly rubbed the spend into her hot flesh, whimpering in approval as another orgasm coursed through her body.

Fang shivered in pleasure from his release, feeling immensely satisfied as he joined Bran at the top of the bed, both men smiling lazily to one another and still shuddering in ecstasy as they watched Kesin commence with the main event.

Kesin had kept sucking on Sophie's clit and licking up her flowing juices as the other cultists had found their release, wanting her to himself for what he had in mind. When his brother was finished and both were sitting, unable to move while they watched the action -- Kesin decided it was time. Detaching his mouth from her soaked slit he slipped up her body; her warm, sweaty, cum soaked flesh sticking slightly to his as she caressed his whole body with her smooth skin, mewling with arousal as she ground her entire form against him, desperately trying to cum again. Kesin smirked as he looked into her glazed, dull eyes. The power he had over her causing his dick to somehow stiffen even more, precum oozing from the tip, creating a line from her navel to her chest as he took in her panting, lust fuelled breaths.




Flight of the Raven Pt. 01



why, and, like most things, I understood that she wouldn't tell me unless there was a need.

So I didn't bring it up again. I turned eighteen on the 20th of September 2012, a little over three months ago. I hoped that my mum would have opened up a bit after my eighteenth -- After all the years we'd spent together -- But she hadn't. I still knew next to nothing about my mother's past, my father, the reasons she had for my rigorous training and why we constantly moved around the country.

Sighing once more for good luck. Three's a lucky number -- right? I tried to stop thinking about my mother. I'd never been able to get anything out of her that she wasn't prepared to tell me, and it would do no good to dwell on the subject.

Wondering why Tony was so quiet I glanced over in his direction. Tony's eighteen like me, but that's pretty much where the similarity ends. The guy's pretty small, being probably around five foot three, which is painfully ironic due to having the surname 'Smalls'. That's right. The kid gets bullied as it is, but he also has a name which literally forces people to acknowledge his shortcomings.

Heh, shortcomings, man I crack myself up sometimes.

He wears glasses, has some pretty vicious acne spread liberally across his face, He's got short brown hair and he wears his school uniform 'correctly'. I've only been at Hargraves for a week, but I'm pretty sure he's the only pupil there still rocking the tie.

I managed to ditch the thing after first period at least!

"So," I said with a smile to Tony, "Got any plans for the lovely day?" trying to keep as straight a face as possible.

He looked at me like I'd just started eating the seat in front of me.

"Are you mad!?" he whispered to me with some force. "It's Monday! I have the same plan for Monday that I do for every weekday I've had to endure at this place. I plan to somehow survive to the end of the day!"

Yep. Intelligent. Not smart. I cringed at the missed signals and raised my hands to him soothingly. "Wooh, just kidding man. I fucking hate Mondays too, no worries."

His eyes became less frantic as he realised I had been joking. He rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly and muttered. "Ah, yes I knew that."

Right...

A screeching voice came floating over to us from behind like a knife. "Wot the fuck are you talkin' about midge."

Well, my nick-name was 'New Kid', so honestly, I wasn't at all surprised that one of Tony's nick-names was a mispronounced version of 'midget' -- at least I hoped it was.

"Yea! Your so fuckin' loud all the time!" Holy crap, this made the first voice sound like an angel in comparison. It felt like someone had scrapped their nails across a black-board.

Ah. I hadn't been paying much attention to where we ended up sitting. I had been distracted by my mum's words from earlier. However, judging by that harpies wail of a voice, I deduced that we must be pretty near to the end of the bus. Two girls and their boyfriends sat on the three seats that were left at the back of the bus.

Yes, one of the girls was always sitting on their respective boyfriend's lap...

I spared a sideways glance at Tony; seeing that he had visibly paled and his lips were sealed tight. Hoping that his tactic, of trying to turn invisible, would work for him I carefully turned back towards the window. Praying, that my ears would survive the journey in one piece.

They Didn't. Fucking Mondays. What is it with Monday's being worse than every other day.

"Eh Midge!? You better not be ignorin' me!" Came that same high pitched screech from just behind us.

I remained looking out the window. Not really seeing the scenery, but remembering my promise to Mum. I may not have liked it, but there wasn't a lot I could have done -- even if I hadn't agreed to stay out of trouble for the day. I counted this as trouble. Well, I counted the boyfriends as trouble. I remember them looking more suited to be bouncers at some club than school pupils.

"Glasses, you better answer Kate before I throw you off the bus." The words sounded like gravel hitting rock from the guy that I assumed was Kate's boyfriend.

My appreciation of the insult 'Midge' shot up in comparison to his other nickname...

I had managed to position my head so that I could, kind of, see the back-row in the window's reflection. Kind of. It's not exactly Hi-Def, but it was good enough. The guy that had finished speaking was big, taller even than me and way wider. However, I couldn't get a good look at him as there was this stick of a girl on his lap; her painted face -- layered in cheap make-up and framed by messy, brown curls -- obstructing my view of her boyfriend's head.

So that was Kate. Then it clicked. I had seen her at lunch the week before. I remember Tony telling me that their group was called 'KFC' or some shit because Kate, Claire and their two boyfriends were always walking around school together. I think the guys are twins called Frank and Freddy. Or maybe Fred and Franky.

Urgh...

Seriously, the first letters of their names spelt 'K', 'F', 'C'; so they decided to call themselves a fast food franchise. I felt a little better about 'New Kid'. Compared to that, it was actually pretty inspired.

I tried to remember the conversation I'd had with Tony, during lunch the week before, when he was talking about them. He'd told me that they pretty much ruled the roost at school because the twins were so fucking huge and violent. Yea, I could definitely see how those physiques might put off any challengers. He'd told me something about Kate too. I think she was the niece of the headmaster, or maybe even his daughter.

That was it. I remembered. Kate was the Headmaster's daughter, and was renowned for being 'daddy's little girl'. If you pissed her off she would basically tell her Father that she saw you defacing the school, smoking, drinking or some other inspired lie about your activities.

I couldn't remember anything weird about Claire. I think she was just Kate's best friend and in a relationship with the other twin. I had no idea which one.

Tony still hadn't spoken. I guess he was hoping that he really would become invisible. Well, I suppose it was worth a shot. I kept my mouth shut too; continuing to not really look out the window.

Despite my eyes trying to focus on the window's reflection -- rather than the outside world -- I couldn't help noticing the dead-looking hedgerow that enclosed the front of Hargraves like some skeletal wall.

Holy shit. I checked my watch: six minutes. This driver was fucking insane! I'm surprised the bus was still working as we began to turn into the parking lot.

"Oh, you done it now Midge! Soon as we get off the bus I'm gunna fuckin' pound you!" Kate's boyfriend spoke up once more from behind us.

"Yea Freddy! Show him who's boss!" came that high pitched wailing again. Owww, my ears!

I decided to ignore the 'pound' comment. Wisely remaining silent. Instead of pointing out that Freddy's threat could've been mistaken as him wanting to bum-fuck Tony.

Well, at least I had the full picture of this 'KFC' now. Kate was with Freddy and Claire was with Frank. I almost smiled. Almost.

When the bus pulled into a bay and braked sharply, the driver was definitely either new or insane, Tony jumped up, managing to run straight into a guy getting out of his seat two rows further down. Being so small the guy was left standing, while Tony desperately tried to get off the floor to escape the twins -- Freddy and Frank -- who were walking briskly down the aisle, girlfriends in tow.

Sadly, I guess Monday isn't Tony's day either. The poor guy dropped his backpack. Trying to get off the floor at a speed faster than light. He turned, taking one look at the backpack, trying to determine if he would be fast enough to snatch it, and still make it off the bus without the twin's hands around his throat.

Evidently not he decided, turning and running again, to the front of the bus, desperately pushing past pupils to get out the doors.

Waiting for 'KFC' to pass my row -- I got up and followed them out -- stooping to pick Tony's backpack from the floor, and slinging it over my other shoulder. Thankfully, the twin idiots seemed to be so focussed on catching 'Midge' that they hadn't noticed me, or the dropped backpack that they'd walked over.

Unfortunately however, the girls had. The driver shut the door when I exited the bus; being the last one out -- beginning to reverse out the bay to park in an area reserved for school buses. Looking towards the entrance to this dump of a school. I began to walk towards the doors, while the bus picked up speed behind me.

