StoryMask.com

Birth

By Ben Marroquin
StoryMask.com

The puddle of blood tainted vomit stuck to the side of her face like a tangy paste, maybe I’m dead, she thought to herself.

Buzzing droned around her, greeting her to consciousness. She felt tugging on her fingers and abdomen, as butterfly like sensations fluttered inside her. Jolts of pain caused her to finally move her stiff limbs and open her eyes. Small blurry forms scuttled away, melding into the shadows of the old abandoned brick building. A mass of flies took flight as she got to her knees and sat there, her eyes adjusting to the dimness around her.

What the hell, she thought to herself taking in her surroundings; puddles of blood, empty syringes, and a bloody tarp adorned the cold hard concrete ground. Her stomach quivered as a feeling of emptiness overcame her. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out as she looked down at her body; her chest was split wide open. She tried to close her chest with gnawed hands, but couldn’t find the strength. Seeing light, blood-covered rats scurried out of her wounded chest, hit the ground with a wet plops and disappeared into the shadows.

This can’t be happening… can’t be real… it’s a dream, a nightmare, she thought desperately. A gentle fluttering sound followed by a soft light caused her to look up into the rafters of the old building with wet eyes. I must be dead, she thought. There was just no other explanation for what her teary eyes were seeing.

Perched on an old wooden rafter above was a softly glowing ethereal being. Her first glimpse told her it was some strange type of owl, but now that she had overcome the initial shock, her eyes were able to better see. The being had feathery hair, a strong athletic body, alien like legs, and taloned feet and hands. Her majestic wings, for she had a womanly shape, wrapped round her body. The being stared down at her through large dark inky eyes as soft melodious sounds emanated from the beings small black beak like lips, the world around her melted till only the softly pulsing being remained, capturing her full attention.

A blinding flash of light struck her, filling her vision with sunspots, sunspots filled with images of her past. The sunspots spiraled in front of her, then came streaming into her eyes as her memory came flooding back:

The evening was dark with storm clouds as Bella Reed took refuge in the old abandoned brick building, warming herself by a small fire that she started in an old rusted bucket. A far away look clouded her eyes as she stared at the fire, remembering a time not long ago when she lived a normal life like other teenagers, before she ran away almost a year ago. The sound of a clanking can and a whispered curse snapped her out of her trance, making her aware of her surroundings. Two figures could be seen lurking just outside the circle of firelight, causing her heart to jackrabbit.

“Chase, Fingers, Rayne… is that you?” Bella asked rising to her feet, moving her dark hair out of her eyes. She began inching closer to the darkened doorway. For 6 months she had been running from town to town, always running farther away from home, from her painful past; till she finally ended up in the city of Paradise and made her home in this abandoned building. A building already occupied by other runaways that, after several months time, she got to know and began to grow comfortable with, secure. But these shadowy figures didn’t respond the way she had hoped, instead they chuckled as they parted, both taking different routes to box her in.

Their laughter sounded familiar, but her instincts told her something was wrong, so she burst to the doorway. Her stomach exploded in pain as her breath left her gasping and her knees buckled, dropping her to the concrete ground. She vomited as another figure stepped out from the darkness of the doorway holding an old aluminum bat over his shoulder.

Bella felt hands grab her ankles as the other two began pulling her back into the room, her face dragged through her vomit. “Dammit Chase! You didn’t need to hit her,” the girl said angrily as she dropped Bella’s ankle. “You heard what he said, he wants her uninjured or else we won’t get paid. You better not have injured her insides you idiot.”

“Calm down Rayne, she’s fine. Just knocked her wind out is all. No harm, no foul right Doc,” Chase said to the man walking out of the shadows. Bella lifted her head, her arms wrapped round her pain-wracked belly, confusion evident in her eyes. She could see Fingers laying out a large tarp as a man in glasses and a hat handed Rayne something from his bag.

