[hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/KzmdUGG.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/puXkAoM.png[/img] [b][code]Thompson Lumber Mill Inc.[/code][/b][hr] Claire needed to jump a ride out of here. The mill was going up in flames, and she was hauling ass for the furthest part away of from. Everyone had already abandoned the place - hopefully. Claire hoped that [i]somebody[/i] got out of this in one piece. She kept running until she heard a massive crash as the lumber mill came coming down. It finally gave out because of all the flames, Claire looked behind her at the flames, as she saw someone coming out of it. Shit, Claire grit her teeth as she prepared to treat a burn victim... ... but, it was Samson running out of the flames. Not burned a inch, as he horribly coughed and wheezed. "Samson!" Claire said as she took him in her arms. "Are you okay?" Samson coughed a bit, "... Not dead, yet." He said with a grin. He fell to his knees as he violently coughed, and Claire knew that he probably suffered from some pretty bad smoke inhalation. She was amazed that he stayed alive in all of that! She knelt down, and said, "Take deep breaths Sammy," She softly said to him as she held both sides of his face. She heard another crash, before she looked up... to see that psychopath standing in the burning wreckage of the building. In the flames, he was nothing but a barely illuminated silhouette. Staring at Claire and Samson. "Shit..." Claire said under her breath as she looked up at him. She patted Samson's cheek as she said, "C'mon, Sammy, we gotta go!" She tried to pull him to his feet, as the psychopath stepped out of the wreckage, barely phased by the flames. Samson also tried to push himself up, but it wasn't long before the killer was getting close... ... Then the psychopath turned, and darted off into the woods. Claire was paying attention, and noticed that he was running towards the mountain. It didn't matter where he went, long as it was away from her... Claire sighed in relief. "Thank God..." Claire trailed off, before she mused, "... Maybe I should start going to church..." [hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/4TN2wN2.png[/img][hr] After the bloodshed, the killer... known as Scott Reese dragged his feet deep into the woods. His transformation seemingly halting as he went through the dark woods. It was one fuck up after another. Scott had failed yet again. On the way, he punched a tree and sent chunks flying. The tree fell over as he walked away, completely uncaring. He had a destination, but he didn't know where. That voice... that eldritch voice was compelling him to go [i]somewhere.[/i] It ended up being in the embrace of the mountain... his very presence drove off any animal that had the smallest amount of self-preservation. They weren't his object, and he was unconcerned with them. He just wanted to know where this voice was leading him. He approached the mountain, an abandoned mineshaft that was fenced off. Scott approached it, and gave it one firm kick and it went over. He walked into the darkness of the caverns, guided by a strange voice. He didn't need light when there was a power above him guiding him to everywhere he needed to be. Scott walked deeper and deeper into the confines of the cave, spending hours as he went deeper and deeper into the endless caverns. Eventually, Scott hit a dead end. There was nothing but a large chamber, with only one entrance. Why did he come here? What compelled him to come [i]here[/i] of all places when there were sooooo many other places Scott could go? However, he stood there, patiently.... until an orange light materialized, and he was mesmerized by it's brilliant glow... it's power. He fell to his knees and knees out of sheer respect. Out of the orange light came strange, black, appendages that seemed to be made out of a black tar that took the shape of bony spider-legs. It was an infinite mass of these appendages that was connected. Some pieces of the limbs were coming out of the other. These limbs extended forward towards the kneeling Scott, and they grabbed him. Raising him up into the air before the limbs touched him, poking him with their otherworldly embrace. With each point of impact, a ring of orange light surrounded it, and it caused his wounds to heal. But, it caused him to further mutate. His muscles bulged further, cracks in skin that exposed bare flesh... Out of the light, the limbs delivered a metal mask and pushed it against Scott's face. The mask was twisted, covered his entire face, but left his mouth exposed - his teeth being rooted and decayed, and a green bile leaking from the corners of his mouth. Once it was pushed against his face, flesh had grown over it and firmly attached itself to his face. The other gift from this otherworldly being was a weapon. A massive, twisted blade, made out of some kind of metal, but it appeared like an oversized butcher's cleaver. Heavy, mangled, designed to cause the most brutal and bloody wounds possible, it was pushed into his hand. With that, Scott's transformation was complete. The limbs lowered him to the ground, and quickly retracted into the orange light. He was now armed, healed, and dangerous... [i]I won't fail you...[/i] Scott thought to himself as he marched through the tunnels back outside. The orange light disappeared. [i]... Master.[/i] [hr] [i]Wha-what the hell...?