Shit. 'KFC' were waiting at the front entrance of Hargraves. Well, at least it had stopped raining. The front of the school was ringed by a large hedgerow. Almost barren at this time of year; January pretty much destroyed English wildlife. The hedgerow surrounded the entire school, including the football field near the back and the parking lot at the front -- which acted as a sort of courtyard to the main building.

I slowed down, thinking quickly. I could circle round and use the back entrance. It's similar to the front, but opens out onto the football pitch instead of a car park. I quickly dismissed the idea. I was too close to 'KFC' to be able to simply turn and run from them.

I was jolted from my desperate planning by Kate's wail of a voice. "Drop the bag New Kid. And fuck off!"

Hmmm. Well I wasn't exactly happy about it, but it did offer me a simple way to keep my promise to Mum. Drop the bag -- don't get into any trouble with this group of very troublesome individuals -- and get on with my day.

Yup, the more I thought about it the better it sounded.

Sliding Tony's bag to the ground I began moving off towards the back entrance. Assuming 'fuck off' meant that I couldn't just walk past them through the doors they seemed to be guarding.

Thinking of what to tell Tony about his bag I was interrupted by a voice -- apparently they weren't quite through with me. Shit.

Claire chimed in from beside Kate. "Yours too New Kid. Drop it."

Halting I cringed, I couldn't drop my bag, I hadn't had any time to unpack it this morning due to the incident with the skylight, and I knew I still had my beloved training gear in the bag, under my books.

After my mum started teaching me various martial arts. I had wanted to become a ninja when I grew up. I would talk to her about it endlessly when I was little, and remained devout in my wish into my teens. She finally relented when I turned eighteen, and used my measurements that a tailor had taken a few weeks before. Under the false pretence of needing to rent a Tuxedo as part of my birthday present. To have a custom ninja-like outfit made for me. It was the greatest present I had ever received. Some people may get a car for their eighteenth, or money for a gap year. I got a fucking ninja outfit. It wasn't a true ninja outfit. We've always had to train in parks or fields. I can't remember ever living in a house with a garden big enough for us to use. This meant that my mum didn't want to attract, too much, attention by having me look like an actual ninja -- swinging a bokken around in a public area. Well, at least not more attention than we already drew.

The suit was pitch-black. Made of a soft fabric that was tight, but slightly elastic so as to allow me to move freely, while still being form-hugging. This prevented me from snagging myself on objects, and made less noise moving as there was no rustle of cloth against cloth. The fabric was tough too, I'd been been using it rigorously for a little over three months and had yet to notice damage of any kind on the cloth.

Instead of a ninja mask the suit had a hood, and a balaclava type piece of fabric attached to the back of the hood; which could be removed and attached to the front instead making a mask, while still looking like a normal hood if not assembled. There were areas of thin leather padding too; on the shoulders, back, lower legs, fore arms, and on the backs of the gloves. Thin enough not to look bulky, but still providing an added layer of protection. The suit was all one piece with a belt of black cords -- to separate the top from the leggings -- which were tight but not painted onto my legs. It had a number of differently sized pockets and compartments, some harder to find than others, which could be used to store a variety of objects.

The boots and gloves were separate, but blended in with the suit when worn to look like a single item of clothing. The long gloves were designed to have the suit's sleeves tucked into them, and black cords were used to tighten them to the fore arms. They were made of very fine, but tough leather that didn't impede grip at all. The long boots were also designed to have the suit's leggings tucked into them, and black cords were used to tighten them to the lower legs. They were a much thicker version of the leather that formed the gloves and the sole was thicker still with black rubber used to provide the best grip, and to allow for the most stealthy movement.

However, what I had truly fallen in love with the moment I saw it was the Raven. My namesake was stitched into the suit, a majestic raven, wings along the back of my arms, and the black beak being made from the hood -- so it looked like the beak was swallowing my head when the mask was assembled. It was absolutely breath-taking. A true work of art. My mother had given it to me. She never told me where she had gone to have it made, but I didn't care. It was mine and I fucking adored it.

All this presented me with a dilemma. On one hand I had promised my mother to be careful today. On the other hand I would cut my own arm off before parting with the suit. It wasn't just that I loved it so much. It was also that my mother had given it to me -- making it even more valuable to me.

I looked towards 'KFC'; at the two ugly chicks covered in bargain make-up, and the two huge, overgrown kids with half a brain-cell between them.

I decided I wouldn't cut off my arm to keep the suit. I would die before parting with it.

Having made my decision, I resolved to keep my promise. I wouldn't give up the suit, but nor would I get into a fight. I could always try and talk my way out of this situation, and if that failed. Run.

"Erm, aren't we already late for first period guys?" I said evenly. We weren't. I knew we still had a few minutes due to the crazy driver this morning. However, I was hoping that they'd fall for it.

"Okay, so what about the bus that's just pulled up. Eh, New Kid? They all late too huh?" replied Kate with a condescending look on her face and a huge evil looking smile plastered across her face.

Seriously? These fucking buses are already screwing me over, and I've only been here a week.

Although, the bus pulling in gave me a though. If I could stall for time, maybe someone would be able to get me out of this mess.

"What bus?" I literally almost hit myself on the head after muttering this piece of time-buying garbage.

"You tryin' to be smart 'New Kid'?" Frank growled at me. Pushing his chest forward alongside his twin, both somehow becoming even more menacing.

"Urgh...No...Sorry Frank." I kept calm and tried to eke out my responses. Hoping that would get me enough time for something positive to happen. Well despite it being bad, a bad plan is still better than no plan at all. At least, I hoped it was.

"What! I'm Franky not Frank. No one calls me that you little shit." Franky's growl went up a notch in intensity. Stepping forwards with his twin, Franky did not look too pleased with me.

"That's it Franky. Do him!" Claire shouted, like a cheerleader at a soccer game.

Kate piped up with a slightly more offensive. "Beat his arse Freddy. Fuckin' beat him!"

By this point I was really struggling to hold in my laughter -- at all the gay connotations that the girls had unwittingly started throwing around. Not that anyone else seemed to notice. Shame really. This shit was gold.

Well, at least I had a new nickname, 'Little Shit' was definitely a let down, but at least I might hear less of the 'New Kid' insults. Those were quickly getting old.

Getting old.

Oh man, I had to stop before I broke down laughing.

The twins had taken a few steps towards me, while I was deciding on a plan. I thought I'd better just improvise as they were taking some pretty large steps.

"Mr Hardy!" I shouted, waving over the twins head's towards the entrance. Mr Hardy was the headmaster of Hargraves and Kate's father. He was a decent guy from what I'd seen of him, but his precious daughter was able to make him believe all of her stories. Which led to a lot of unfair punishments.

The whole 'KFC' group turned their heads so fast I swear they'd come flying off.

I took the opportunity to scoop up Tony's backpack from the ground, and spun, running through the pupils that were by now all off the bus and making their way to the front entrance.

Shouts of, "That fucker!" "Shit!" and, "Your dead when I find you!" were heard as I pushed through the crowd of pupils from the bus and ran to the street.

Looking behind to make sure they weren't following me I checked my watch, and saw I had two minutes until first period. I would have to make my way around the hedgerow, to where it opened up onto the field, and go through the back entrance. 'KFC' would probably wait at the front entrance for me until a few seconds before class; hoping I would try and get back in through that side. At least, I hoped they didn't have the required brain-cell needed to wait at the other entrance instead.

Well, it was a two minute run to the other entrance. I'd better start running.

Fortunately, 'KFC' weren't waiting for me when I got through the back entrance, and I even made it to class on time.

CHAPTER 2 -- Fire and Brimstone

English, Math and History. Now there's a slow morning if I ever saw one. I briskly walked to lunch: bolting out of my history class when the bell rang.

I didn't share any of my morning lessons with Tony so I still hadn't been able to return his bag. Thus I was walking through the school still carrying two backpacks.

Walking into the cafeteria I quickly spotted Tony sitting, on one of the smaller tables, near the corner of the room. Alone. Looking pretty miserable.

Ah, right. I had his bag. Which meant he didn't have his lunch.

Sitting down next to him I smiled, handing him his bag.

"Decent day so far Tone?" I said. Luckily, he seemed to get the joke this time and smiled as well in thanks for returning his bag.

I had started calling Tony 'Tone' at the weekend during our gaming session -- he didn't seem to mind so I hadn't stopped.

