untitled and unfinished by insanegemini

1

A vast wasteland laid rest before Anthony. Everything that he once knew and loved was all gone. The rampant people that rushed across the black rivers, no longer pushed Anthony out of the way. The stray dogs that constantly tried to steal his food are nowhere to be seen. He morns on the fact that he could have saved them all. Too bad, it‘s too late.
However, while holding remorse for all that lies in ruins, Anthony feels he is now in company. How is this? I am positive that I am the only survivor. He brushes the feeling away, but it never truly leaves the hairs on the back of his neck. The constant itching of eyes scratching his every movement haunted Anthony. Finally, he could stand it no more, his robust body spun around, black hair following, and sterling blue eyes scanning the horizon. Nothing could be seen but the vast oblivion of ruble and destruction. A growl of frustration and hurt are released and echo through the remains of the sky-high buildings. Anger and regret started to sprint through Anthony’s veins. What is left of the city was soon thrown across the grey skies and broken into even more worthless pieces.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!” Anthony cried to the heavens. His breath was heavy now and stamina dropping like a sack of bricks. He began to crumble into a sitting position, yet through the corner of his eye, a black hood quivered in the breeze. The hopes of being able to relax after this outburst of pent up anger, are now dashed.
A club raised into the air. Anthony quickly guarded himself with his left arm, and slashed out a sword with the right. Clanking and crashing soon filled the area. Then a pause blankets over the two battlers. Anthony looked the hooded creature in the eyes. Thousands of eyes look back at him. Anthony becomes enveloped by the hypnotic trance, no longer is he the wasteland that was once his home. Now, a null void of complete darkness unfolds amidst his eyes. The cruel horrid voices echoed into his ears and all the heinous crimes flashed before his eyes. So much bloody, mommy please stop, I promise I’ll be good this time. Just make it all stop. Daddy, why must you hurt us so? Please I beg of you stop yelling, NOOO. Those excoriating images pained him, so real how is this thing doing it???
The horror flashed before his face vividly. Tears ran from his eyes, the scars opened and bled like new. Anthony fell to his knees, the darkness and memories flooded his lungs, trying to rip apart every breath taken. Grasping his head and pulling down to the ground, cries of agony escaped as the creature watched with no emotion. No sympathy, no glee, no disgust, all that rested behind that hood remained null. Anthony weakly lifted his head, gawked at the hooded thing, staring deep into its many eyes , “What…are…you?” a forced whisper glided off the now debilitated man’s mouth. The creature answered not, instead, picked up the club. Anthony does not even flinch, for he knew what was to come. The wind rushing past the weapon could have been heard for miles, had there been anyone to hear it. Anthony gave one last look of hope but plummeted to the ground.
Watching the human’s cranium ooze a small river of blood, the creature removed the hood. The thousands of eyes gently sagged in pity and the club fell as to the ground just as gracefully. “You poor soul, if only you knew. If only you could know, that this is merely the beginning”.
With that, it grabbed Anthony ankles and walked away from the now unpopulated city. The creature stopped for a moment, turned its head to look back and the ruins, not a single tree rustled nor a breath shudder, “Just another tally to add to his damn board.”

2

Anthony awoke in a room lit for the dead. There was barely enough light to see, but he scrutinized the room anyways. “Hmph, dirt floor, a poorly constructed bed, and a box for food,” an ear piercing squeal punctured the heavy air, “oh, how quaint, there’s even a family of fighting rats to join me,” another voice entered to break the squeals and sarcasm.
“It ain’t much, but it’s better than what’s out there,” a finger extended past Anthony as the scruffy, manly, voice commented on Anthony’s crude view of the housing.
“Who is there?” Anthony quickly swung his arms into defensive mode. He learned from his last encounter with strangers; never let your guard down. This one though, did not seem as a threat, Anthony shook the foolish thought. Grandfather always said, “one must not judge a book by its cover”, of course in this case I guess it would be don’t judge a dog by its bark. Despite this remembrance of his times of yore, the more recent past pained the back of Anthony’s head ever so.
“You got nuthin’ to fear n’ fight ‘bout, I ‘aven’t hurt no one since…” a pause of ponder “weeelll, since I got thrown in this joint”. Anthony loosened his position, but did not drop it completely. “You was out for a long time, and yous head was in pretty bad shape too. But I thinks I did an okay job on it.”
Anthony touched the back of his head, almost in fear of what to expect. His fingers fell to the wound and winces a sigh that could make others cringe fuck it, just grit and grin it you got to do this just to make sure this hick of a stranger didn’t do nothing to you. Anthony gently ran his fingertips over the gash, grinding his teeth together. The stitches went every which way and there was a small patch of blood that hadn’t clotted yet, but overall it would have to do.
“Thank you”
“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” now in a different accent, “twas nothing me lord,” The scruffy man and Anthony smiled.
“Lord?” Anthony puzzled.
“Ah don’t get used to it, just sumin’ to lighten up the mood,”
“So what exactly is outside this joint?” Anthony’s curiosity peaked. He had a feeling that he didn’t really want to know, but this place reminded him of a dungeon and smelt of burnt.
“You don’t wanna know, no do you need to know,” the scruffy man turned his back to Anthony.
“Please, I do so need to know,”
The scruffy man looked back, turned to the crack in the wall, then back again towards Anthony, “the light is going quickly, what you need is to rest your head so’s it can heal”.
“But, but,” pleaded Anthony, followed by a pathetic excuse for a puppy-dog-beg expression.
“No, not now, the time for stories will come in the mornin’, not now, now is the time for rest.”
Anthony admitted defeat, but one question still remained. There was one bed and two men.
As if the scruffy man read his mind, “you sleep in the bed for the next few nights, probably won’t join ya. ‘Aven’t ‘ad no one round in a long time”
Anthony felt bad about taking the old man’s bed. However he being the selfish one that he was, wouldn’t give up the offer, but he would show concern to the man what he anyways. “Where will you sleep?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout me, there’s a chair in the corner. Please, with the rats here, I wouldn’t sleep on this floor even if you offered me a pack of cigarettes.”
With that said and done, Anthony laid his head on the side and drifted into a much-needed sleep. But just before he lost himself, “hey man, what you name?”
“The name’s Jake,”
“Jake…” this satisfied Anthony, and allowed him to drift off to sleep.
3

