Ch 4: Anomalies

Amy encounters a man named Alastor, who claims to know Grey. Shocked to be told that Grey was actually a key member of a terrorist organization, will Amy turn on him before hearing his side?

            The dark entity in the black cloak lunged into the air at Grey with inhuman speed. Grey was only able to avoid it barely, showing some inhuman speed of his own as he leapt backwards high into the air, and in the action dropped the cell phone. The cloaked figure’s bladed arms slammed onto the concrete with such impact that it crumbled. Having leapt back close to the library’s entrance, Grey quickly formed in both his hands two masses of EDE, which crystallized into twin swords both like the one before. Bringing his blades to bear, his powerful aura of EDE ablaze, he sped down the library stairs again at breakneck speed. He reached his target and swung his blades at it, but the shrouded being quickly defended itself, blocking both his blades with its own bladed arms. Loud metallic clangs sounded as blade met blade, and Grey muttered to himself, “Damn anomaly, he really sent me a real winner!” 

Mustering his strength, which was amplified by his powers, he pressed against the anomaly’s blades, trying to push it back. As the anomaly slowly budged, Grey pushed harder as he said, “Get… LOST!” Then he unleashed one last ounce of strength and knocked the anomaly off balance, quickly following with a solid kick to its chest which sent it flying into the hover car. It bounced on the hood and started to roll across the roof, and then it brought itself to a halt by stabbing one of its blades into the roof. It tried to recover, but Grey wasn’t going to give it time. Raising one of his swords, he began gathering EDE and channeled it into the tip of the blade. Forming at the blade’s tip, a sphere of orange colored volatile energy formed, and Grey then used a small amount of EDE to generate a strong pulse that propelled the sphere directly at his target at high speed. It was a direct hit. Upon contact the sphere of energy went critical and exploded. Then there was a second explosion as the blast ignited the power source of the hover car. Grey watched as the smoke cleared, and saw one last glimpse of the anomaly as it attempted to pull its broken body from the wreckage before it began to disintegrate. Soon nothing remained but its cloak and dust.

            “H-how do you know Grey?” Amy asked, her curiosity barely overshadowing her sense that there was something dangerous about this Alastor person. Sitting there in his chair, Alastor replied, “I see, he hasn’t mentioned me. Well, we have had our differences, though he was quite useful the two years he was under my… employ. Pity he did not show the level of capability I had hoped, but…” Alastor took another sip of his coffee before continuing, “It’s so hard to find good help these days.” Replacing his coffee on the table, Alastor stared into space for a moment, then said, “It seems I’m running short on time, I had better get started on the preparations. He’s already destroyed the anomaly I sent… It was one of my best too. I’m somewhat impressed…” 

He rose from the table, and as he walked past the confused Amy he said, “I look forward to adding you to my collection, Ms. Grant. Give my regards to the Black Knight…” Amy stood there in shock for a split-second, then turned around and started to say, “You can’t mean…?!” Alastor was gone. Amy ran a ways down the sidewalk, looking for where he had gone, but it seemed he had vanished into thin air. Stopping to catch her breath, as she panted Amy said to herself, “No… it can’t… be…” Amy leaned against a building as she stared at the many different people walking by, thinking, “Men, women, children… The Black Knight spared no one…” Amy remembered the day of the attack on Luminosa, it had been reported on TV worldwide. Half the city decimated, hundreds killed. An attack led by a terrifying figure clad in black armor. By Grey. As Amy began to cry, she thought, “I trusted you, but you were…”

            Alexander walked out the school’s gate to his hover car. Opening the driver’s seat door and settling into the chair, he said, “She’s already headed home. They cancelled the rest of the day’s classes after the inspection. I called Thomas, he hasn’t seen her.” Grey, lying on the floor of the back seat hiding beneath a blanket, muttered, “All we can do is search around town. If she isn’t home by now… Damn it, why’d I let her out of my sight?! I should have made her stop going to school until they made their move!” Alexander started the car and said, “Calm down. We don’t know if anything’s happened yet. It doesn’t look good though. It’s just a guess, but I doubt that anomaly was sent to defeat you. It seems more like it was a distraction…” Grey had gotten the same impression. The anomaly’s first action after appearing was to disable his hover car. Grey grit his teeth for a moment, and then said quietly, “D****t… Amy, you’d better be ok!” The hover car zoomed away down the street.