[/i] Claire thought to herself, as she rubbed her eyes. Last time she checked, she was in bed... but, when the girl moved her hands, she realized that she was in a... forest? What the hell, she was supposed to have left that godforsaken forest behind, why...? Claire looked at her hands for a moment, and realized that she was [i]blue[/i]. Her hands were transparent as if she was a phantasm. [i]Okay, I should lay off the drugs...[/i] Claire groaned to herself as she looked around. There was fog in the distance that made it impossible to see past a certain radius. Okay, it was obvious that she was dreaming, but why did it all feel so real? Like... she was here. Ugh, probably nothing. Claire heard small footsteps and chatter, and walked forward after it. Eventually, she caught sight of some lights, and went for that. Claire saw a pair of kids that looked scared out of their minds, holding flashlights as they looked around. One was a young male with darkbrown hair, probably around thirteen, wearing boots, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt. The girl at his side had wavy blonde hair, and wore a summer dress. It was the middle of night, what were these kids doing? Don't they know there was all sorts of shit out here in the woods that'd love to make them a snack? Claire rolled her eyes as she moved forward with a hand extended, and said, "Hey, are you kids oka-" Then her hand went through the kid like she was a [i]ghost[/i], and she froze. [i]Oh boy,[/i] Claire dryly thought to herself. [i]I'm dead.[/i] Holy shit. What was going on...? Maybe this was just a dream. A dream that Claire was going to try to wake up from now.... Okay, she was still sleeping. So, Claire tried harder. "I'm gonna wake up now - shit." Normally Claire could force herself to wake up out of these shitty dreams, but this time was different. She rolled her eyes... looks like ol' Claire's gonna be in la-la land for a little bit, eh. She followed the kids, as she heard a conversation between them. "... Arrow's not out here," The girl said. "Let's just go home before we get caught." "No," The boy said, determined as ever. "He's out here, see these tracks." The boy shined the flashlight on the trail of footprints that looked much like it was produced from a dog. "John," The girl said, "Those could be [i]any[/i] tracks, how do you know it's a dog?" "Have you ever read a nature book, Amy?" John said to his female cohort, very irritated by her. "There's no other animal that could leave a trail like this." He shook his head, "Arrow!" "John, will you keep it down?" Amy said, "You don't know what you'll attract." "Then leave," John said as he walked forward, leaving Amy behind. "I... can't leave you, you're my best friend," Amy somberly said. "I don't want you to pop up on the news as missing." [i]Awww, young love,[/i] Claire thought to herself, a mixture of bitter and had her spirits genuinely raised. Bitter that she passed the point of experiencing that kind of love. Claire followed behind the kids as they talked. "... I'll help you find your stupid dog," Amy said. "Just let's hurry up and get out of here." They both nodded as they continued to walk down the trail, with a ghostly follower behind them. Though, as they continued down the path... the trail of footprints came to an end, and was replaced by a trail of [i]blood[/i]. There was blood splatters on the ground as if something was slashed, then the trail as if the same thing was [i]dragged[/i]. The two thirteen year olds paused, nearly choking as John prepared for the inevitable. He hoped it wasn't so, he prayed it wasn't. When he raised the flashlight, it landed on the corpse of a german shepard. The two gasped, and John's eyes were full of tears as he looked at the traumatizing sight of his dog, Arrow, devoured by... something. His dog's chest was open, and the blood was still fresh. John didn't know what happened to Arrow, but Amy sure as hell didn't want to find out. "John... let's go..." Amy trailed off as she grabbed John's arm to pull him back down the pathway they came down. Partly out of pity, and the other part was merely out of fear of whatever was lurking around. "... Hey, what are you two doing out here?" A third voice spoke up that made the kids jolt, they turned around to see a tall stern man, in a green park rangers uniform. He had his arms crossed over his thin frame, and had an eyebrow raised. "We were just-" Amy tried to plead, before the park ranger grabbed onto both of them. "I don't have time for excuses, I'm going to get you two out of here, and right back to your parents." The ranger said as he dragged both of them away. They thought out of the woods, but it felt like they were going [i]deeper[/i]. They ended up at a shack. A "wilderness center" as the sign said... but, this place looked like it wasn't used in literally years. That made a knot form in their guts (and Claire's by extent), and the ranger kicked the door down, and lead the kids into the shack as he closed the door behind them. There was an awkward silence as he closed the door. "Um... I thought we were leaving?" Amy said. "And you said you were taking us back to our parents? This..." The girl trailed off, as she looked around, "... This place is abandoned." Then the park ranger laughed as he finished closing the door, and slowly turned around. Softly saying, "... Why is every kid that wanders through here so gullible?" The two kids gasped as they caught sight of the man's