BOOM! A crash rattled the world. Frantic eyes shifted around the air. This is not the house. A door thrashed open and Anthony ran. His heart was beating heavily and his body swerved around the destruction. Soon another house came into view. Old and decrypted, but not very far from what he remembered as home. Anthony paused in front of this “home”. White paint peeling off the walls, shutters hanging off the hinges, roof tiles trying to cling to the roof, Anthony shook his head in disappointment. The screams and fights vividly replayed in his head, if he didn’t know better, Anthony would have thought them to be real and in his face to this moment.
A bomb exploded behind him and threw him off balance and onto his knees. Shaken out of remorse and into his real reason for being here, Anthony took off into a full fledge run. Hmph I guess all those years in football are really helping now. Despite the incredibly wrong time for it, Anthony smirked at his odd sense of humor. Finally at the house, Anthony ripped the shabby door off the hinges, and rushed in.
Where is it?!?! Where can it possibly be?? There’s no time. Lamps hit the floor, drawers flew across the room, and paper fluttered amidst the stiff air. “ARRG!!!” Anthony growled and screamed in frustration. His arms flung into the air, “THERE IS NO FUCKING TIME FOR THIS!!!”. He threw himself against the wall into a corner. Wow this really is like being home all over again. Anthony took in a heavy breath, and as he released it, there it was, a small glow coming from his old desk. He got up, carefully opened the drawer, the glow shone immensely. He had to shut his eyes and simply feel for it. Anthony’s hands felt around fearfully. Whe…where is it??? He could not see, both hands now scamper, nothing is in the drawer. Anthony shoots open his eyes, the glow is not there anymore, Anthony is no longer in the house that was so familiar for years, but in the dungeon that he had found himself in last night.
“ARG, it was only a dream,” in sadness and regret, Anthony laid his head back on the pillow. He sniffed the air, confused he wonder why the room smelt of burning bodies and rotten meat.
“What in God’s name is that smell?!?!” Anthony agonized.
“That, my good friend, is breakfast.”
Disgusted and horrified, Anthony questioned Jake’s sanity and his idea of what was edible. What in the world could this crazy old man be cooking? Had Anthony anything in his stomach, it wouldn’t be there now.
“Yep yep, your good ol’ rat stew and some of whatever Lord Bartholomew is throwin’ down the servant hole.” Jake said this with such ease and casualty, like it was nothing. The man simply kept stirring the black caldron; he seemed just so satisfied with the appearance of a peasant chef.
“Who is Lord Bartholomew?” Anthony asked.
“Who is Lord Bartholomew?!? WHO IS LORD BARTHOLOMEW?!?!” A mixture of fear, anger, and confusion flushed Jake’s face. Jake’s breath became short, his face bright red, and eyes beaming a force that instilled fear into Anthony’s mind. He seemed to be on the verge of a full on panic attack.
“I am terribly sorry I asked. Please remember I am not from around here,” Anthony pleaded Jake to calm down. He actually grabbed Jake by the shoulders and held him in hopes that Jake would understand that Anthony had no clue what was going on.
Jake took in a deep breath, after many short rampant ones. He closed his eyes in a reach for patience, and sighed. “You really are lost hu? Okay, let’s start off with figuring out what you do know. What was the last thing you remember?”
“Um…I was fighting this hooded creature with millions of eyes. My city, my home had been destroyed by an apocalypse; everyone believed it was due to the anger we caused to the gods. They thought that our advancement in knowledge and technology had caused a dramatic drop in faith. This lack of faith angered the gods very much. Many say that the gods were jealous of our freedom to do as we please. The freedom that had been given to the people by the knowledge. Envy is an extremely powerful emotion. It can lead anyone, or thing to do things that normally they wouldn’t, things that would hurt those they love. I personally don’t blame the whole thing on the envy of the gods, I think that a lot of it had to do with us. I believe that there was a force, greater than we were, not greater than the gods, but far more advanced than our civilization. I think that they saw our advancement, and in this, saw competition. I don’t know if I just refuse to believe that the gods would hurt us, or if in fact, I could be right. All I know is that I could have save them, I honestly could have. You see, there was a … I guess you would call it a shield, a shield that could have protected the city. It was in my grandfather’s house. An amulet if you will, and if worn by the right person, creates a force field from all evil. Just one problem, I couldn’t get to it in time. “Anthony paused for a long time. This part of his story hurt the most.