“We’ll see in a moment,” the man said looking at Chase. It was then that Bella remembered whom the man was; her doctor from the free clinic a few blocks away. She felt a prick in her neck as Rayne injected her with the syringe the doctor had given her. “Now put her on the tarp so I can get to work.”

“Doc, I don’t want to see this, can you just give us our payment before…” Rayne was saying as the doctor reached into his bag and pulled out 3 vials of payment.

“Remember, just like before, get rid of the body before sunrise…” Those were the last sounds Bella heard as a strange darkness took her.

Bella’s ethereal eyes popped open, revealing shadowy hellish creatures surrounding her body. Clacking filled her ears as they began clawing and raking at her spirit flesh, grasping and pulling, ripping her out of her body. Panic and fear swelled up inside her, causing her to thrash about, as the creatures carried and dragged her towards the cold dark pit; a pit that perfumed the air with a putrid sulfuric scent, emanated heat, and filled the room with screams of agony.

(work in progress)

I had every intention of working on Twilight’s Magic Garden today but this image kept getting in the way. So I decided to write it down for now so that it would stop interfering with my other story lol Anyhow, I’ll let this one sit and percolate while I get back to work on the other.

Eventide

By Ben Marroquin
StoryMask.com

I walk in a town of labyrinth roads passing homes and brick buildings sprawled against an ethereal landscape. Rivers run oily blue, invading streets and filling them with dark watery creatures flitting about with gnashing teeth in search of food. The windows are lit with soft candlelight as humanoid shadows walk by.

I look for a reason why I’m here, but there is none that I can tell.

A girl approaches, face powdery white and eyes like oily onyx. She opens her black lipstick mouth, but has no tongue to speak. She lifts a gothic dressed china doll with raven hair and red lips; it begins to speak for her. “Our world has changed, become starkly dark the night it arrived in town. Now, no one walks these streets… well, at least, no one sane lest they wish to be fed to the Styx.”

I stared at the little girl and her china doll, confusion evident on my face. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are or what you mean. What is a Styx and where in the world am I?”

“My name is forgotten, of little consequence and you will soon learn what sorry truly means. As for the Styx, it is the river of gnashing beasts that invade our streets from time to time. As for where you are, you are in and not in this town of Eventide.”

“What do you mean I’m in and not in this town? Everything is so strange, this can’t be real, surely I’m…”

“ All who visit our town in the real world, eventually end up here, ever since ‘it‘ arrived. It waits till you sleep in the real world, then invades your mind, your dream and brings you here to its nightmare town. Live or die here and you‘ll live and die there… in the real world.”

Just then a flash of light from above caught my eye, I looked up and noticed that the sky was teeming with life. Strange luminescent jelly fish like globes floated along the air currents like mini hot air balloons. They had long thin neon hued tendrils that squirmed below and unique colorful flowers above. And in the center of their transparent globe shaped bodies swam small finned beasts that only had one eye.

And fluttering around these globes were fairy like creatures; some had butterfly wings, some were like dragonflies, and some even had feathers. They would perch on the flowers on top of the globes and glow as their hummingbird beaks drank what I could only assume was nectar. And every now and then, these globes would capture a careless fairy creature with one of their tendrils and feed. It wasn’t a pretty sight, seeing these fairy creatures floating around in the globe’s body in pieces, but the small one eye beasts seemed to like it.

When I looked back down, the girl and her doll were nowhere to be seen, but I knew that if I wanted to leave I’d have to find the “it” that arrived in town.

(to be continued)

The following is one of 2 stories I’m currently working on (the other being Darkclaw). It is not complete yet… but I do know the ending. I have scenes in my head, the journey to the destination… hopefully the other stories in there won’t keep screaming to me for attention. Anyways… here’s the beginning… enjoy…

Twilight’s Magic Garden

By Ben Marroquin
StoryMask.com

Once upon a time, in the small town of Twilight, on the corner of Roseberry Avenue, there lived a peculiar old lady with 3 cats in a quaint old cottage house. The small cottage’s roof was terracotta and the walls were the color of sandstone, but one wouldn’t know it from looking because ivy covered the walls in a sea of green. Charming flower boxes adorned the windows and a brass tulip shape bell hung by the sunset hue door. A welcoming sight to be sure.

