The Malebranche.

Excellent work. I cant wait to see the rest of it. I can almost imagine it as if its a movie playing in my head. =)

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Excellent work. I cant wait to see the rest of it. I can almost imagine it as if its a movie playing in my head. =)

[/ QUOTE ] /signed

I agree. This is like a scary movie, but I get to visualize it all in my head. I prefer it that way anyhow. Great job Agrippa!

Now we're getting somewhere. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Here's some more. Enjoy!

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Starke penitentiary was lifeless. The night had given way to the day, and now the sun was shining brightly on the grounds. The mangled wreckage of the get away car was still resting near Gate C, though no one was in it, nor was anyone around it. The sky was dead, as if all the birds had migrated at once to the North, leaving behind a stillness usually reserved for the death chamber.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a large yard. I was still dazed from the crash, though my eyes were clear from the blood and dirt. I tried to move but found that my arms were bound to a large wooden plank above my head; I realized that it was the only reason I was still standing. My legs were weak and lifeless, as if they were simply attached by stitching. I decided to save my energy by not attempting to free myself, though I wasn't ready to accept defeat. That is, until I looked up. Before me stood countless individuals, staring blankly at my battered body. There must have been thousands, though I couldn't see them all.

There were women and children, as well as men, all looking as though they had just been woken up. As I stared at them, a few things became clear to me: there were prisoners amongst them, as well as men dressed as guards, but what stood out the most was the fact that they looked as if they had come from the city. I then started struggling with my confines, my eyes beginning to come in to focus.

The people gathered before me hadn't moved once. As I scanned their faces, I realized that they all had one thing in common: a sickly gray color, akin to that which you'd find in a morgue. Many of the people had wounds on their heads that looked like puncture holes, complete with oozing liquids. I gagged and turned my eyes away from them. They were all dead. The entire city of Starke stood before me, victims of a mass genocide.

I was weak; my arms were already getting tired and my shoulders were sore. I wasn't going to break free from whatever held me, so I stopped and sighed heavily. Looking around, I didn't notice anyone else besides me in the circle. Will was no where to be seen. I began to wonder if he even survived the accident.

Suddenly from the back of the crowd I could sense movement. People were moving to the sides, forming a pathway for someone, or some thing. As the path began to get closer, I narrowed my eyes, awaiting my tormentor to come forth. My anger swelled up inside of me, though I knew I couldn't do anything about it. If I threw insults at Marley, she'd probably laugh, though it would probably release some of my tension. The front row parted and I could see a long stretch of emptiness, leading all the way back to the entrance to the prison, the same one through which Will and I had entered when we met John.

I had expected to see Marley, or perhaps even Faruk coming down the aisle to greet me. However, I saw nothing. An empty stretch of land filled my view. Past a basketball court and a chain link fence, which had been strewn apart and hurled about, was nothing.

"Marley I know you're here." I said, though my voice sounded hoarse. I must have been deprived of water for some time; my mouth was completely dry. My lips were severely chapped, which only added to the pain I was feeling throughout my entire body. I looked down and noticed that my knees were bloody and bruised, as if I had been dragged through the parking lot. My clothes were ripped and torn, no doubt from the glass of the windshield, though now I felt completely naked and a bit self conscious.

"You don't know anything." A voice came from behind me, female. "In fact, you only know what I want you to know." Suddenly Marley appeared before me. Not as if she had jumped down from a building, or had come up from the ground. She appeared; became visible. For a moment I could see through her, but now she was completely solid. She was wearing the suit from my nightmares; the same white and black attire, magical symbols in white down her legs, and the bones wrapped around her calves and feet. She wasn't wearing her mask.

"Let me go, or so help me God.." Tears formed in my eyes as I stared at her. I wanted nothing more than to introduce my fist to her face, though in my current state, it'd no doubt be like a marshmallow hitting a brick wall.

"God?" she asked. "Help you? You?" She laughed loudly, her hands on her sides. "God's away, Jade. You're only salvation is through me. So, I suggest you listen carefully." She looked over her shoulder as Faruk and five others approached down the pathway. I immediately recognized Adam Tally with them, and came to the conclusion that they must be the others who disappeared from the morgue. "Chris, Victoria, welcome!"

Two of the five parted ways from them to stand on Marley's right side. They weren't like Adam and the rest; they were alive. I stared at them for a moment, trying to contemplate how they stood here, breathing.