He took in a deep breath and let it go slowly. “You see, rocks, I guess they were meteors, but they looked different, foreign, not from my world. Anyways, these things caused panic to flood the city. I mean I can’t say that panic could have been prevented, foreign objects were falling from the sky. Any who, the people became insane. And…as I was about to grasp the amulet,” another long pause came about Anthony.
“Oh out with it boy,” Jake was hanging on every word, and the suspense was killing him. Though the story was not much different from times before, this one seemed particularly interesting.
“Well, as the amulet was in my grasp, I saw my grandfather threw the window. I also saw a man, the man had a knife in hand. He had lost his mind in the panic, and I guess had gone into a full-fledged killing spree in addition to the apocalyptical occurrences. The man was coming upon my grandpa, I left the amulet thinking I could save him and come back and get it. I took off, leap through the window, and pushed my grandfather out of the way.” A look of utter sadness swept Anthony’s face.
“Well, what was the problem? What happened that caused you to wind up in here?”
“I saved my grandpa, but one of those things falling from the sky crashed not far from us. The impact sent me flying back into the house, but my grandfather and the man were not so lucky. I don’t quite know what happened to them, I was knocked out from the collision with the wall, but when I woke up, I found them dead. I found everyone dead or not far from it. I don’t know how or why I survived, but the constant guilt lingers in the back of my mind. Afterwards, some creature came out of nowhere and fought me, and well…I guess I lost and woke up in here.”
“Wow, that has to be one of the most traumatic and heart breaking stories I have heard in all my years” Jake gave Anthony a moment to collect himself. He had a great amount of sympathy for this young boy. “Well, you weren’t far off by thinkin’ that there was a grea’er force wantin’ ta gets rid of ya. You see, ‘bout oh…couple-a decades ago our Lord Bartholomew here got in ta power, and he wanted to be the most powerful guy ‘round. Any country or even world, that remotely threatened ‘em had to be destroyed. And this Lord Bartholomew is a mighty powerful guy. He can do things. Weird things that none of us normal folks can even think ‘bout. I thinks he is magic or somethin’. Anyways, your world musta show Bartholomew somethin’ that he didn’t right like. And that is pretty much why wha’ ‘appened to ya’s city ‘appened.”
Anthony remained in deep depression and thought about what happened to his home. Furthermore, he still didn’t not understand the means of “Lord Bartholomew” or where he was, or even if he was in his own time period. As all of these things ran threw his mind, Anthony was slowly falling into a pit of misery and the grip on what was reality and what was fiction was slipping every second. “Jake, I need to know more than that. I need to know where I am, why I am here, and if I am even in the same time-period that I want to believe I am. Jake, will you tell these things to me please. I am so lost in this dungeon and my own personal thoughts that the line between fantasy and life is quivering like florescent lights.”
”Very well, I trust the year to be 2000 years after the death of Niberus. You are under the city of Los Thope. More ‘an likely you are here ‘cause the government sees you as a threat. When I say government, I means Lord Bartholomew. He don’t want no one that could cause a riot up on that there surface. I don’t know what cha did to prove that, but that’s why yous be in here. If you want a more elaborate story on Bartholomew, you is barkin’ up the wrong tree. I got thrown in this joint years ago, when ol’ Bartholomew was jus’ first getting startin’. I means I hears stuff from the gaurds here and there, but not ‘nough to help ya.”
An immense silence rested between the two men. Anthony remained in deep thought and Jake held his post at the bubbling goo in the caldron. Anthony’s head rose, “and you’re sure that is all you know, you’re not keeping anything at all from me?”
“Yeeess sir. Now yous better eat up, you’re gonna need all the strength ‘n nutreents yous can get.”
Jake gave Anthony a