"Yes, It's been fantastic. I almost crapped myself on the bus, had to make excuses for all three of my morning classes for not having books, homework or something to write with and I'm now on 'KFC's' most wanted list." He replied, looking around fearfully as if just speaking about 'KFC' would summon them to the table.

I tried to soothe him by saying. "Well, to be fair, I think if you are on their 'List' then you're pretty low compared to me. I just legged it from them before first period. After fooling them into thinking the Head was standing behind them."

"They sounded so pissed." I continued, laughing.

Tony looked at me like I was crazy. I'd been getting that look a lot recently.

"Luke, you really shouldn't push those guys. I told you last week about the punishments people get given after Kate makes up stuff about them and tells her Dad." he said, looking at me worriedly. "Not to mention what those brutish twins will do to you if they catch you."


"Yea, I remember." I muttered, sobering quickly. "But I didn't have much of a choice. Anyway what's done is done. We have Geography together after lunch right?"




Flight of the Raven Pt. 01



"Yes we do," Tony replied, looking happier for some reason. "And we get to miss fifth and sixth periods to watch the eclipse!"

Right, the eclipse. Damn, I'd almost managed to forget the sense of foreboding I'd had in the pit of my stomach, since my talk with Mum this morning, but now it came rushing back with a vengeance. I didn't know much about the eclipse. It had been on the news for the past few weeks, but I hadn't paid it any attention.

I decided to see if Tony knew anything more about the eclipse.

"Tone, what's this Eclipse supposed to be anyway. All I really know is that it's pretty damn rare and is supposedly lasting for an entire day?" I asked Tony, hoping he'd know more about it than I did.

He did. Lot's more.

"Well, I'm glad you asked Luke! I've actually been following the reports of the eclipse since they started appearing on TV. I think it must have been a few months ago now. I love stuff like this to be honest." He stopped after saying that and started scratching the back of his neck embarrassedly.

Yea, the guy was a complete nerd.

"Basically, you're correct that it's 'damn rare'. Astronomers have confirmed that the last time we had this alignment would have been exactly ten-thousand years ago -- to the day. For us, the eclipse will occur at ten minutes to three GMT time; obviously it's going to be at different times depending on what time-zone you're in, but it should affect everywhere in the world which also makes it really special. Mercury will cause the eclipse and it's going to obstruct our view of the sun for precisely twenty-four hours. However, it won't be a full eclipse as Mercury isn't large enough to fully obstruct our view of the sun; so we should have a kind of dusk for twenty-four hours." He smiled shakily.

"That's pretty damn lucky for us to be honest. Because of the eclipse lasting for a full day, if it had been a total solar eclipse like we get maybe once every twenty years or so, we'd basically be back in the stone age after it ended. The total eclipses we get only last for a few seconds or minutes and often only occur for a small area of the world." He paused, looking at me and pushing his glasses back up his nose. "That's another reason this one is so rare." Another pause. "It's going to effect the world. The entire world will either be in twilight, or in darkness for twenty-four hours Luke! It's incredible just thinking about it!"

"Wait." I stopped him, "How exactly will the whole world be affected. Only half of our planet's axis faces the sun at any one time. Surely while half of the world will see the eclipse. The other half might not see it for up to twelve hours later if they were on the night-side of the sun when the eclipse occurs." I took a breath, "And also Tony, I just had a thought. How does the eclipse last for twenty-four hours exactly. I mean, surely Mercury will have to get into position between us and the sun; so why doesn't it just keep moving after it reaches the point which will cause the eclipse. How can it obscure the sun for so long?"

Tony smiled at me, looking impressed. "That's exactly right Luke! I didn't know you were into this kind of stuff too. Well, in answer to your first question, yes only half the world will actually get to see the eclipse occur. What I meant was, because it will last for twenty-four hours the whole world will be able to see the eclipse. Though you're quite correct that some places won't see it for almost twelve hours after we do. As we'll be lucky enough to see the actual eclipse occur!" Tony started looking even more excited. "And that brings us to your second observation. On a purely scientific basis the fact that it will last for twenty-four hours is the most amazing part of the eclipse. It's very complicated and tedious to explain in full so I'll have to be brief I'm afraid. Lunch just isn't long enough to go into the minute details."

Well, at least he wasn't going to go into full lecture mode. I still remember the 'Halo' conversation from yesterday.

He paused, looking embarrassed, perhaps he too remembered yesterday.

Shaking his head, Tony continued. "So. All the planets in our Solar-System rotate around the Sun because of gravity right?" It was a rhetorical question. "The Sun is bigger than us so we get pulled towards it. This causes us to spin in a circle around the Sun due to the force of the pull. Well, the exact same thing happens to everything in our Solar-System, including Mercury. Now the part that has many scientists completely up in arms about all this is that they can't quite explain why the eclipse is going to last for so long. All they know for sure is that the Earth is slowing. We're spinning with the same velocity so our days and nights are the same length, but we're moving much more slowly around the Sun. Many astronomers have calculated that by the time we are directly in line with Mercury, for the eclipse, we will be travelling at a speed that will keep us both parallel; causing the eclipse to last for twenty-four hours. After which time our speed will have increased to such an extent, that Earth will once again see unfettered sunlight. A lot of people understand 'why' the eclipse will last for so long, but no one has been able to figure out 'what' is causing our planet to slow -- especially not in such a precise manor. The speed will put us parallel to Mercury and the Sun perfectly for exactly twenty four hours, it's baffling." He looked at me, slightly flushed from his long speech. "Does all that make sense to you?"

I nodded, urging him to continue.

Tony obliged. "That's most of the technical stuff to be honest. The only other thing I can think of is the name and its origins. Many religious people agree that this eclipse has been foretold in the 'Book of Reckoning'."

Tony raised his hands to stop me as I tried to open my mouth.

"I don't know if they're right or wrong either Luke. All I know for sure is from a documentary I watched sometime before Christmas. It explained how the book is kept in the Vatican's most secure vaults with all the other priceless religious artefacts. The program said about the passage which predicted the eclipse. I don't really know the words, but it basically dates when this is going to occur and calls it 'Hell's-Warning' -- I'm not too sure about the connotations of the name. There have been a lot of high-up religious guys on TV recently and they're all saying different things about it. To be honest, I didn't really pay much attention to any of them. I prefer to deal in facts, not religion." Tony smiled sheepishly again and raised his arm to scratch the back of his neck.

The bell signalling the end of lunch stopped him and we both groaned.

"Well, thanks for telling me man, you sure know your stuff Tone." I smiled at him warmly as we began packing up our half eaten lunches.

The guy may have been shy, but boy did he have a lot to say about some topics!

We zipped our bags up, each of us slinging them onto our shoulders, and started walking out the now nearly deserted cafeteria.

Luckily, we didn't bump into 'KFC' on the way to our Geography class. Unfortunately, the feeling that was clawing its way up my stomach was in full force once more.

I followed Tony as he pushed open the door to room 4-B and sat down next to him near the back of the class.

Geography passed in a blur. I wasn't paying attention to our teacher at all. She was in total lecture mode about long-shore drift, or something similar. I was staring out the window, remembering the look in my mother's eyes. This made me drift in and out of the explanation -- over and over again -- as my mind replayed the conversation with my mother.

I needed to find out what my mum was afraid of. The feeling in my gut wasn't lessening and I wanted answers.

Unfortunately so did our teacher, Miss Jones.

Miss Jones' first name was Cathy. She looked to be in her early-twenties, had medium length, brown hair done up in a tight bun, a grey blouse and a long, black skirt clung to her tall, slender frame. Warm, hazel eyes and an open, delicate face completed the stunning image.

Of course this open, friendly face had a very annoyed look plastered over it and was directed towards me.

Ah, maybe she had asked me a question. I really had no idea either way. "Erm, sorry Miss Jones, but I didn't quite catch that." I said to her, deciding to test the waters and hoping that she had, in fact, been talking to me.

She had. Her face lost some of its annoyance and was replaced with mirth. "Well, Mr Raven, perhaps if you point your head towards the front of the class, and not out the window, you might be in a better position to hear my questions when they are directed your way?" Cathy gently mocked, causing the class to jeer at my plight.

Hargraves pupils were fucking bastards. Most people would laugh, sure. However, not many school children would give you the finger, or jeer at you for getting mocked by a teacher. This wasn't the case for these pricks. All but Tony were finding my situation the height of amusement.