"Jade, you probably know these two as Victoria Wicklas and Chris Cooper." She moved behind them, placing her hands on their shoulders. Victoria was a few inches shorter than her, with bright red hair and a very pale complexion. She wore a pentagram around her neck, and a low cut top. She must have been a regular in the New Age section of the Barnes and Noble. Chris Cooper on the other hand was very clean cut, wearing a tank top and jeans. His brown hair matched his eyes, which were staring directly at me, stern and serious. "They took my warning to heart, and joined us early. Their gifts have been very useful." She smiled at Victoria, who approached me with an outstretched hand. I turned my head away from her and she grabbed my chin; suddenly I was overcome with thoughts of death and the grave. My mind was filled with fear that I couldn't escape. I wanted to scream, but I was completely motionless as I stared forward in to this living nightmare. She let go and I gasped, shaking my head to rid myself of the demons.

"She's the reason you're such a coward." Marley said, smiling at me. I knew then that they had been using her to affect my dreams; she was the one behind my paranoia and depression. She was an emotional vampire; her powers no doubt given to her by some sick Sorcerer. "Chris brought these three to me." She motioned to Adam Tally, Derek Nolan, and Masahari Nehembra. I realized then that the force needed to drive a knife through Adam Tally's back was no doubt in Chris's hands. I shuddered at the thought of having to face him. "And now we're one big happy family!"

Faruk laughed a bit. The dead men surrounding him, as well as the thousands behind him, were all under his command. I began to wonder how powerful one has to be to control this many bodies.

"But alas, there's sadness amongst us." She frowned. Her dramatics were beginning to annoy me. She was obviously an attention freak, as outlined by her theatrics. She walked to Faruk and patted his bald head, then tugged on his beard. Faruk frowned. "We're not complete. Though we are far stronger than most, we are not as strong as we could be." She looked down and covered her face, pretending to sob.

"That make's us real sad." Faruk said, though he wasn't pretending to cry. He simply stared at me, a sort of hatred in his eyes. I scanned the three, realizing that Derek Nolan must have been the man who stopped us the night before. He was huge; not to say he was obese, but he was made of something that made him immovable. I noticed that his neck was contorted in a strange way, as if it had been snapped. Chris Cooper became a bit scarier to me then. Masahari, while a lot smaller than the other two, was no push over. As far as I could tell, it looked as though his spine had been broken in several places. They must have put some sort of splint on him to keep him standing.

Marley looked up at me with a look of complete seriousness.

"You are the reason we're incomplete, Jade." She moved closer to me and put her hand on my chest. "We were supposed to go together."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said.

"Of course you don't. But that's why you're here, to learn the things that Will has kept from you." She patted me on the cheek.

"Were is Will?" I asked. Marley gritted her teeth and looked at me, annoyed.

"Never mind him. You won't even want to know where he is in a moment. Victoria?" She turned to her, motioning for her to come closer. Victoria put her hand on Marley's shoulder. "Now Jade, this might hurt a bit. In fact, I hope it does." She reached out and put the palm of her hand on to my forehead, and suddenly everything was black.

My mom's house wasn't very large. It was a one bedroom, one bathroom, and one living room box home. Gerald Ford couldn't have created a simpler place, though it fit our needs well. Now I stood in my living room, wondering if I was having a dream. I reached out and touched the walls, feeling the smooth texture of the wall paper. The green carpet was warm and fuzzy on my bare feet. As I looked down, I realized I wasn't bleeding from my knees. In fact, I looked at least ten years younger. A mirror hung from the wall adjacent to me, so I headed to it and peered in. Looking back at me was myself, younger, without a scratch.

"Jade?" A voice came from the other room. I immediately recognized it as my mother. "Jade is that you? What are you doing home?"

I couldn't open my mouth; I was in a state of shock. This was my home. Had what I been experiencing been real or was it just another fabrication? My mom entered the room, carrying a vase with a few flowers in it. She didn't look at me at first; instead she walked in to the kitchen and sat the vase down.

"Why aren't you at school?" She asked.

"I had things to do." I said, yet it wasn't me who spoke. I realized then that I had lost control of my body; I was being guided by someone else.