            Amy meandered up the sidewalk towards the apartment complex. The sun was setting. She’d been wandering aimlessly for hours, lost in thought. As she reached the walkway to the door of the building, a hover car turned the corner up the street at high speed and came roaring down the street to stop in front of the complex. Even before it came to a complete stop, Grey stumbled out the back seat door and started to run up to her shouting, “Amy! Are you alright? We’ve been looking all over for you!” He stopped a short distance away from her as she noticed the look in her eyes. A confused Grey asked, “What’s wrong? Amy…?” He started to move towards her, but then Amy shouted, “Stay away from me!” Grey was shocked. After a moment he quietly said, “Amy?” Tears rolled down her face as she shouted, “I know everything! You’re a terrorist! You’re the Black Knight, aren’t you?! The one who destroyed all of Luminosa!” Grey’s face was covered by shadow as the sun was setting behind him. There was a tense moment of silence, and then Grey quietly said, “Yes.” Amy’s eyes snapped shut, and she muttered, “So my first energist friend... is the reason they hate us…” Then she exclaimed, “MURDERER!” She ran up the walkway of the apartment complex, tore open the door, went inside and slammed it shut behind her.

            Amy ran down the hall towards her apartment, her tears trailing behind her. She slowed as she approached the door to the Grant’s apartment, however, as it stood open. Amy’s heart stopped as a terrible possibility entered her mind. In fear, she called out, “Dad…?” There was no response. Quickly she rushed towards the door, and as she moved inside the apartment, her fears were realized. There, on the floor of the living room, lay her father in a pool of his own blood. He’d been stabbed through the chest. As she rushed to his side, she screamed, “NO NOT DAD!!!” Amy knelt beside him, sobbing. Thomas Grant’s eyes slowly opened a bit as he turned his face towards his daughter. Tears running down her face, Amy said to him, “Dad! Don’t move, I’ll call an ambulance! Please hang on!” She got up to get the telephone, but Mr. Grant said in a weak voice, “No… run… It’s a trap!” 

Amy’s eyes widened in terror as out of shadows on the walls and ceiling of the apartment, dark vortexes formed. Humanoid anomalies, cloaked in black, slowly extracted themselves from the vortexes, and the sound of hoarse rasping breaths filled the apartment. Mr. Grant pleaded, “Run…” Amy, realizing there was nothing else to do, ran as her father had asked, her heart aching from the thought of leaving him behind to die. As she ran down the hall to the door, she yelled, “Someone, anyone… PLEASE HELP!” But before she could reach it, dark vortexes formed in front of her as more anomalies appeared. Trapped, the only way left to go was up the metal stairs to the second floor. As she ran up the stairs, she wondered what had happened to the other tenants who lived in the complex, thinking, “Have they all been killed too?!” Running down the hall of the second floor towards the door to the roof, she could sense them coming after her, hear their rasping breaths. All hope seemed lost.

            The sky was darkening as the sun had almost finished setting. Slowly walking back to the hover car, Grey felt the great weight of all he had done wash over him, as Amy’s voice rang in his head over and over, “MURDERER!!” Alexander stepped out of the hover car and removed his sunglasses, his eyes somber as he looked at Grey and said, “Why didn’t you tell her everything?” Grey leaned against the car and let himself slide down into a sitting position, and after a moment he said with a quiet laugh, “Doesn’t change anything. The truth is the truth. I am a murderer. I don’t know what I was thinking, trying to be some hero like this after all I’ve done.” Alexander sighed and said, “Are you still thinking like that? When I saved your life a year ago I hoped you’d come to understand it wasn’t your fault, but it looks like Jonathan really instilled quite the sense of responsibility in you. I know you don’t remember him, but the two of you seem quite alike in that regard. To a fault… It’s good to take responsibility for your actions, don’t get me wrong, but you’re taking it much too far.” 