Every morning the sun shone down the old lady could be seen outside attending the wondrous gardens that surrounded her home like a moat. Many of Twilight’s children would “ooh” and “ahhh” at the sight of her home on their way to and from school, and who could blame them? Fairy tale statues and lovely water fountains tickled their imaginations while exotic butterflies, birds, dragonflies, and bees danced from flower to unusual flower. Even small squirrel sized animals could be seen from time to time running underneath the small garden forests.

Small stone pathways wove through the gardens and harbored ivy patterned garden benches. Many children were tempted to open the waist high black iron gate of the fence that surrounded the house, tempted to sit on one of the many garden benches and play in her gardens, but didn’t because rumor had it that the old lady was a crazy wicked witch!

This was not said because she looked like a crazy wicked witch, no… not in the least. She wore spring colored dresses, not black. Her hair was silvery blue and shone like moonlight, not a scraggly dull gray ash. Her tan skin and oval shaped face was lined with kindly wrinkles, not a long angular wart infested face with deep angry wrinkles. And her 3 cats weren’t even black; one was as orange as sherbet, one storm cloud gray, and the last one a tan cream.

So how did she become known by such a cruel name? It was simply because she was different than others. After all, how many people do you know that are followed around by 3 frisky cats while singing and talking to their gardens? Plus, it didn’t help that many of the neighbors were jealous and said mean things about her because her garden was pictured on the front of the daily newspaper under Twilight’s Magic Garden.

And because she was different, and children being children, some of the mean spirited ones would play mean tricks on her. Some would put mud in her birdhouse shaped mailbox, some would toilet paper her garden, and some of the really mean ones would throw rocks hoping to break her garden statues while yelling “Green house witch, go away!”

It was a cool spring evening when Mia and Jayden Dabbin decided to play a trick on the old lady. A trick they had been playing for the past 3 evenings; Ding, Dong, Ditch.

Mia and Jayden smiled when they saw that the old lady was nowhere in sight. Jayden opened the black iron gate and headed up the cobblestone path to the door in a crouch, his sister Mia closely behind him. The small link chain that sounded the tulip bell gently swayed in the breeze. Underneath that bell Mia and Jayden played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, a game Mia won.

The plan was simple, same as before, ring the bell and run through the garden to hide by the side of the home.

Ding, ding, ding went the tulip bell and off went Mia and Jayden, racing through the garden to hide, snickering as they went. Turning the corner, they found themselves greeted by one of the most fantastic aromas they had ever smelled in their young lives. A heavenly scent of mouth-watering proportions, a scent that led them to a small garden table garnished with a rose petal bowl teeming with freshly baked flower shaped cookies.

“Hello… hello, is anybody here?” asked the old lady by the door, and seeing no one about, she closed the door.

“Sweet! The old crone went back in, lets grab some cookies and go…” Mia was saying when Jayden grabbed a cookie a started eating it on the spot.

“Mmmm! It’s delicious,” he said as crumbs spilled out of his mouth. “You got to try one Mia.”

And seeing how much he was enjoying the cookie and having that heavenly scent tempting her so, she did indeed try one. It was the most delicious cookie in the world, like honey-dipped flowers with cinnamon on top. Before they knew it, they had devoured the whole bowl of cookies.

“Hurry, let’s go before she comes out for the cookies,” Jayden said as he tried to move his feet, but to no avail. His feet wouldn’t move.

“I can’t move my feet! They’re stuck,” Mia cried out in a whisper, looking down at her feet, seeing them surrounded by nothing but dirt. Looking up at Jayden she let out a small shriek, catching his attention. Jayden looked up at Mia and let out a small shriek of his own.