"That's no reason to skip school. I'm taking you back." She grabbed her keys from the wall and put them in her purse. She was obviously angry with me, though I wasn't paying attention. Someone knocked on the door. "Dammit. You, sit!" She told me as she headed to the door and opened it. I sat on the big gray couch, the back of my legs rubbing against the rough material. Looking to the door, I saw my mom speaking to someone, then inviting him in. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me; I couldn't reach up to rub them as I watched as Will walked in, though much younger. He had a full head of hair and didn't wear glasses, though he still wore an annoyingly tacky brown suit.

"I came by to get my keys. I had to take a taxi to get here, I'm glad I caught you." He looked around the room and spotted me. His eyes went wide and he smiled. "Jade! Why aren't you in school?"

"I didn't want to be there." I replied. There was a calendar on the kitchen wall that I could make out from where I was that read 'September 1995' at the top. I must be sixteen years old, though I had no recollection of being here. All of this seemed new to me.

"That's not a good reason." He frowned. "Anyways, I'd love to stay and talk, but I gotta go." He moved to the table near the couch and grabbed the keys that were laying there. "See ya later." He headed out the door and said goodbye to my mom. She shut the door behind him.

"He's so forgetful. He's always been that way, though." She reached for her purse. "Come on, we're taking you back to school."

"I'm not going." I said, my voice deeper. "Will is your brother; he’s going to feel real bad knowing that he left before the fun started.”

"What?" She said, looking at me strangely. "Come on. I'm not going to tell you twice." Suddenly the door came crashing down, sending wood across the room. I covered my face. When I opened my eyes once again, Faruk was standing there, huge as he was before his stay at the prison. My mom screamed and darted to the kitchen, but before she could get there I stuck my leg out, tripping her. She landed hard on her face. I heard a loud popping noise; she must have broken her nose. Faruk moved across the room and lifted her by the back of her neck. She struggled, but his hand nearly engulfed her entire head.

"Mother." I said, as I stood up. "You've been a thorn in my side from day one." I tried to stop myself; I couldn't control my body. It was as if I was a robot, with the scientist on the other side of the wall, controlling me by remote. I walked across the room to a box that had been sitting in the corner. As I opened it and looked in, I recognized the very same claws that Marley had on her belt the day I saw her outside of the station.

"No!" I screamed, this time I could hear it. My body stopped for a moment, trembling. "This isn't happening!"

"Marley, you ok?" Faruk asked, looking over his shoulder. Mom had stopped moving.

"I'm fine!" The voice came from me. "Put her on the wall!"

I reached in to the box and grabbed the weapons, then secured them on to my hands. "Stop it Marley! Stop it!" My body trembled again. "Stop struggling, Jade! We're in this together! There's no turning back!" Suddenly I felt weak, but my body continued. I was unable to stop myself.

I heard a thumping noise, as if someone was nailing something to the wall. I realized then that my mom was pinned to the wall via metal spikes through her wrists and ankles. What began was something out of a botched surgery, with the patient's welfare in the far back of my mind. Blood had covered my body, and my hair was matted to my face. I was laughing hysterically.

Faruk left, leaving just me there. When I was done with the body, I took the claws off and reached in to the cavity and pulled out the heart. Using it almost as if it were a crayon, I began drawing strange symbols and circles around her. As I did, the body began to glow a faint golden color. I was crying, yet I couldn't see or feel the tears. Marley had control of my body.

Finally, when she was done painting, she dropped the heart on to the floor and walked back over to the mirror. My heart stopped. It was me. The same dark hair now covered in blood; the same pale complexion, sunken eyes and everything, as if I was perpetually tired. My slender frame made me look as though I was a ghost, covered in the essence of my mother. The golden glow became brighter in the corner of my eye and I rushed back in front of the body.

Something was about to occur, but there was no time. Someone else walked in through the door. A neighbor, no doubt intrigued by the noises coming from inside, had come to check on us. He was horrified by what he saw, but had no time to escape before he was screaming in pain, with my claws through his torso. I flayed him the way I did my mother, side by side. Now that there were two bodies, the spell would be even more powerful. I could hear Marley's thoughts.

"Jade! I'm so happy we did this together. Think of the power we're going to obtain!" She said to me.

"No, Marley.. Marley I can't believe.." I stuttered.

"Shhh. I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You’re my sister."

The voice in my head was my own, only deeper. Now, as I looked back on this massacre, did I realize that we were one in the same. I was sick to my stomach, though I couldn't vomit. The golden glow was brighter now, and suddenly I was floating through nothingness. Darkness fell on either side of me, with no walls or stars in sight. Marley and I were both scared; we had no idea where we were.