Walking over to sit by Grey, he continued, “Either way, are you really going to end it like this with her? Altera Veritas is still targeting her. Who knows what their plans for her are. Are you just going to run away from your responsibility to her?” For a moment there was a silence between the two. Then in a serious voice, Alexander added, “Are you going to let her suffer the same way you did?” Grey stared down at his hands, then clenched them into fists and smirked as he thought, “After all this time trying to make up for what I’ve done, instead of telling Amy the whole story, I just ran away. From her, my past… everything.” Grey sighed and said, “I really hate how you’re always right, you know that?” He stood, and Alexander stood as well, a grin on his face. Yet Alexander’s grin vanished as he sensed a strange fluctuation of EDE coming from the apartment complex, and he quickly said, “Grey, did you feel that?” The alarmed look on Grey’s face was the only answer he needed. Rushing off with Alexander right behind him, Grey only hoped he wasn’t too late.

            Rushing down the hall towards the open door of the Grant’s apartment, Grey and Alexander arrived to find Thomas Grant covered in blood a short distance from the door in the living room. Despite being on death’s doorstep, he had obviously made great effort to crawl to the door. Entering the apartment, Alexander knelt beside him as Grey said in horror, “Oh no…” Alexander asked the fading Mr. Grant, “Thomas, what happened here? Did they take her?” Gasping, Mr. Grant replied, “Amy… she escaped… into… the hall…” He started coughing up blood, and quickly Alexander said, “Grey, she must be somewhere in the building, perhaps upstairs. We would have seen her if she’d come outside. Go, find her. I’ll take care of Thomas.” Without a word, Grey rushed out of the apartment. Seemingly to no one, Alexander said, “Serius, can you lend me any strength to help me heal him?” Then, he heard a response, not with his ears but from a voice within his mind that said, “I’m sorry Alexander… I’m afraid no amount of healing can save him now. He should have been dead some time ago.” 

Alexander grimaced, as it was not the answer he had hoped for, despite having already known. Then Thomas Grant struggled to say, “It… was Alastor…” After a moment he continued, “He… was just as… you described… It was as though… he had no heart…” With a tone of importance, Alexander asked, “Thomas, were you able to see his thoughts? Do you have any idea what he’s planning?” Thomas grabbed hold of Alexander’s hand and looked at him desperately as he wheezed, “Please… Alexander… Take care of Amy… Watch over her…” Alexander nodded and said, “I swear it, Thomas. I’ll take care of her.” A look of relief filled Mr. Grant’s fading eyes. Alexander, his voice urgent, inquired again, “Please Thomas, you’re not long for this world. Were you able to read Alastor’s mind?” Mr. Grant seemed to nod, and said, “He wants… Origin’s power… First though, he needs the keys… to restoring his… own power…” Alexander could see him slipping away as he gasped, “He needs a… sage… Her… lineage…” 

Mr. Grant drew his last breath. His hand went limp. Within Alexander’s mind, Serius said, “I had assumed as much. He’s breaking the seals. That means he’s also still after…” Alexander finished his sentence saying, “Grey.” Alexander rose to leave the apartment, but dark vortexes began to form from the shadows around him. He was soon surrounded by anomalies. Alexander raised a hand in front of him, and as a mass of EDE formed from his hand, it crystallized into the form of a massive two handed sword with no guard, only a blade and handle. He grasped its handle with one hand and leaned the large blade against his shoulder as he said casually, “Very well then…”