"Ah, I'm really sorry Miss Jones." I paused, "What was the question?" I asked. I knew it was a risk, but she would likely ask me her previous question anyway. Best to appear polite, I thought.

Cathy smiled a little, shaking her head and asking. "Can you please summarise 'Long-Shore Drift' for the class Luke. I've just spent the last twenty-five minutes explaining it to you all, and I would hope that at least some of you can remember enough to summarise." A pause, "After all, it's only been a few seconds since I finished the explanation..." She said the last bit with a cringe.

I knew how she felt. Teaching at this place to kids like these must have been a real drain for her.

Well, at least I wouldn't contribute too much to the 'draining'. "Long-Shore Drift consists of the transportation of sediments along a coast at an angle to the shoreline, which is dependent on prevailing wind direction, swash and backwash." I stated fluently and clearly for Cathy and the rest of the class to hear. I hadn't been listening to her, but that didn't mean that I was a complete idiot.

The looks I received from the class were worse than their earlier mocking. They made me rethink if I was indeed an idiot or not.

However, Miss Jones seemed pleased. She beamed at me, happily exclaiming. "That's right Luke! It looks like you were listening after all."

Well, if that's what she wanted to believe, who was I to spoil it for her. I remained silent, smiled and nodded to her.

Cathy looked down at her watch and grinned. Looking up at the class she spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear. "It's almost half past two. Don't forget that after this you're all to report to the gym to watch the eclipse. Mr Hardy is having a TV wheeled in there so that we can see the news report about it live, while we also watch it for real. There will be a register so please don't use this as an excuse to try and go home early. Honestly, this is a once in a life-time event that hasn't occurred for ten-thousand years. So please give it the

respect it deserves and go straight to the gym when the bell rings. No dawdling in the corridors just because you're missing 5th and 6th periods."

As if on cue, the bell signalling half-past two and the end of fourth period began ringing. Causing a huge rush of students to block the door trying to be the first ones out.

Tony and I packed our things with less of a rush and began walking out behind the others on their way to the gym.

Cathy smiled at me as we walked out the door, as if in thanks for having a brain. I totally understood where she was coming from. Hargraves pupils are a whole nother level of stupid compared to most school kids. I'd been here a week and already felt dumber. I wondered why she taught here -- I suppose she must not have had a choice.

Most of the pupils were doing exactly what Cathy had implored them not to. They were standing around in packs, dawdling, trying to avoid going to the gym until teachers began to usher them in that direction.

We followed behind them closely. Tony checking his watch regularly as if afraid we'd miss the eclipse, if he didn't keep track of the time every few seconds.

Stepping through the open double-doors to the gym I was reminded of why I hated Hargraves so much. The place was a complete dump. Squeaky wooden floors that were covered in dust, crudely painted lines forming the edges of poorly dimensioned courts like basketball and netball, walls that must have been white originally and a huge row of tall, dirty, sliding-glass doors looking out onto the football pitch outside. At least the doors were all open so I wouldn't have to watch the eclipse from behind a veneer of filth and stains best left undisturbed. There was an old TV too at the front of the gym, on a trolley like object, facing the crowd of students silently, like a sentinel, waiting for instructions.

Tony and I took up positions near the back of the crowd and waited quietly.

Mr Hardy was standing stiffly next to the TV. He was in his mid-forties and had short black hair that was stuck to his head with too much gel. He was slightly taller than me, on the cusp of being overweight, had a big, grey-black moustache and piercing, hazel eyes.

When the last pupils were herded into the gym and a pair of teachers closed the doors, Mr Hardy began addressing the crowd.

"As you all know, the eclipse will be occurring just a few minutes from now. I will have you all marched back to periods five and six if you can't behave. Your teachers and I decided to end your lessons early today so that you could watch the eclipse. It's a once in a lifetime event and we didn't want you all to miss it. We also felt that it would be beneficial to your education to see it first-hand."

I hoped I wasn't the only one who found that amusing.

"While you're here, I will be leaving this TV on the news channel. There is a special report that will be covering the eclipse live from Paris. It's dangerous to look directly at the sun until the eclipse is in position. So I ask that you refrain from looking outside until the broadcast tells you to." Mr Hardy continued.

Groans were heard from the crowd of students.

The Head was not amused. "None of that! Or I'll have you all back in your classrooms before you can blink. The broadcast will be in English and will include many scientists, astronomers and even the Archbishop of Paris, Vingt-Trois André, will be present."

He paused, raking his eyes across the room, as if daring someone to laugh. No one did. Shame. "You will watch the eclipse on the TV, no one is to go outside until we are told it is safe to look at the eclipse without eye protection." he checked his watch "We only have a couple of minutes before it starts. Apparently, it should only take a few seconds for the eclipse to be complete. After that you will watch the news report, hopefully you might learn something. There is to be no chatter until after you leave the gym. I don't particularly want to hand out detentions, but I will if you ruin this experience for the others."

With that he scraped a hand across his head, sticking his hair more firmly to his scalp and turned the TV on.

The pupils were eerily silent after the threat of detentions and the TV's volume had been set to max so even Tony and I, near the back of the room, had no problem hearing the reporter. Although Tony probably couldn't get a good look at the screen, being as short as he was. I however, had no such issues and could see the screen quite clearly.

"In a few seconds we should start to see the outer hemisphere of Mercury as it begins to eclipse the edge of the sun." a tall, beautiful, female reporter in a bright red coat, with long, flowing blonde hair was speaking directly into the camera. The Eiffel Tower a distant blur over her left shoulder.

"Now please remember to wait for us to tell you when it is safe to view the eclipse with the naked eye. It can be dangerous looking at the sun without eye protection. The camera lenses we're using have been designed with this in mind; so enjoy the show on your screen until it is safe for you to view the real thing." The female reporter continued monotonously, clearly reading from one of those digital scripts that was likely showing her exactly what to say.

Hopefully, she had brains too and wasn't all for show, or this was going to be a very boring broadcast. At least for some of us, I thought, after noticing most of the males in the crowd nearly drooling.

"There it is now!" She pointed to a dark line that was just starting to appear at the outer edge of the sun. the camera zoomed in until it was clearly visible, a dark line slowly making its way across the sun. It then zoomed back out, keeping the reporter in the picture.

"Wow! That's incredible!" The female reporter exclaimed, blushing when she realised she was still on camera. My hopes for an intelligent reporter were dashed beyond recognition.

After only a few seconds the eclipse was almost full, prompting the camera to fully zoom back in.

A black, bottomless hole was eating the sun; clawing its way across the once bright, fiery orb, as it covered more and more of the sun. The light was sucked into the coal-black circle -- causing the sky to darken -- becoming a shadowy, blood-red hue.

A few more seconds passed until the ebony circle was directly obscuring the sun. Then it stopped. Suddenly. Like the huge gears of some industrial beast unexpectedly losing power. Grinding to a complete and total halt.

It was jolting to witness such an inexorable force cease so fully and with such finality.

The edges of the sun could still be seen reaching out with a faint red glow, desperately, like a dying god trying to give light to its people once more.

Once more the camera focussed on the flustered looking female reporter -- who looked distraught at having to speak again so abruptly.

Ha. Hopefully, they hadn't had time to write her dialogue with which to spew out at the camera.

Apparently, they hadn't. "Wow. Erm. Err. It should now be safe to view the eclipse with your own eyes! But don't go away! We've got many respected scientists and astronomers who will be telling us more about this eclipse in just a little bit. As well as the Archbishop of Paris, Vingt-Trois André, who will briefly explain the important religious aspects of this event."

Mr Hardy interrupted the broadcast by stepping in front of the TV. "Right, you heard the reporter. All of you start moving out to the football field. Please keep the doors clear once outside to allow the others a good look at the eclipse too. Miss Jones, would you mind leading them out please?"

It was more a command than a question. Cathy seemed to realise this as she simply nodded and complied. Walking out the doors of the gym to the field -- hundreds of students following in her wake.

I wondered how many were using the opportunity to check out her butt.

A few seconds passed before Tony and I reached the doors leading outside, having been near the back of the crowded room.

I wondered why I heard so many gasps from outside. We'd seen the eclipse on TV, surely it couldn't look too different seeing it for real.

But when I stepped outside, a cold wind blowing against my face, these thoughts abruptly ceased.

