The Creatures Series

Nineteenth Dark

Nineteenth DarkCreatures of the Dark

© All Rights Reserved

##### Nineteenth Dark #####

--------------------------------

It’s madness out there, with creatures screaming murder and blood sheeting the ground. It’s the other side of the moon for the Noirmelns family.

"What did you do?" My voice come out blaring through the entire room.

He turns to me, revealing a facial expression so weird, I almost cough in my throat. His eyes pierce with haunt, as if he can't find what he's looking for, even though I’m standing only a few meters away. That's why they are always turning everywhere for each 3 seconds. His lips crack into an odd smile. The lines on his face just gives off freakier chills for the whole effect.

"You have to understand, Arsene." His voice comes out raspy, as if his cord has been sliced with a blade. "I need to do it."

"What can you possibly gain by making every single wizard in this building forget about me?" I yell in anger. "I've been in here for almost my entire life. You can't erase my existence here just like that!"

"But I did. And I did it for you. To protect you."

"I don't see how this can protect me."

"It will. So next time, no outsider can use the members' knowledge about you to turn it against you. Trust me, you'll be safer like this."

"What are you talking about? If the members don't know about me being part of them, they will attack me and chase me out of here!"

"They won't, because someone else will remind them that you're not the enemy. So only one wizard needs to remember you. And I'm more than enough."

"This is craz—" I suddenly pause.

Crazy.

Anger.

Insane.

Madness.

Out of control.

It's the none-moon effect.

Too dark.

Every is too dark and too cold, especially in this particular night. When the moon will not rise from the right side, but will flash from the other side. The side no one else can ever see....except for the Noirmelns. And we're having that effect now.

I don't understand. I haven't seen it, so why am I feeling this angry? And for Link, why is he out of his mind right now? We can't have the symptoms if we haven't look up at the sky directly. Or else....

Could it be....that the moon has risen without me realizing it?

I fight the urge to look up at the dark side of the moon, and to make sure of that. The dark side is actually pulling me, us, to look upon it. Tempting us to it. Wave down the dangerous dance of lure.

I gasp for air as my consciousness pulls me out of the unreal place. Bad things tend to happen every time the other side shows its face. I already tried to avoid looking directly at it, but so far the effect is taking a stronger dosage than it usually did on me. How are the others taking this in? I wonder.

The first thing that I see is the view of a ceiling when I open my eyes. Black background and deep blue lines that cross from horizon and vertical are creating squares all over the layer. Hundreds of small carved spiders are hanging every now and then. The patterns are so familiar, I recognize it right away.

Rising from the bed, I spot my surroundings has already been frozen since the day I left. This time, though, Link really is here. He's sleeping at my used to be favorite single sofa, with only my small red pillow and folded arms to warm himself. I can't identify any other clues of what had happened, so I wake him up.

"Link," I call him lowly, pulling the edge of his black silky shirt, but gaining no respond. "Link." This time, I call him louder. A groan escapes his lips. He's starting to wake up, but his mind refuses to do that. "Link, wake up. It's me, Arsene." And by the mention of my name, his eyes jolt open in an instant.

"You've recovered." That's a statement.

"What happened?" I gulp warily, preparing myself for the worst answer. "Did someone cut the—"

"No, nobody did." His answer makes me relieved. "But I didn't say that nobody wasn't harmed either." That gains my concern.

"My friends—"

"Crease, Shrade and Banri survived with major injuries, while the others," he looks at me with such grief, I know that the feeling that I felt when I found Minny died is building up again inside me. "aren't so lucky."

"Where are they now?"

"Those who survived are being cured by Madam Fluidora. As for the bodies, they had been buried inside the cemetery dimension, at Graveyard City. Wait, you can't go just like that." His hands are blocking the path to exit.

"And why not? My friends had died, while the others are dying! Don't tell me that you want me to just sit down here, sleeping!" I ask in anger.

"That's not it. The situation at Sorcier is in a huge mess right now. Go there, and who knows what kind of false string you will pull."

"What kind of mess?"

"Half of the tower was destroyed."

"What? Who did it?"

"You."

"Me?" That's not making sense at all. Why would I destroy Sorcier Tower?

"Well technically, the attackers and your friends destroyed the whole level 7 in an attempt to defend themselves. You were the one who did most of destruction."

"Still, I don't have the motive to—" I stop myself this time.

Fragments of what has actually happen start to flow into my mind, as hazy and short as they can be. Then suddenly, everything just makes sense.