face cracked, revealing a layer of skin underneath that looked like a predator's jaw. Except made out of a ethereal white light with black symbols. That was when the rest of the man's form cracked to pieces, revealing the beast underneath. Seemingly a ghost-like being that was at least eight feet tall, made out of a white light, and had long limbs, with long, spiny fingers. It had the head of a deer, and it's rib cage was exposed. It looked down at the two children, and without another word... it lunged at John. Slamming the boy to the ground, and immediately feasting on him. Wildly biting his shoulder, and taking huge chunks of flesh out. John loudly screamed, but there was no one to hear him, save for Amy. Whom was terrified, she immediately pressed her back against the wall as if she was desperately trying to look for an exit, but there was no where else to go. She loudly panted as the beast savagely mauled John, but she was helpless to save him. It was only a matter of time before she was next... Amy loudly screamed, and that was when her abstraction saved both herself and John. When she screamed, it was carried by a massive blue wave that engulfed everything in a blue light, sending it flying away from her. Before it was frozen solid by a sudden wave of cold. It was frozen solid after it hit the ground. Amy didn't have a single clue what happened, but she was the least bit concerned. She knelt down to John, and realized that he was still alive! Thank goodness! Though, not for long, he was bleeding... He looked a little dead-eyed, too. She pulled John to his feet, and slung him over her shoulder. She was going to get the high hell out of here, she didn't know where. She opened the door, and with John over her shoulder, she made a break for it. Going fast as she could. Though, she didn't make it far before the man eating fiend broke free of his ice capsule, and roared. He slammed a claw onto the ground as he forced himself to his feet. He quickly ran through the door, breaking it, and made a mad sprint for the two with his hands ready to kill. Amy fell over with John, screaming loudly as it was the end. His plan hit another snag as a barrier erupted between the two. One that the wendigo crashed into, and groaned as he tried to figure out what just happened. That was when a fireball hit him, and he was sent tumbling over. He did a roll, landing on a knee, as he looked over to the source of the transgression... and his eyes went wide with fear. Three robed figures, each a different color (one was green, one was red, and one was yellow) with symbols all over them. The green robed figure held a medieval styled long-sword, the red one held a staff, and the last had a book... one that had the pages rapidly turn by a seemingly outside force as a intricate series of symbols floated above it. "Take him out!" The book wielded magician shouted, "I'll keep the kids safe." His companions nodding, the two immediately rushed the monster. He tried to run away, but symbols appeared in the ground, followed by pillars of fire that stopped him in his track. At this point the sword wielder had closed the distance, and slashed at the beast's leg, and he tumbled over. He quickly pushed himself to his feet as he slashed in retaliation, and that was promptly blocked by the sword with zero effort. It was counted by a quick slash to the chest, and the beast stumbled backwards. It also couldn't handle the barrage of fireballs being pelted on it from the back. It grabbed the sword wielder, and threw her at the fireball magician like she was a baseball. She yelled as her friend caught her, and let her down gently. Instead, the beast ran attempted to flee. However, it was promptly stopped when a powerful explosion of flames went off in front of it, and forced it to stop and guard it's face. The woman with the sword had recovered, and was right behind it. It roared as it whipped around, and slashed part of her robe, and she was bleeding. But, she was undeterred as she slashed the beast's arm off with one powerful swing, followed by a solid swing that removed everything under the knee. It roared as the woman held her longsword to the beast's head. It weakly raised a claw, but the woman just said, "Die aberrant." and stabbed the otherworldly creature in the head. Splitting its skull in half, and causing it to fade from existence. "Floris!" The man in the yellow robe shouted out to her. "Get over here, we need your healing!" The woman ran over to them... and realized what a shitty state the boy was in. She should had healed him first, instead of fighting the aberrant... but, she could fit this. She held her sword with both hands, and close to herself as she focused. A floating rune appeared on the hilt of the sword. The wounds John received on his shoulder were closed as a green light engulfed them. It took a few moments, but he was instantly healed in no time. But, as the green light faded, something became apparent. On John's chest, there was a symbol of a chariot. The strangers in the robes looked at each other before they said to each other... "He's... [i]an awakened.[/i]" [center][hr][sup][sup][sup]Innocence x Courage - Hate...[/sup][/sup][/sup][hr] [img]https://i.imgur.com/TWREXCn.png[/img] [b]Saturday 8:23 AM. September 23th, Awakening. 11 days after the massacre.[/b][/center] [hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/pzvcW5L.