The sight above me was so majestic in its intensity, it stole my breathe away. Looking up, I saw a blood-drenched sky, I witnessed the murky, red glow emanating from the orb of floating darkness and I watched wisps of scarlet flame curling around the edges restlessly; illuminating the city with a soft, crimson light.

I could feel my eyes begin to water, having never seen such a beautiful sight. It was like being colour blind your entire life and suddenly waking up one day -- able to see the world as everyone else does.




Flight of the Raven Pt. 01



The field was remarkably quiet, while hundreds of pupils stared silently up at the sky -- lost to the world within their own minds. Trying desperately to ingrain the vision in their heads, so they'd never forget the sight. The magic.

I was a little surprised that even Hargraves pupils were affected by the view. Despite it being so incredible.

The brilliance of the eclipse was captivating. I continued staring up at it. Helpless in its hungry gaze.


It pulsed.

Literally, pulsed.

A strange maroon light, brighter than the sky, began to grow from the orb. Spreading further and further from the eclipse in every direction -- descending on the world in a ruby wall.

The weather followed it.

This was no ordinary weather.

Jagged, vermilion bolts of lightning could be seen in the sky, behind which the carmine light was unfurling, following in its wake. They were huge, bright gashes in the sky; easily discernible from the rest of the sanguine light by being much brighter -- like a strip of blood-red fire in the sky. Flaring briefly, before vanishing a second later.

Deafening cracks, like thunder, could be heard after each lightning strike. The part of my mind still functioning wondered how the noise was travelling so fast. Taking but an instant for a bolt of lightning to appear and then to hear the thwack of its arrival lashing through the air.

It started raining as the ruby wall passed by directly overhead, growing steadily in every direction, dropping lower and lower towards us. The crimson screen seemed more ominous as it descended towards the ground.

Cries reached my ears.

This was no rain. Shocked, I looked around the field.

What I saw caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. Hundreds of people were desperately scratching their arms and heads. Screaming.

A droplet of rain fell on my arm. I yelped and brushed it off. Looking down I couldn't see a mark, but the pain was all too real.

What the fuck.

"Everyone inside! Move it!" I heard Mr Hardy shout above the sound of the heavy winds that had followed the rain -- smothering us in a hot, heavy wave of air.

Well I wasn't one to ignore a teacher. At least, not one who had initiated a stampede towards me: still standing just outside the doors at the back of the crowd.

I turned, running inside as hundreds of students surged towards the gym and perceived safety.

After stepping to the side of the doors when I crossed the threshold, I spun back: desperate to watch events unfold.

As pupils and teachers alike rushed back inside I saw exactly what the rain was. Ash. Pure, black ash was screaming down from the sky below the vermilion wall in an endless wave, pushed and pulled in sickening lurches by the gale winds buffeting the area.

The ash was burning. Like drops of jet-black flame racing down from the sky, eager to sear the flesh of its victims. I saw Cathy stumble and fall several yards from the doors. Being the first one out had meant that she was at the back of the crowd running for safety. No one near her noticed, their minds focussed only on reaching the gym and its promise of protection. The others in the gym, looking out with a mixture of both horror and palpable relief, noticed Cathy. Noticed, but didn't care that she was dying. The ash falling more and more densely, like a thick rain of smoke, blanketing the earth in a layer of soot. Cathy was unable to rise, seemingly having damaged her leg or ankle in the fall.

I noticed. I cared. Whispering a silent apology to my mother, I prepared to break my promise. Irreversibly.

Stripping off my school blazer as I pushed through the students blocking the doors -- I forced my way through the current -- frantic to get outside. To reach her.

I started running, dodging under the arms of Mr Hardy in an attempt to prevent me leaving the gym. I held the blazer above my head, sparing me from the worst of the ash as I sprinted outside. Unintelligible shouts and sounds followed, probably urging me to come to my senses.

Ignoring the cries I reached Cathy, still struggling to rise from the ground, arms urgently trying to swat away the falling ash. Desperately hoping to stop the burning of her flesh.

After wrapping my blazer around her, I placed my arms under her, one around her back and one around her legs, and picked her up, cradling her slender form to my chest.

With my arms burning both from the weight and the ash I ran, as best I could, back to the gym.

I was not to be granted easy passage.

I could feel my flesh smouldering as the ash got thicker and thicker, falling down in heavier and hotter waves, clogging my lungs with rancid, burning smoke which viciously attempted to hinder its two prisoners, while the ground of thick, compacted, black soot was eagerly trying to slow my flight, and a brutal wind was buffeting against me with lethal intent, wanting nothing more than to stop me reaching safety.

Fuck. That.

Battling through the oppressive elements I hurled myself through the doorway in a final attempt to escape the deadly weather -- landing on my back with Cathy sprawled on top of me. Crying, but alive.

I felt someone slapping my arms and head. Looking up in confusion I realized that it was Mr Hardy. Still groggy from the burning pains along my arms and breathless from carrying Cathy, it took me a moment to understand what was happening.

Mr Hardy had taken off his jacket and was buffeting both Cathy and I with it. Desperate to put out the fire.

Wait, what? Fire!?

"Ahhhhhh!" I wailed, helping the headmaster to smother the flames by trying to roll on the ground, despite having a fully-grown woman still lying on top of me.

After the last of the flames were extinguished, Mr Hardy looked at me and said both gratefully and grudgingly. "That was extremely dangerous young man, but thank you all the same. It was a very brave thing to do." He looked at me over Cathy's body, pressed against me, still hugging herself to me. "Luke right? Luke Raven?"

Tilting my head slightly to look up at him over Cathy's hair, which had spilled from its bun and was framing her delicate features, I nodded an affirmative. "Yes Sir, that's correct."

"Ah I thought so, I remembered your application." He paused, looking at Cathy. "Miss Jones, I know that you've been through a great deal, but please remember that you are still a teacher and that is a student you're lying on."

She ignored him, lifting herself up slightly so that she could look directly into my eyes. Her hazel orbs to my grey.

Though I'd bet my life they were pale blue at that moment.

"Thank you." Cathy spoke the words so softly that I barely caught them, but their intensity was clear. Looking into those soft, brown eyes I saw such depths of gratitude, devotion and love that it slightly unnerved me.

I grinned at her, nodding. Never breaking eye contact, hoping she understood that I was just happy she was all right.

Mr Hardy coughed from behind her. Cathy smiled at me again, looking embarrassed, and tried to stand. She got to her knees before stumbling, prompting Mr Hardy to grab her arm and gently help her up, shuffling her over to where the school nurse had hastily set up a space, filled with chairs and mats, for the students and teachers with the most pressing injuries. The nurse took over when they reached her and sat Cathy down on an empty chair, briefly examining her, before rushing to the open first-aid pouch on a table nearby.

I closed my eyes to shut out the blinding pain still coursing across my flesh from the ash. Opening them again to see Mr Hardy standing over me, offering me a hand. Accepting it gratefully, I rose slowly, arms still incredibly sore.

After finding my feet I gazed down at the burnt and blackened sleeves of a once-white school shirt. I stared down at the flesh encased within, still flaring with bouts of agonizing pain, but no burns. The skin was clean. Unblemished. As if I had never run out into the ash at all.

I glanced at Mr Hardy, still standing next to me.

He must have understood the question in my eyes as he started speaking. "I'm not sure either Luke, none of us seem to have any burns, marks or wounds of any kind from the ash. Yet the pain is real enough, just look around. I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

I did as he suggested. Quickly scanning the crowd of people. He was right, many people were moaning in pain, but the more I looked the more I saw that none of them appeared to have any permanent damage.

It was really strange, but then again this whole thing was pretty fucked up so I guess it was normal for the circumstances.

Looking back to Mr Hardy I noticed that he too had been burned. His pristine white shirt was blackened and stained, covered in holes with charred edges. Yet he too seemed fine, his skin appeared undamaged by the burns.

As I noticed this I realized that my own pain had started to subside. It was still agonizing, but was no longer completely debilitating.

Huh. That was weird. So it felt like being burnt, but the effects quickly wore off and there seemed to be no permanent physical damage. How peculiar.

Looking back outside I could see the crimson screen had descended further and was much closer to the ground, floating a few metres from the surface.

Hmm. It looked like it was only a foot or so higher than the roof of the gym. I wondered if the vermilion light would pierce through the building, looking up at the ceiling to lay to rest these suspicions.

Fuck. I jinxed it.