            Surrounded by seven anomalies, Amy crept backwards toward the edge of the roof as the sinister beings neared her. Suddenly the bladed arm of one of the sinister beings morphed into a black, humanoid arm that it reached out towards her. Amy stumbled away from the anomaly, falling on her behind and scooting back until she could go no further. The anomaly closed in, reaching again as Amy shouted, “Leave me alone!” As if in response to her pleas, a power came forth that Amy didn’t even know she had, and a barrier of violet colored psychic energy formed around her like a bubble, blocking the anomaly’s reaching arm. The anomaly simply raised its other, bladed arm and began to pound on the barrier. Able to feel the barrier weakening as it continued to attack, Amy screamed, “Go away!” Suddenly, the door to the roof burst off its hinges and sailed through the air towards the anomaly, slamming hard into it. Both the anomaly and the door sailed over Amy and off the side of the roof. For a moment Amy did not understand what had just happened, and she wondered if she had somehow done that as well. Then out of the shadows of the doorway stepped Grey, swords in hand.

            Amy stared in disbelief, thinking, “He came? Even after everything I said? Grey came… to save me?!” A feeling of hope washed over her. Grey stood calmly as the six remaining anomalies slowly turned their attention to him. As the air around him churned from his powerful aura, Grey said in a hushed voice, “I’m gonna tell you all a little story….” As one of the anomalies charged at him, Grey ducked its blades and sliced it in half with a horizontal swing, continuing, “A story of a young boy who lived in a peaceful village until, one day, an evil man named Alastor came and took him away…” Amy listened intently. Another anomaly leapt high into the air, descending towards Grey with bladed arms over its head. 

Grey moved a short distance to the side, dodging the anomaly as it landed, its blades smashing into the roof. It quickly recovered and turned to swing again, but Grey parried the attack with one blade, and sliced it in half vertically with the other as he went on to say, “That boy suffered torturous experiments intended to bring out his true powers, and finally, his will too weak to resist, was brainwashed and turned into a human weapon. Sent out to do terrible things, he murdered men, women, and children mercilessly.” The four remaining anomalies gathered around him cautiously. Continuing his story, Grey said, “Until one day, during an attack on Luminosa city, he was confronted with a face from his past, a young Guild Special Forces officer, who when he recognized the boy, called out his name. That name released him from the control Alastor held over his mind. The boy’s heart could not handle the realization of what he’d done, the memories of what he had suffered through, and unleashing a nightmarish level of power that should have destroyed him, he left the city in ruins and the young officer from his past in a coma.” Grey stared at Amy, ignoring the sinister group of anomalies that stood before him, awaiting his next move. After a moment he went on with his story, saying, “The boy was saved by an old family friend, but had suffered partial amnesia and could not remember anything before his tortuous experience except the love of his parents. Trained by this friend in the ways of Rune Swordsmanship, he could think of only one thing. Revenge.”

            Grey went on the offensive, leaping forth he swung at one of the anomalies, a blow so powerful it shattered the bladed arms that rose in defense and sliced it in two. Parrying another anomaly’s attack, he launched a powerful kick and sent it flying into the two others. Grey raised a sword, channeled EDE into it quickly, and shot an orb of volatile energy from it at the collapsed group of anomalies. The sphere struck and exploded, obliterating them. Smoke and dust floated from the damaged area of the rooftop as Grey walked over to Amy slowly, whose psychic barrier came down. She could not bear to look at him, guilt racking her body. 

Grey threw aside a sword and extended his hand in an offer to help her up as he finished his story, saying, “Then while on his quest for revenge he met a young girl in trouble, and in helping her, he hoped, in some small way, he was making up for what had happened all because he had not been strong enough…” Amy looked up, tears running from her eyes and down her face, and saw him smiling at her. She took hold of his hand, pulled herself up, and proceeded to throw her arms around him as she sobbed, “I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry!” She buried her face in his chest, sobbing uncontrollably, and Grey could only put his arm around her as well and wonder, “Well, what do we do now?”

Reviews

[Ryan Henderson]

My, my! You were right when you told me that you give your characters likable qualities! I am coming to very much like Grey's character! I like that second last paragraph where he is fighting the anomalies! You describe your fight scenes much like I describe mine! I am particularly liking this story, it is doing a fine job of holding my attention, and that is a rare thing with stories on writing sites, pat your self on the back, this job well done indeed!