“What’s going on?” Jayden asked in fear and confusion. Pointing at Mia he continued, “You’re turning green!”

“Eek! Soo aaaree yyoouu!” Mia stammered back, finding it difficult to talk as her tongue began to change. Jayden opened his mouth to say something but only muffled sounds came out. That’s when the old lady came walking round the corner of the house towards them with a smile on her face and a song on her voice.

She walked up to Mia and Jayden and began poking and prodding them, all the while making comments like “Yes, very nice shading” and “Silky texture” and “Wonder if you’ll be a Popistar or Jabblylink or Tigersnap or something altogether new!” as the 3 cats danced around her and meowed their own comments.

The old lady jittered with excitement, grabbed a nearby garden chair, sat down, and began talking to the two. “Oh this is very exciting, it’s been a while since I’ve added to my garden. Why the last time was 2 months ago when that mean little rock throwing boy broke one of my statues! Well, I’d have none of that so I made him replace it. See, that’s him over there.” She said pointing over to a small statuette of a boy in old-fashioned clothing jumping over a candlestick.

“But where are my manners,” she said with much mirth. “I’m Autumn Fable and it’s so nice to finally meet you after all these evenings of ringing my bell.” Jayden and Mia looked at the old lady and made frantic motions with their arms and tried to beg for help, but only muffled sounds came out of their quivering green lips.

“Oh my, look at how adorable you look singing and dancing like that,” Autumn said with glee in her voice and a clap of her hands. “This is so exciting! I can’t wait to see what you’ll grow to be. Maybe you’ll be Gatorjaws or Bablyoons or Squidlyloos or Gabblysqwaks or even one of the many garden creatures that live here. The suspense is simply delicious! I do hope it will last,” she finished with a chuckle and poured herself a cup of green tea.

“Well then my lil’ poppies, would you like to hear some stories while we wait? Some fanciful fables to lighten the heart and soothe your sweet lil’ souls? … hmmm. I could do that, but it wouldn’t be true or at least, the whole truth.”

“See, it’s true that there was an old lady that swallowed a fly, but I know why she swallowed that fly. It’s simple really, it’s because she was a Bagroth! Oh they are greedy, selfish, and utterly disgusting looking creatures that have no self-control over what and how much they eat. They can grow to enormous size if one is not careful to stop them. Why, one almost ate my last garden in the last home I lived in, and would’ve too if it had not been for the Tizzywhurls, they showered the air with sleeping pollen… ending that dreadful day.” She said as her teacup made a small clinking noise on its saucer.

“It was kind of Mrs. Shoehorn to send her children to collect that Bagroth though, because I don’t know what I would’ve done with it. They towed it back to their shoe house and everyday that week, the air smelled of Bagroth stew,” she said laughing to herself, “her children were well fed that week!”

Setting her teacup and saucer aside, Autumn got up and began poking and prodding again. She tenderly held Jayden’s hand saying, “Such lovely tendrils you’re growing.” Causing Jayden to freak out again and shake about franticly to which Autumn happily remarked “my but you do love to dance!”

Making her way over to an equally “dancing” Mia, she held her face in her two hands and her eyes lit with green flecks as she inspected her head. “Simply beautiful my dear, the petals of your flower is growing splendidly.” Mia reached up with leafing hands and felt her head, where once there was brunette hair now long silky bluish white petals grew. She tried to scream out, but only soft high-pitched melodies escaped causing Autumn to sing along, a song about spring which the 3 cats merrily joined in on too.

It was quite a scene, had anybody been around to see. With the song being over, and the children’s transformation still going, Autumn returned to her seat and cup of tea to begin another tale.

“Now the next tale is a tale of woe, of transformation, and of vengeance! See, it’s true that the extremely fat and egg shaped Mr. Humpty Dumpty did like to sit on a wall to eat his lunch, and he certainly had a very great splattering fall, but what they failed to tell you was that Humpty Dumpty had a very bad gambling habit and owed a great sum of money, to someone who you should never owe that kind of money to…” she said and leaning closer whispered, “the Shadhowl.”