There above me, silently dropping like some scarlet plague, was a glowing blood-red light. Moving slowly but steadily the light edged inexorably towards us. Others started to notice it, pointing upwards and crying out in fear and horror.

People cowered, trying to crouch or lay on the floor to gain time and provide less of a target. People screamed and wailed. People simply stopped, looking up and waiting. I bet some people prayed.

I whispered a farewell to my mother and sat, with legs crossed, as comfortably as I could. Watching the light approach us, hungrily.

The luminescent carmine glow reached us, passing through the heads of the tallest people still standing and continuing downwards, unrelenting in its mission to reach us all.


People began screaming in pain, wails of such agony that they made the cries from the burning ash sound like admissions of joy. In stark contrast to this some people seemed unaffected. Students and teachers alike were looking around in confusion at the others who were moaning in physical anguish.

My observations were interrupted by the light reaching me and the pain that came with it. Pain so intense I thought I could hear my soul screaming.

I fell to the floor in torment, wrapping my hands around my head tightly, desperately trying to stem the rising flood of agony that was coursing in perpetual bouts of suffering through my skull.

Amidst the flashing bolts of pain were sparse, short, scenes of clarity. The picture I pieced together in these moments was soul destroying. There must have been nearly seven hundred students and staff in Hargraves. Almost all of whom were in the gym. Huge clumps of humanity were on the floor, like me. Mirroring my suffering with such intensity that I felt physically sick. What was strange was that a good half of the room seemed completely unaffected. They were staring in horror at the rest of us, appalled by the pain they were witnessing. I noticed Cathy moving towards me with a slight limp and a determined look in her eyes, eventually sitting down beside me. She seemed like almost half the room: completely immune to the torment with which I was suffering. Cathy cradled my head in her lap, whispering sweet nothings in my ear, tears splashing against my cheeks. I saw Tony, on his knees, vomiting from the pain, two members of 'KFC' Kate and Franky were nearby too, writhing in agony. Mr Hardy was squatting next to his daughter, fruitlessly attempting to ease her suffering.

Then, in one of the longest moments of serenity I had from the wave of torment eating at my mind, I saw it. I saw the crimson light reach the floor. Where it stopped.

The light glowed, becoming brighter and brighter, until it was almost too painful to look at. When the light was nearly blinding it jumped off the floor, rising one or two feet and changing colour to a dull, matt, black. Falling gracefully back to the ground the ebony layer of skin settled and then faded, seeming to sink into the floor. No trace of it remained.

The world shook.

I swayed on the ground, against my will, as the floor literally moved.

Earthquakes. Are you kidding me!?

Cathy kept calm, still holding my head in her lap, looking scared, but resolute to keep watch over me.

I tried to smile up at her, hoping to show my appreciation of her efforts, but I was assaulted by a fresh wave of pain, bursting through my lucidity. This agony was worse than before. Much worse. It felt like my brain was trying to grow. I could feel it stretching, desperate to be able to accommodate whatever force was trying to enter.

My eyes focussed once more.

After spending what seemed like hours in a prison of torment, hiding within myself to escape the agony. I was out. I was finally out. No pain assaulted me. No hurt lanced through me. The blessed relief caused me to smile, opening my eyes to see Cathy smiling down at me too, relief etched onto her face.

I lifted myself from her lap, sitting up and looking around, hoping that our suffering was over.

I shivered.

Everyone who had been affected by the crimson light. Half the room struck down with pain. Was still affected by it. Looking around in horror I realized it was far more terrible than that. They were getting worse. Much worse.

I paled as I saw students. Children. Clawing at skin that had blistered and cracked, blood running in rivulets from the gashes in their flesh. Great gouts of blood gushing from the noses of pupils and teachers alike. Some were even coughing blood in huge clumps, staining the floor a disturbing red. Others still were frantically scratching their eyes, black as night, smoke rising in great columns from the orbs, blood streaking down their faces as fingers tore their own eyes to shreds.

Then I saw the ones in the final stages of this infliction. The ones I assumed the light had consumed first, or perhaps the ones with the weakest constitutions. I didn't know. It didn't matter. After suffering the symptoms others were still fighting through, these brave pioneers were experiencing a whole new ordeal.

Death.

They were trembling, bodies destroyed by their torment. Their mockeries of conjoined flesh, were convulsing -- violently. Their heads were banging repeatedly on the floor as they rolled madly on the ground, arms flailing wildly.

And then.

They weren't.

They simply stopped.

Stopped moving. Stopped breathing. Stopped thinking. Stopped living. I could see them just lying there, lifeless corpses of children, men and women. Once apart in life by position. Now united in death by situation.

I stared around the room, my eyes as lifeless as those of the corpses littering the gym. Cathy hugged me from behind, burying her face against my shoulder and crying mournfully.

The people who were unaffected seemed to be in a similar position to us. They were staring emptily, crying sorrowfully, or moving hopelessly, going from one corpse to another in a vain attempt to help.

A few seconds passed in this way. Then it was over. No one who was affected was left alive.

Well, except me.

Holy fuck. Tony too! I realized when I saw him sitting up with the school nurse beside him.

Thank God for small mercies.

Fuck. Kate too! I saw her in the arms of her father, an endless font of tears.

I cursed my habit of jinxing things.

Patting Cathy's hands on my chest, I gently disentangled myself from her. Rising onto my feet and offering her a hand. She gratefully accepted and stood beside me, favouring her right leg slightly and leaning on me for support.

It was a good job she did too, apparently these earthquakes weren't over yet. Another huge jolt ran through the floor followed closely by several smaller ones, forcing a few people to their knees and causing Cathy to cling to me more tightly.

A loud crash echoed through the room, silencing most of the wailing and sorrowful cries, but not all. Kate was still moaning hysterically, her father's arms around her, while her own arms clung to Freddy's lifeless corpse beneath her.

I ignored her, looking, like most of the room, towards the cause of the crash. The trolley carrying the huge, old TV was now laid against the back wall of the gym which it had smashed into after the quakes.

Surprisingly, the TV was still on blaring out some incomprehensible words in a vain attempt to be heard over the vicious weather outside. However, I noticed that the screen was no longer one looking out from Paris. Instead, there was a large British flag over a dull, dark-blue background. It looked official.

Realising this I called out. "Quickly, close the doors! I think this is important."

Most ignored me, but a few people near to the doors ran over and wrestled with the huge panes of sliding glass, now stained with even more filth from the ash. As each colossal gateway was shut, the noise of the TV was heard more and more clearly.  

A few seconds later the last portal was slammed closed and an eerie quiet descended on the room. Shattered only by Kate's relentless sobs and the now comprehensible words from the TV.

An air-raid warning type of boom was coming from the screen, punctuated by a useless, generic phrase. "This is an emergency broadcast! Please wait in a safe place where you can hear this message. We will provide citizens with more information shortly."

I sighed, having hoped that the broadcast would've provided a small measure of salvation for our dire situation. Evidently that hope was put on hold, along with the information we so desperately craved.

Mr Hardy pushed past the crowd that was slowly gathering around the TV, hoping they would be told this was all a dream, a test, a war. Anything so long as it would help them understand what had happened, or why. Reaching the TV, Mr Hardy turned towards us and spoke, while one arm gently hugged a shaking Kate to his chest.

When he turned and spoke to the crowd, huddled before him for hope and guidance, his voice was weak and stuttering. Not at all like his usual speech. I wasn't surprised. Not after what we'd been through. "People... We need to try and keep calm... We need to wait for the broadcast... It promised more information. We need to know what's going on before we can do anything... With certainty..." He paused, his eyes glazing over as he scanned the rows of bodies behind us. "We can't stay here. We need to move the children elsewhere... Anywhere but here. Mr Harrel, Mr Woodlock. Please can you lead the pupils out. Take them to the cafeteria. Luke, Miss Jones, would you mind helping me to get this TV there too? We need to hear the broadcast when it starts. We all do."

We all stood there. Silently. No one wanting to be the first to move. Still hoping that we would wake up. Praying that we would.

I acted. My mother hadn't trained me to freeze under pressure, she had always taught me to keep a clear head in trying times.

I spoke clearly, for the whole room to hear. "Yes Mr Hardy, that's a sensible suggestion. Tone would you mind helping us as well?" I had seen Tony shaking with a look of near madness and wanted to keep him close, to hopefully help him stay in the here and now. Although, even I had to admit that the present was pretty shit at the moment.