Suddenly a bright light hit us, as if we were the target of someone's flood light. A golden hand reached out towards us. Marley spoke.

"No! No! Stay away!" She screamed, flailing my arms at the hand. But it was to no avail. The hand grabbed us and pulled us in to the throbbing light. Marley was screaming, as if she was in pain. I was completely silent; my mind was still reeling from what I had seen, and what I was seeing now.

I had control over my body suddenly. As I looked to the side, I saw spiders crawling down my arm. I began to shake it vigorously, sending the tiny terrors in to the open space. As they floated away, I realized that they were coming from me. From my nose and my ears. I opened my mouth to scream and more came through, trailing off down my chest and off in to the empty space. They seemed to be being sucked in to a hole of sorts, which looked much like a drain. I realized then that the golden hand was still holding me. Soon the spiders stopped coming, and I watched as the last one followed the rest.

I wasn't in my body anymore; instead I was following the spiders down the drain, the walls of which seemed to be made of bone. As I fell, I realized that I was a spider, my legs kicking and flailing, trying to grasp on to any surface. But the bone was as smooth as marble; there was no stopping the fall. What felt like hours passed. I latched on to another spider. We began to form a large ball, all of us spiders rolling down the drain.

Then we hit the ground with a splat. For a moment we were spread out, before reforming in to a large pile. Then, as if we were commanded by something greater, we began to form a human shape. Now a faux human, naked as sin, we stood on rock, overlooking a vast field of fire.

"What... is this place?" I asked, though like before, I had no control over this body. I was merely a spectator.

"Welcome to hell, Marley." Someone was standing to the right of me. "Though you can't stay. You have no soul."

"What? No soul? But the spell!" Marley said, her hands on her head.

"There is no spell that will replace a soul. You're on your own now." I scanned the man who was saying it, realizing he had no face, only a skeleton. He wore a large black robe, his boney fingers peeking through the ends of his sleeves. Raising his hand, he pointed at a large doorway. "Go, or forever be in purgatory."

I could sense the absolute anger and frustration in Marley's head as she walked, naked, to the door.

"This isn't over. I will be back, and I will claim what is mine." She said to Death.

"We will see." He replied, then Marley exited, and suddenly was back in the living room.

She was alone now and still naked, though covered in blood. Standing up slowly, she stood still for a moment, trying to control her trembling. When she had control over her legs, she walked groggily to the mirror and stared in to it. Jade was no longer there; it was simply Marley. Dark hair, dark skin, soulless eyes.

"Though I walked through the valley of the shadow of Death," she said to herself. “I have no soul.” She laughed weakly, staring at herself in disbelief.

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Also, if you have any questions, please ask. When the story is completed, i'm going to have a few notes on continuity and what not. When I'm done with the entire thing, I'll go back and fix a lot of errors I've made and work things out once again so they fit nicely. Until then, if you spot something that either doesn't make sense or doesn't fit the time line, please send me a message about it. I've probably already noticed it, but maybe I haven't.

Thanks!

Wow. Very nice, as always. Keep it up!

Yes the story just gets progressivly better. (sorry I havent been around, working alot)

Come on Agrippa, I know you're out that writing the story...

We need more!

I know! I am! I've been really busy lately though, but don't worry, I am working on the rest. So just keep an eye out for the upcoming week. I promise!

Psst....

<.<
>.>

Ya got more story? I'm jonesin for a fix man...

*looks around frantically*

*looks directly at whoever is reading this post*

"WHERE IS AGRIPPA AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

Where are you? Why has it not been posted?

"...You make me sad."

My computer died =( I havent been able to log online in almost 3-4 weeks. *sighs*

Well Ive just started reading this today and that sucks. I hope you can get your computer fixed or something (i dont know computers so i dont know EXACTLY what "died" means). Im ithching to hear more so i hope that your able to post again, good luck on your class too, this story is really good.

Aggripa is the one who wrote the stuff, I am part of the guild (one of the founders) hopefully, Ill be back up on my feet and able to promote the guild soon.

Well....im retarded, i hope your computer gets fixed(confrontation) and good luck with the stories(aggripa)

((Hmm...continuing computer troubles?))

i was really looking forward to finishing that story, the end is the most important part of a story you know, too bad it prolly wont happer

Well Ive fixed my computer problems, but I havent heard anything from her. =(