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/f4XE2MO.png[/img] [b][code]Grand Ridge Academy, Kimberly's dorm.[/code][/b][hr] Kimberly arose from her slumber around this time. Briefly rubbing her eyes, she muttered the last words she heard from a particular dream she had... "... He's awakened?" To nobody but herself, out of some strange compulsion because that dream was a bit weird. Kimberly was quick to climb out of bed after realizing that, in fact, she didn't wake up in a forest, or anything. But, instead, she woke up in her dorm room. It was neat and prim as always, with her posters on the wall, and on her computer desk, she had her camera and all the parts for it. Neatly laid out for her to put it together. Recently things were a bit... fucked. She couldn't focus in school after seeing all that death and destruction inflicted at the hands of Scott Reese. But, yet, the school just expected her to carry on like it was nothing. The same with her job. It was hard, especially since Kimberly didn't want to leave her room after what happened. She just shook her head, and went over to her computer and started putting back together her camera. For once, she was going to try to go to work today. Or else her mother's going to kill her... God, she hated this town. She sighed for a moment. Though, in the reflection of the camera's lense, she saw something weird... well, saw it again. The symbol that appeared in the center of her forehead. The camera's eye. It was there for awhile now. She rubbed it, hoping that it'd come off then, but it didn't. She shook her head. Kimberly noticed it the next morning after the massacre... and thought she was going crazy. Her job had a strict policy on no visible tattoos, and she was soooo going to get fired. Her parents were also going to kill her! Yet, not a soul mentioned it. Maybe her defensive measures were successful, and nobody noticed it. Or maybe... it was all in her head. Like that strange dream. After she put her camera together, Kimberly walked over to her dresser and pulled out her outfit for today - a sweater, some jeans, and some converse sneakers. She walked out the door towards the community showers - a concept that she found incredibly loathsome. The halls of Grand Ridge Academy were rather dead. As either people were still reeling from the fucked up massacre that took place, or from fear of being next. There were a few other gruesome killings taking place after the massacre. So that meant Scott was still out there. She found the showers and opened the door, and immediately felt bare feet touch the humid tiles. She sighed as she realized that the showers weren't that packed at this hour. Most of the people were still asleep on a saturday at eight, or were already up. There were a few people who were in here, but Kim paid them little mind. She found herself a stall, and placed her new attire on a bench outside of it. Stepping inside tripped herself of her kitten patterned jammies, and turned on the water. Hot as possible... heh, regardless of how the weather was outside, she always turned the water on. She took the time to thoroughly wash herself off, clean her hair... Then she stepped out of the stall shower with a towel on, and at the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar sight. Jordan Nichols. Drying herself off, baring it all in the bare view of everyone here. Kimberly felt a little embarrassed, looking at her friend like that, but she caught a quick glimpse at Jordan's back. She saw a large tattoo of an hourglass on her back? Weird. Last time she checked, Jordan didn't have any tattoos like that. While Jordan was pulling up her underwear, she felt someone gawk at her, and saw Kimberly - and she wasn't even worried anymore. She nodded her head, and kept putting her clothes on, as Kimberly did the same. Once the two girls got dressed, [i]then[/i] they felt it appropriate to engage in conversation. "Hey, Jordan, where are you off to?" Kimberly asked Jordan as they walked alongside each other, she had to slow her pace in order to avoid walking away from the girl, but they managed to hold a conversation. "I don't know, I'm just chillin'..." Jordan replied with a smile as she made small talk. "I was supposed to have classes, but my professor's daughter was killed in the... you know..." "Yeah..." Kimberly said as they conversation went dead for a moment, before she decided to ask about the tattoo. "So, Jordan..." "Hm?" "When did you get that on your back?" Kimberly asked. "Get what?" "The hour glass?" "Girl..." Jordan trailed off for a moment, "You checkin' me out?" She stopped, putting a hand on her hip as she gave Kimberly an inquisitive look. Immediately, Kimberly's face went red as she stammered out, "No-nonononono! I just caught a glimpse of you, and saw that." Kimberly said, "I wasn't checking you out." Jordan forced out a chuckle... before she said, "I'm... not sure myself." She said convincingly to Kimberly. "I didn't notice it for a few days, but I saw it on my back one day in the mirror... I thought I... I don't know, but when I went to get it removed, guess what? She said she didn't see anything." Kimberly raised an eyebrow. "... But, you can see it, right?" Jordan asked. "Y-yeah," Kimberly said. "I see it clearly." It was weird, and the conversation went dead, before Jordan said, "Are you workin' today?" "Y-yeah," Kimberly answered. "Let's go," Jordan replied, "I need somewhere to hang out..." Before she squinted at Kimberly, before her eyes went wide when she realized something. She kept her mouth shut about it... but Kimberly [i]definitely[/i] noticed it. She just chose to do the same, and remain quiet as the two walked out of Grand Ridge, to the Sucre Cafe. [hr] A few minutes later, and Kimberly was there. Dressed in her uniform... which just consisted of the clothes she was wearing, but with a red apron that had SUCRE written on the front. She attended the front counter, with a smile on her face. As she greeted a guest, and took his order, Kimberly looked over at Jordan, whom was sitting down at a table with a coffee in hand, drinking out of it. Business was good today, and there was plenty of opportunity for fun! [hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/puXkAoM.