The attack. I had stopped it by teleporting myself into the Sorcier Tower. I was in rage, furious of what he had done. Yes, it was the kappa who attacked my friends and killed them. I was so angry. My hatred for him had built up back then, that it unleashed my control over my darkness. There were no second thoughts anymore when I lunged at the kappa and killed him.

Too bad, after killing him, I didn't feel relieved at all. My friends were killed, and some of them are dying. I'm so angry, killing the source of their pain wasn't even enough to calm the black magma inside me. My darkness was aching to get out. So I lost control.

It took 20 wizards to get my attention. Took 50 more to ease the damage I had done to the building. But only my parents that could actually stop me. Link was there with them, just came from the same place we all had been before. But by the time they’d arrived, Sorcier was already half of hell. Broken pieces of cement rained everywhere. Blood was a must see. Glasses, screams, and tears are anywhere around the ground. And black fire was consuming anything that’s easy to burn.

A few dozen of wizards were injured majorly due to their attempt on stopping me. Madam Fluidora and her wizards came in time to treat all of them, while she put me into a slumber herself. Then the last thing I could hear was my father carrying me back to the Noirmelns castle, with my mother's face painted by tears.

And when my flashback has finished, I let my knees fall on the carpet near him. I had never seen my parents so worried before, not to the point that my mother even cried. "I am really guilty for this case, Link. I know that I won't be accepted into Sorcier anymore after this, but at least let me help rebuild it back. Please accept my offer, or at least take it as my punishment. I can't be removed just like that," I start begging for him.

"No, Arsene. That's not the case at all here. I...." He says, but bit his lips.

"You can punish me however you want, but please, just let me help. Sorcier had been part of my life for the biggest moments. I know I'm asking too much for someone who had committed the biggest crime and law breaking, but I won't be calm for the rest of my life if I do not do anything for Sorcier. Or let me cure them. I know that Madam Fluidora is strong, but we are talking about dozens of wizards here. With my power, I can help them heal much faster."

"Arsene, no. I can't. You know the rules. Your banishment had been made."

"Without my consent? You did it when I was asleep? You're the leader of Sorcier now, and you couldn't even give me a final notice?"

"It was an automatic accusation. I couldn't fight with the majority of the situation. I'm so sorry to do this, even though I knew how much Sorcier means to you. But you've hurt so many of my members, which I had to do something." The way he says 'my members' already indicates that I'm not one of them anymore.

"Please," I beg in pain.

"I can't. The decision had been made. And it's not just from me. Your parents also did something while you were unconscious. They already removed the chains that circled your wrists, if you hadn't noticed it already."

My eyes instantly dart to my pale skin that the chain left. I can't feel anything it left before, and I couldn't even feel anything since the very first. It was supposed to be undetectable.

"They'd realized what they had done just after we found you. We even knew it after I received a call from one of the members, saying that Sorcier was in an emergency situation. I thought that the other moon's side had done making its effect, until they forced me to do something."

Then, my eyes finally travel to the rest of my hand’s area, and I feel my eyebrows lifting higher than ever. There's a black tattoo circling the middle finger on my right hand, the smell of magic lingering it. Those patterns! How could he!

"You engaged yourself to me?" I state in anger. He looks away guiltily.

"It was the moon effect. If the other side hadn't appeared.... I'm really sorry, Arsene."

My parents, the kappa, my friends, and now this! I'm so angry that I want to explode again!

How could he do this without giving my consent? He knew perfectly well that I don't like the idea of having this engagement thing. The Valline case was enough to prove it. Now, I'm starting to think if it will be better to chop the middle finger for good.

Why do problems always appear every time the other side of the moon takes its effect? It seems to be worsening each time, too. Talk about straight bad lucks.

Link leaves when duty calls him. I'm soon alone in my old room. Everything looks so cold and small. The black bear that used to be my favorite sit near the window. I approach it and take a sit. Outside, the view that the windows visualize is the cold, mystic forest, with dead trees constantly dancing their branches.

"Oh, Lulu, why did you choose me? I'm corrupted."

My soul is wrong. So wrong. I didn't just want justice; I wanted death as well. That was what I felt when I gave the kappa his punishment. Even far before we met, I already yearned for it. I'm rotten to the very core. So why did he pick me?

I close my eyes with a sigh, and then open it again. The last view is my old room's window, and the next is the outline of abounded grey city that appears. I want to report to Lulu personally.