Night's Omen

Prompt List

• Mirror
• Autumn
• Break
• Stuffed Animal
• Last Hope
• Sacrifice
• Dread
• Tears
• Breaking the Rules
• Choose Your Own Adventure!

Mirror
(I'm rusty...so yeah, this thread takes place right after Dantes was blown through the wall)

Sunlight trickled through the cracked stain glass of an ancient Italian chapel. It slowly crept across the floor until it washed over a prone figure on the floor. The room was neglected, a disused building tucked away at the edge of a forest on an ancient estate. As the sun warmed the room, the figure on the floor groaned and stirred. He slowly drug himself up into a sitting position. His flesh was still torn and burnt from his recent battle. Father Dantes rubbed his scorched face as he pondered his situation. The room was filled with the stench of his burnt clothing. He groaned as he reached his mind out...searching the grounds hoping for solitude.

But solitude was not to be granted this day. As the tendrils of his mind wandered, he found he was not alone. The grounds keeper must have noticed when his still flaming body teleported into the building earlier. This man was different than the pious old man that had been tending the grounds on his last visit. This was a young man, bitter and full of rage that he had been reduced in life to a lowly servant. Dantes collected his strength as he heard the key slide into the old lock. As the metal groaned and the door struggled to open, Dantes had managed to slide the Paladin from its sheath.

It clanged to the floor in front of him...still not strong enough, but this man was a sinner...he could not violate the sanctity of this place with a heart full of malice. Dantes managed to propel himself to his feet, and slide into the shadow of a statue near the door. He leaned against the cool marble, knowing he must judge this man, he must feed. As the door finally groaned fully open, he squinted his black eyes against the sudden light.

Is some one there? This is private property!

Dantes gathered as much of his strength as possible and lunged at the man, grabbing him from behind and dragging him to the floor.

"This is my sanctuary...and you are not pure enough to enter it my son..prepare to pay for your sins."

Dantes ripped into the young mans throat. As he fed and the man stopped his feeble struggles, Dantes' eyes moved down to glance at the blade of the Paladin. It lay shining on the floor, his face reflected in the blade. As he peered closer, he saw the crucifix hanging above the altar behind him. His face smeared with blood, and with the Lord looking down with favor...Dantes felt his strength returning, and his resolve to do the work of God.

Autumn
This takes place in the past.

Dantes awoke to the baying of his father's hunting hounds. It was time to go into the massive forests around their estate and hunt whatever wild game they came across. He rolled from his bed and quickly donned his hunting clothes. He hurried down the stairs to meet his father at the door. The count wasn't prone to anger, especially not towards his beloved son, so he simply smiled as the young man came skidding across their foyer.

"Ready Son?

"Yes Father"

They proceeded out towards one of the small outlying stables. There they loaded their muskets and applied their primitive "camo". They scooped think gray clay from a pot and coated their faces, then drew shadowy lines with charcoal, that way they would blend with the shadows as they hunted. The two slipped into the tree line. The leaves were aflame it seemed. Red, Orange, Yellow...soon they would be bare and snow would line the ground. Dantes watched as his father signaled for him to get down. He got low and slowly crept to his father's side. Standing before them was a massive deer.

"You can take him if you think you can handle it son.

Dantes leveled his musket and squeezed the trigger. BOOM...then the cloud of smoke....but...but..he did it! The massive beast fell, struggled for a moment the lay still. Dantes was in awe of what he had just done. Even at that young age he understood death, but he also understood that God had given man dominion over the animals. He stood staring as the blood pooled out...blending with the red of the autumn leaves.

Break
This thread is set in the Past

BOOM, BOOM, BOOOOOOOM. The drums rang out loud and deep in the swamps. Father Dantes paused to catch the direction of the sound. He was curious what that drumming meant, though he had a suspicion it was voodoo devil worship....which he now had the power to destroy. He caught the scent of a fire, then the scent of...blood? He hurried brushing aside the dense underbrush. Finally he saw a clearing ahead of him. He paused and got down in a crawl to edge closure and investigate. He saw a large black man in the middle of the clearing, he was chanting and screaming.

The drummers picked up their drumming once again. The man began to dance, and to work himself into a fury. Dantes eyes grew wide as the man transformed into a lion. An actual...roaring lion. The people ran forward to touch his fur or offer him slabs of raw meat. Then they began to bow and worship him. The rage began to boil in Dantes...such blasphemy...such evil.

The voodoo man shifted back to human once he had gorged on the meat. But he was caught entirely off guard as Dantes appeared behind him and grabbed his neck. With a sharp twist and quick jerk, the man's neck was broke. As the body fell Father Dantes stepped forward. The light reflected off of his jet black eyes. He looked like a mad man standing there in tattered and soiled vestments.

"You have been worshiping a demon...come forth and confess your sins, the Lord Jesus Christ will save and forgive you. If you choose not to confess...I shall have to judge you....and deliver you unto HIM...so will you die as your heathen god did...or seek forgiveness?"

There were two beats of silence after Dantes spoke. Then came an almost roar like scream as one of the young men there charged Dantes with an ax. He smashed the ax into Dantes right bicep. Dantes took the blow then grabbed the ax and simply pulled it from the wound with no reaction. The people began to gasp and whisper in fright.

"Very well....your judgment is upon you!"

Then, just like a key being broken off in a lock...something in Father Dantes head snapped. Confession was useless now...he could SEE their sins...he would be the judge and deliverer. Father Dantes snatched the boy that had struck him and quickly drained him in full view of the gathered people.

"This is your judgment...this is your atonement for your sins!"

The people began trying to flee but he was too fast, darting through the group, crippling most, then returning to "judge" them. The screams began to die down towards dawn, when a very satisfied Father Dantes lay reclining against the throne the voodoo man had once used. Yes...he had broken through...he had found his calling.