“A terrible man the Shadhowl, or at least he used to be a man before the change some 20 odd years ago… It is said that when he was a man he used to work for one of the biggest mob bosses in Faesing. But led astray by the visions of the daemon Syn, he was filled with greed and power lust, so he made plans to kill his boss, plans that Drak found out about. And so the man was captured, beaten, and on the brink of death when his body was discarded in the Crepuscular Forest.”

“No one knew what happened to him in that forest, but one thing was certain, something old, dark and powerful now lives in him, is now a part of him. He returned to Faesing in the dark of night and got his bloody revenge on his ex boss Drak and the goons that beat him. Now you’re really to young for me to describe just what he did to those poor people, but suffice it to say it was so bad that it put the fear of Hades in all the men, so no one challenged him when he made himself the new boss.”

“Over the months a change overcame his men, a change created by him. They became darker inside, more feral and fearsome. They soon became known as the Creeps. They made quite a sinister reputation for themselves and the Shadhowl. Soon, people were crossing the street anytime they saw the Creeps coming down the side of the street they were on. The Shadhowl used this fear to do many atrocious things, including something horrible to one of the sister Fates.”

“So it was only inevitable that when Humpty failed to pay what he owed that the Shadhowl would send his henchmen Creeps after him, and give him that very big splattering fall! Oh the pain Humpty’s adopted daughter felt that day the mayor’s Tinmen told her of the tragedy, it broke her heart. That’s the day she changed, became cold inside, for shame.”

“She went up to that wall, from which he did fall to give herself to the Fates, but they had other plans and showed her the hands that committed her father to grave.”

“So into the dark side of the city she did turn and hunt down those Creeps with Fates deadly silver laced blades. And when the Shadhowl learned of the fate they did earn, he disappeared from the lands of Fae make. Now it is said she hunts him still every night, through these strange lands of humans.”

(to be continued)

Darkclaw

Written by: Ben Marroquin

StoryMask.com

Shadows flitted behind her as she walked down the street toward the Warrens. The moon was partially covered by autumn clouds, but she could still feel its radiance pulsing within, drawn in through her grayish blue eyes. She wrapped her red coat round her athletic body, lifted her head slightly, and breathed in deeply as her hair, pitch black and layered, fell past her shoulders. She knew she was headed in the right direction, even before she heard the scream ring out in the night from the alley just ahead.

Jovianna Lynette Wynters raced to the entrance of the alley and braced herself as a battered, tear streaked blond teen ran into her. She held the shivering girl up by the shoulders and peered into the dimly lit alley as a large gray haired beast came to a wary halt on all fours, just 10 yards away. Inch long fangs dripped drool onto the ground as it snarled at her.

Jovi looked into the eyes of the terrified girl, pheromones permeated the air, calming the girl. She returned her gaze to the beast, and sent the girl running up the road towards safety. The beast’s muscles rippled as it prepared to bound and drag down the prey it had been toying with.

“So wolfie,” Jovi said with a smirk on her darkening face, getting the werewolf’s attention. “You ready for a real fight? …”

The werewolf’s eyes widened as it looked a short distance past Jovi, focusing on the two figures that stood several yards silently behind her. A pale skinned, well-built male with dark chestnut brown hair, a black tasteful sweater, and chocolate hued pants smiled at the young werewolf. His arm and hand were entwined with the arm and hand of a slender woman; she had straight white hair down to her shoulder blades, a dark green long sleeved blouse, and black jeans like Jovi.

The chestnut haired man glanced at the young woman in his arm, “Mmm, what have we here Jasal?”

“Red and the big bad wolf, what a delicious treat,” Jasal said with a silky smile. “Which one do you want Aidan?” Their wicked smiles became twisted as fangs lengthened and faces became a humanoid blend of the demonic and bat.