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/X7zKc5z.png[/img] [b][code]Rosewood Meadows, Market Square.[/code][/b][hr] Rosewood Meadows, a place that Samson occasionally spent time in when he needed to cool off a bit. Though, recently, he had been spending a lot more time here as of late. One part because he needed some fresh air, and the other part because he was training this weird ass superpower of his. He didn't know what had happened... he just went from being near death, to engulfing that Scott bastard in flames. He sat down on the bench, with a hand in the air. At will, it was engulfed in flames, a white flame that shimmered against his hands. Engulfing it in a white light, that nobody seemed to be able to notice. A woman walked by in a baby stroller, and didn't even bat an eye. Samson wondered what the fire could do... from his earlier tests, it didn't burn. [i]How do I replicate that burning effect?[/i] Samson thought to himself as he made the flame just a biiiit more intense. He stared at it for a moment, before he looked to the woman and her child. He wouldn't do that... especially since he doesn't know what it could do. He didn't want to hurt her. "... Hey, what are you gawking at?" Samson nearly cringed upon hearing the voice of Hagan Rosefey. Or Rosefag, as many would say. Though, there was a level of Hagan that nobody else could see. Samson could see the boy's aura, and the fire that was inside him... it was weird how he could read it. It was a small flame that kept burning itself out, or... if he thought the fire was what he thought it represented - rage, hatred - it was directed at himself. So he essentially got the power to see the obvious. "Was there something on your hand?" He sarcastically said. With another roll of his eyes, Samson dispelled the flames as he bit, "Not currently, but it's going to be covered in your blood after I clock ya'." Samson answered as he stood up, and stared Hagan square in the eye. "Oh, you wanna talk tough now, Sammy?" Hagan puffed out his chest, and Samson could feel his anger rising, "I'm gonna meet the challenge." Though, an idea appeared in Samson's head; Hagan was the perfect test dummy... if it didn't kill him, or horrifically burn him alive. Was he willing to take the risk? Hagan continued to mouth off, and Samson rolled his eyes. Yeah, he definitely was. He summoned the flames which exploded in his hands, and then he jabbed his hand forward, and hit Hagan with an open palm. The fire faded, as Hagan grabbed his head. Samson heard the fire crackle as if it was burning something... but, there wasn't a single burn on Hagan. He saw his aura dim a bit as his anger faded, but so did other things. Hagan quickly forgot what was going on, and why he was angry... until he couldn't feel angry anymore. As he had the memories that made him furious burnt away, Samson let go of him, and took a step back. "The fuck?" Hagan asked, "What am I doing here?" Samson smirked as he said, "Shit, Hagan, you hungover?" He asked as he wiped off a corner of his mouth. "Nah, I'm good..." Hagan grabbed both corners of his head, and sat down. "I... I just need to have a seat..." So, the flames burn something away. On like a mental level? Weird, he'll have to give this ability some thought and more practice. Though, he realized something... if he wanted to see the effects it had on Hagan, he'd have to stick around. Near him. He loudly groaned. "What was that, man?" Hagan asked, probably having his douchey tendencies reduced. "... Nothing." "Can I ask you something man?" "Yeah, sure..." Hagan took a sigh as he clutched his head, "... I had a weird ass dream last night, one about kids in the woods that run into this monster, and run into another monster then get saved by these three Gandalfs." "O-oh...?" Samson was completely caught off guard... because he had the same dream last night. He paused, slack jawed as he thought about it - but, ultimately, chose to keep his mouth shut, "... Heh, need the lay off the TV, man." Samson said with a warm smile. "Yeah..." Hagan trailed off. "Hey, I'm going to head to the Sucre and get something, want something?" Samson asked. "Yeah, sure." Hagan replied. "Be right back," Samson said... if he's going to sit through this, he's going to need a nice, warm, cup of coffee. One for Hagan, too. Though, he should keep Hagan's name out of his mouth, or else the baristas might piss in it... ... Samson swore he heard screaming. Like very distantly... it was so faint, that he didn't even know if it was screaming. He paused for a moment. Farmer Hill wasn't New York or Los Angeles... when there was screaming, it had to be for real.