My small friend looked up at me, seeing past his inner torments and staring straight into my eyes. He nodded repeatedly, his nerves still getting the better of him.




Flight of the Raven Pt. 01



"Well all right then. Mr Harrel and Mr Woodlock, the sooner you get everyone moving the better. Mr Hardy the quicker we move this the less chance we'll have of missing part of the broadcast." I issued my orders loudly enough for all to hear.

Well someone had to step up. I didn't particularly want to but it seemed Mr Hardy was still out of sorts.

The room exploded into a flurry of activity. Amidst the renewed weeping and moaning of students and teachers alike, there was now a sense of urgency too. I had partly broken their self induced prison of disbelief, forcing them to act.

Mr Hardy walked to the where the TV was plugged in and disconnected it from the socket, placing the leads on top of the trolley. Tony reached me, still shaking, but with much less force. Mr Hardy, Tony and I began to gently but rapidly wheel the trolley out of the gym, following the long line of students and teachers heading towards the cafeteria. Cathy, limping slightly with an arm round my shoulder for support, walked with us. Kate was still clinging to her father, bawling her eyes out.

Despite all she'd been through, having seen her wrestle the same pain that Tony and I had, I still didn't feel for her. I couldn't get that self-righteous arrogant screech of a voice out of my head. She may not have deserved this, but I'd be damned for forgiving her past bitchiness. Fuck her.

In this way I managed to avoid offering Kate a word of help or encouragement. For some reason I felt immensely pleased with myself.

Realising there were more important things to do than cling to my hatred of a naïve little girl I spoke to her father. "Mr Hardy, when we turn this back on and you have established what order you can in the room, we need to search the school. There must be some pupils who skipped watching the eclipse from the gym, perhaps there are other survivors. Also we need to look for provisions. Food, medical supplies, blankets and warm clothing in case we have to stay here for the night, or longer. We should check if anyone has a radio in case the electricity goes. These earthquakes aren't exactly stopping." As if to emphasise my point a particularly violent quake shook the floor, causing us to halt, waiting for the hall to stop moving, before continuing towards the cafeteria. "You also need to allow the students to use their phones, they need to check their families and we could really do with some information from outside this building."

Mr Hardy looked at me, nodding his head with every point I came up with.

It was a little off-putting.

After I had finished speaking my mind Mr Hardy nodded once more and replied. "Hmmm. Yes those are all excellent ideas. I'll see to it when we get the TV set up. Thanks for your help Luke, I haven't really come to terms with... All this. I still need a little time to pull myself back together. But I understand the need for leadership. I'll manage from now, don't worry. Oh and Luke. Call me John, I'll be counting on your advice, you've proven yourself a most remarkable young man. Hargraves is lucky to have you."

With this last remark Cathy's arm tightened slightly round my shoulder and she smiled warmly at me, nodding her agreement.

Even Tony smiled a little, his shaking now barely noticeable.

Kate seemed to not understand what was going on, she had a glazed look on her face.

I pulled at my hair embarrassedly, not being used to all this praise and attention. Deciding to abstain from commenting, I continued pushing the trolley, keeping my eyes fixed ahead.

The rest of the trip passed silently until we pushed past the double-doors of the cafeteria and were assaulted by the moans of despair from crying students and teachers alike. Walking to the socket near the middle of the large wall forming one side of the room, we stopped. John plugged the TV in and switched it on as I moved the trolley, positioning the TV so that it faced the room.

John was successful and the TV displayed that official looking picture again. Blaring out the words. "This is an emergency broadcast! Please wait in a safe place where you can hear this message. We will provide citizens with more information shortly."

"Crap." I sighed, having hoped that the broadcast would have started by now.

"Damn." John mirrored my sentiments, frowning darkly at the screen.

He gently placed Kate in one of the plastic seats surrounding the numerous lunch tables and stood on top the table.

"Students and staff of Hargraves." John shouted, silencing the muffled wails around the room.

Sweet. It looked like he really was taking charge after all. I felt a huge wave of relief as I felt the weight of responsibility being lifted from my shoulders.

John continued, trying to make eye contact with as many people in the room as possible. "We need to keep order. This is not a dream. We cannot allow ourselves to believe that we will soon wake up. That mentality is an extremely dangerous one to harbour. Teachers, all of you need to be examples to the students. Your jobs are to guide them and that is what you must now do. Please, set an example by keeping your heads in this crisis. In an emergency clear lines of command must be maintained to combat disaster. This is an emergency. Therefore the teachers of Hargraves will obey both mine and Mr Luke Raven's instructions. He has proven his bravery in rescuing miss Jones. His intelligence with the ideas he has proposed to me and his clear-headedness by the capable way he issued instructions in the gym."

Are you fucking shitting me. I guess I really was some sort of jinxing machine today. I decided to find a piece of wood as soon as I could and to hold onto it -- tightly -- this was getting pretty ridiculous.

My thoughts were interrupted by the rest of John's speech. "Students will also follow our commands, as well as instructions from their teachers. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into chaos."

John's eyes flickered briefly to mine as he repeated my suggestions to the room. "Mr Harrel, take a few students who look up to it and search the school for anything that will keep us warm. We have no idea how long we might have to stay here, how long the electricity and heating will last and so we need insulation, light, food, a radio if possible and things of that sort. Use your initiative. We have seen some exceeding strange weather occur and we should not assume that the night will be as hot as the day. Perhaps it will snow, or the ash" he looked out one of the cafeteria's windows, confirming that the ash was still dropping. "will stop falling. Perhaps it shall turn to hail in the night. I have no idea so we must prepare for every eventuality. Keep an eye out for other survivors too. Luke thinks that a few pupils are bound to have skipped watching the eclipse. We weren't able to take a register... before... What happened. So it's certainly a possibility. Bring anyone you find back here. "

Mr Harrel nodded saying. "Yes Sir." and walked over to one of the tables of students, asking for volunteers, a few raised their hands and they departed the room in haste.

John looked around the room, his eyes stopping to rest on Beth Cooper, one of the kitchen staff. She seemed remarkably calm in the current situation, Mr Hardy must have thought the same thing as he asked. "Miss Cooper, round up any other kitchen staff that seem able and search the kitchens for anything that might be useful."

Beth stiffened when she first heard her name, but by the end of John's instructions was nodding enthusiastically and rushed over to a few of her colleagues. Only a couple seemed happy to accompany her and they briskly walked through the doors of the cafeteria -- to the kitchens.

"Mary," This time John spoke to the school nurse. I hadn't a clue what her surname was. "I need you and Angela," I guess she's the other nurse. "to get any medical supplies you can from the medical bay."

"Yes Sir, but I'm afraid Angela can't help. She didn't make it John." Mary spoke these last words softly, trying to keep her tears from falling.

"I see, take a couple of students with you instead Mary. Be as quick as you can. I don't want anyone to miss this broadcast if we can help it.

I had to hand it to John. He didn't falter for a second. I began to relax slightly. Perhaps, I wouldn't have to violate the promise to my mother any more than I had already. John certainly seemed capable enough for me to follow, and this gave me the luxury of trying to dodge any further responsibility. It would be safer for me -- if I only had myself to look out for.

My gaze caught Cathy's beside me and she smiled, warmly.

I briefly entertained the thought of hitting my head, repeatedly, on the wall beside me, but I thought better of it. My war on jinxes wasn't going particularly well it seemed. I really needed to find some wood.

The TV once more gave us its message; jolting me from my dark mood. "This is an emergency broadcast! Please wait in a safe place where you can hear this message. We will provide citizens with more information shortly."

I resisted smashing the TV to bits. Barely.

John scarcely gave the TV behind him a glance as he continued looking around the room. Seemingly satisfied he spoke once more. "Mr Woodlock, I need you to gather all the teachers and staff that are able to and get this room into shape. We need to organise seating and push these tables together -- closer to the centre of the room. I want a medical area with chairs, and some form of padding for the floor, set up in the middle. Close the doors and windows. There's no telling if the weather will change again, and what it will change into. Organise the kids that seem to be coping and have them move the tables. Get a few teachers to sit with them afterwards and keep an eye on them. Lets try and leave the ones that aren't doing that well for now. We'll have to think of a way to get them back to us, but until then I don't want to antagonize matters." He nodded to Mr Woodlock, having issued his orders. Receiving a nod in return as Mr Woodlock got to his task.