Jovi slid the red coat off, still staring at the werewolf, continuing her conversation with the young Were, “… because I’ve brought one for us.” The werewolf responded with a growl, not even taking its blazing eyes off the two vampires.

Jovi knew she had nothing to fear from turning her back on the werewolf because of the utter hatred that resided between all lycanthropes and vampires. Hatred bred in blood since their existence.

Human blood gave vampires life, but drinking Lycan blood gave vampires certain abilities that made them even deadlier creatures of the night. It allowed them to permeate the air with lust building or fear chilling pheromones, provided them with the ability to transform into more powerful and dexterous bat-like beasts (eventually sprouting wings), and in some cases, allowed them to communicate with certain animals.

But vampires weren’t fools, they knew just how dangerous it was to hunt and kill Weres, especially without silver since it poisoned a Weres blood making it undrinkable. And their blood was just a precious to Weres, turning the hunted into the hunters.

For Lycans, Vampire’s blood held the key to immortality, allowing them to greatly extend their lives and youth, the more vamp blood consumed the longer they lived. It also made them highly resistant to the hallucinogenic drug-like bite of vamps. A bite that allows vamp’s to turn humans into drug-like junkies; allowing them to use humans as toys and food in order to get their fix, eventually owning their bodies and minds.

The werewolf bounded past Jovi and barreled straight towards the couple with deadly intent. Jasal and Aiden gracefully separated as the werewolf landed in the spot they had just vacated. The werewolf turned to face Aiden leaving Jasal behind him.

Well that answers that question Jovi thought to herself as her foe was now chosen for her. Jasal smiled at the sight of the werewolf’s vulnerable back and leapt. She was fast, but Jovi was faster.

Aiden’s eyes flared as he looked past the werewolf and saw Jovi smash into the side of his leaping Jasal. He clenched his jaw as he heard them crash into the brick wall of the closed building.

(to be continued)

Monster

By Ben Marroquin
StoryMask.com

Emma Lansing sat in the front row with her foster parents, watching the Cirque de DaeDreams performers through large brown doe eyes. A gasp escaped her lips as she watched the trapeze artists; a young girl dressed in beautiful raven hued feathers and night hued silks released the bar, somersaulted twice, and grasped the hands and wrists of the gray-feathered man that the ringmaster announced as her father.

She clutched her popcorn as sunrise hued lion tamers did the unthinkable and fire dancers mesmerized with dancing flames. Heart deep smiles lit her face as canine-ish clowns took center stage. They came pouring out of small cars shaped like dog houses, chased each other with buckets of confetti, and made strange glitter filled animal balloons for delighted kids.

That’s when she noticed a rather peculiar figure circling the ring. He moved with cat-like grace as his amber-hued feral eyes searched the audience, the bells on his hat jingled softly. Emma scrunched down, trying to make herself invisible as the eyes fell upon her.

The jester quickly made his way towards Emma. His long liquid black hair bounced as his sculpted frame neared her; the ringmaster announced that they needed a young brave volunteer from the audience.

The jester reached out, grasping Emma’s small long sleeve covered wrists, causing her to wince in pain. He released the girl with a whispering snarl that appeared as a grin to those in attendance. She shivered as she caught a momentary sight of pointed teeth, but no one else seemed to notice. His mouth, painted blackish blue, seemed wider than normal.

Her foster parents excitedly pushed her towards the jester’s waiting hands. Fear gripped her heart, but she went with the jester anyways, afraid of making him angry… she had learned that it was not good to make grown-ups angry.

The jester led her to a table filled with pies and performed a skit, ending with Emma throwing a pie in a clown’s face to the amusement of the crowd. The jester then returned her to her seat and performed a magic trick in which he made her new foster father’s wallet disappear to a cheering crowd.