Chapter 3 -- Siege

For the next hour the room was a flurry of activity. The tables were arranged as a semi circle in the centre of the room -- curling inwards on the TV. I had advised John not to put the TV against a wall. The quakes were still an issue, a few occurring at regular intervals, and I was worried that if a wall collapsed so would our hope for information. He agreed quickly, having already arranged the seating in the centre for that very reason. John had lifted the school's ban on phone use, and had asked for everyone with a phone to call family, friends and, of course, the good ol' emergency services. That plan was quickly thwarted however as no one had even the slightest bit of signal.

A medical bay -- of sorts -- was erected behind the TV. We didn't want it in a corner for the same reason we didn't want the TV there. Mary and her two charges returned shortly after it had been constructed and she had them unpacking several bundles of supplies -- I assumed medical ones -- into cardboard boxes, and then stowing them under a table acting as the medical bay's desk.

Beth and her colleagues had also returned with two trolleys of food, a list of the non perishable goods they had in the freezers and a large, lidded, plastic box. After Beth whispered to him, John had leaned over and told me that there were a load of kitchen knives, a few spare gas bottles -- for the ovens -- and even an electric meat carver inside.

I could see why they needed a lid!

Mr Harrel and his entourage had returned as well, bearing the fruits of their labours. They had found piles of thick mats, probably two or three inches thick, in the sport's storeroom, and several of the students were carrying two of these mats each. In all they brought twelve large mats from storage, six foot by four, so three were used as the floor of the medical bay, while the rest were placed in-between the tables and TV -- acting as a sitting area for those people who were clearly still in shock.

Mr Harrel's group had also found a number of torches, of various strengths and sizes, and even an old, hand-held oil lamp. From where, I had no fucking clue. They brought a few candles in a plastic bag too, some food in more plastic bags, from the vending machines dotted around the school, and even several armfuls of winter coats that students had left in lockers, on the backs of chairs and in the changing rooms. However, the thing that surprised me most was the large, old radio in Mr Harrel's hands. Note to self -- This guy knows how to find shit. I really wasn't expecting there to be a portable radio in a dump like this. John took the radio from Mr Harrel and placed it on a table -- I guess trying to get some information on what the fuck was happening.

After the sitting-area and medical bay had mats for floors a few teachers, who weren't incessantly crying, gathered up the staff and students who weren't holding up so well; placing them upon the mats of the two area's and whispering warm, gentle words to them. It wasn't as bad as I feared, there were only about fifty people who still had that glazed look about them. This left slightly more than two-hundred and fifty people who seemed to be coping. At least I hoped they were.

Students were organised into groups and were seated around their tables -- talking in hushed voices. Food and water, from the tap, was handed out and the room calmed down slightly, the wailing having quieted noticeably. Oh right, by wailing I meant Kate. The annoying bitch had finally seemed to sober up -- going so far as to detach herself from 'Daddy'.

 Frankly, I couldn't be arsed to help with any of the organisation. I wanted no part in the responsibility John had thrust upon me, offering advice only when he asked for it and so I spent my time talking with Cathy and Tone, while watching the room's activity. I didn't think I was being unreasonable to avoid any more obligations. I had a promise to keep to my mother and I had already pretty much shattered it by rescuing Cathy.

For almost an hour the three of us talked around a table. Both Cathy and I could see Tone was still on edge, so we attempted to keep the mood light. Right. Keeping the mood light while several people were quietly crying, staring around the room blindly, or moaning on the floor and with the sound of the wind and ash battering upon closed windows. After a few attempts at humour, I realised that 'light' simply wasn't going to happen and instead I asked Tony about the pain. "Tone...That pain... What did you feel? Why the hell are Kate you and I not dead and how the fuck was half the room not even affected!" Yea. I deserved a medal for my epic 'light' conversation.

Cathy rolled her eyes at me, affirming that I hadn't handled this well, while Tony shakily replied. "Agony. That's the only way I can describe it. It felt like pure agony and it seemed to last for hours, but the worst was the end. Just before It ended I felt my head, my brain, growing."

"Yes!" I replied, "That's exactly how it felt to me too. Like something was pushing into my skull, and after it succeeded the pain just wasn't there any more. Right?" I asked him, eagerly.

Tony sighed, as if reliving the experience, but nodded. "Yes. That's a good way to describe it. As for your other questions Luke. I simply don't know. I'm not sure why we survived while the others didn't, and I have even less of a clue as to why roughly half the room simply weren't affected at all. Do you." He paused, "Feel different Luke? I... I can't really explain it, but I feel... Strange."

"Yea, I feel weird too. It's not exactly noticeable though... I... Meh, there's no point dwelling on it Tone. I feel a little different but have no idea in what way and so do you. Lets leave it at that until we can figure it out. Maybe we ought to talk to Kate too -- she's the only other person who survived." I finished, briefly glancing in her direction.

Urgh... I still can't believe she survived.

Looking back at Cathy I asked. "Have you got any ideas Cathy?"

She looked up at me blushing slightly. "Well, I'm not sure if this will be of any help or not Luke." She composed herself. "I wasn't affected by that light thing, but I have no idea why not. I was watching when the light hit you though Luke. You dropped instantly, screaming in pain." She smiled sadly at me. "It was horrible to watch. The people... With their skin splitting... coughing blood... Scratching out their own eyes!" She shuddered, "It was different with you though Luke. You suffered the same as the others at first, but you simply didn't continue with the symptoms. Apart from you, Kate and Tony everyone affected went through the same stages." She held up her hand, stalling my question. "Please, don't ask me Luke. I'm trying not to think about it. Anyway, you three all suffered the first stage and then seemed to be fine. As for me not being affected. I have no idea either. The light hit me and I didn't feel anything. That's pretty much the only way I can describe it. The light hit me, and nothing happened." Cathy closed her eyes when she was finished -- I guess she was trying to erase the horrors she had seen.

I didn't blame her.

"Thanks Cathy, I know that must have been difficult for you, but it's good to know as much as we can about all this. No matter how insignificant it may seem." I said, smiling gently at her. Cathy beamed.

After a few moments of silence where I watched John struggling with the radio, Cathy spoke up again. "Luke I'm not quite sure how to say this, but do you have any spare clothes?"

I was a little confused by this statement. "Erm, why?"

"Well. Err. It's just that you're not exactly wearing much." She said, starting to blush furiously.

"What? But I'm wearing sch--" It finally hit me. Looking down I saw that my school shirt had been burnt pretty much the whole way through and was now more a collection of thin, blackened straps than a shirt. My trousers hadn't fared much better either, having huge holes in them from the waist down to my feet. I calmed down a bit when I saw my boxers were still intact.

I started laughing softly. This was just too unreal. Cathy and Tone both grinned at me, finding my predicament amusing as well.

Right. Well. Clothes. My backpack. My backpack! Oh shit! Where the hell was it! Okay, I'm really an idiot I thought after finding my backpack, surprisingly, still on my back. Reaching round I grabbed the bag and placed it on the table in front of me. The bag was fucked: almost as much as my shirt. With great trepidation I opened the burnt and blackened husk of a bag. Fingers crossed that my suit hadn't met a similar fate.

Holy shit. Well, that's interesting. There was a pile of ash inside, and yet when I reached through and grasped my suit I could tell it was fine. I felt no holes, tears or burns of any kind. Despite it being submerged in ash that would have been red hot a few minutes ago and was still warm even now.

Smiling, I got up from the table. "Thanks Cathy. Maybe you could warn me a little earlier next time eh? Anyway, I've got some stuff I can wear. I'll be back in a minute." I grinned as her cheeks reddened, heading out the door to the hall.

About a minute later I walked back into the cafeteria and sat down next to Cathy and Tone.

This time in my suit. They looked at me as I slid into the seat and then glanced back to John -- muttering while he worked on the radio.

The shoe dropped for Cathy first. I thought her head would come off when she spun back round to face me, exclaiming. "Wow!"

This roused Tone who looked back at me too. His mouth dropped and he echoed Cathy's sentiments.

"What is that?" Tony asked after a moments silence.

"It's a long story, but basically this is a ninja outfit. I do a lot of martial arts training with my mum and she bought this for me last..." I stopped suddenly, my eyes filling up with moisture. I hadn't thought. With everything that had happened I simply didn't realise. The eclipse would affect everyone. Sophie could be dead. No. I refused to dwell on it. Shaking my head I looked back at my friends.