Emma found it hard to sleep that night as visions of acrobats, balloon animals, colorful masks, and popcorn filled her mind. She pictured herself flying through the air with the raven-haired trapeze artist and envied her for living with such a wonderful circus. And she winced in pain as she rubbed her bruised wrists, recalling the strange jester that picked her for the pie skit.

That’s when she noticed the dark amber glow of eyes in her window. She looked towards her door, wanting to scream, but the eyes were gone when she looked back. She fought the urge to run to her foster parent’s room to yell out “Monster!” She knew better than to do that.

She closed her eyes and relaxed as she felt the cool breeze on her face. It took a few heart beat moments to pass before her eyes snapped open as realization dawned on her: The cool breeze caressing her face could only mean one thing: her window was open.

Her eyes bulged and she started to visibly shake as she saw the jester standing at the end of her bed. He had ashen gray skin, long sinewy limbs, pointed ears, and a swishing tail. She was about to open her mouth and scream when it lifted its hand to its mouth and signaled her to be quiet with a long clawed finger pressed to his lips.

He moved next to her, pressed one black claw to her forehead, and scratched a painless rune into her skin. A faint outline of blood formed as he then used that claw to slice open a wound on his palm. Smiling, he dribbled his own bluish silvery blood onto the rune and chanted in a strange melodic language she had never heard before. The rune flashed silvery red as Emma felt a warm tingling sensation cross her body, causing her mind to swim in a myriad of sensations. By the time it was over the jester was back at the edge of her bed.

His ear twitched and he looked towards the door, then glided back, opened the door to the closet and entered. Her bedroom door opened just as the closet door closed. With eyes entranced on the closet door, Emma felt her foster parents enter her room rather than see them and whispered, “m-m-mon-ster.”

Her eyes slowly shifted from the closet door to them and widened: They were dressed in strange black leathers; her foster father held leather straps used to bind wrists and legs and her foster mother held a whip and a hand held video camera. “Monsters,” she rasped out loud clutching her blankets with trembling hands.

They smiled as they looked down on her. A deep low growl filled the room causing them to quickly spin towards the closet door with pounding hearts.

Emma’s vision began to swim as the world around her began to take on an ethereal appearance. Her foster parents no longer appeared to her as of flesh and blood but something more, she could actually see their very tainted souls… and it made her angry.

She rose on her bed unnoticed, standing, watching as her foster parents slowly edged their way towards the closet door. Her hair lengthened and turned a beautiful hue of silvery blues. Her skin darkened to midnight and silvery lines began flowing from the rune on her forehead, they swam down her body, etching her body in wondrous patterns of shimmering curves and caressed the side of her face.

She lifted her arm and smiled as her silvery eyes followed the graceful patterns to her slender hands. Her fingers danced and a soft melodic chant flowed from her glittering lips causing her fingertips to tingle with silvery light. The silvery lines lengthened and flowed past her fingers into the air and danced like a flame waiting for something as her eyes returned to her foster parents…

Her foster dad clenched the leather straps in one hand and reached out to the closet door with the other; ready to attack whatever pet Emma had hiding in the closet. He could feel his wife’s hand grasp his shoulder as he opened the closet door with his left hand; his right arm cocked and ready to lash out.

Emma chuckled unexpectedly as she saw her foster parents frozen in fear in front of the opened closet door; fierce almond shaped amber hued eyes and glimmering white fangs greeted them, rooting their quaking bodies to the spot.

Whip, straps, and camera hit the floor as her foster parents scrambled to move away from the closet. Their panic so great that they found themselves on the opposite side of the room, away from the door that would allow them escape from the room.

It was the soft glow of silvery light that made them look her way. Their eyes showed confusion and wonder and fear as they stared at the little girl that was Emma. Her onyx hued nightgown appeared as layers of transparent silk and flowed like her silvery blue hair as if being surrounded by an autumn wind.

Emma’s arms weaved and wove as the dancing silvery thread from the tips of her hands swirled into beautiful globes. The room became infused with the sound of her hypnotic chant as the globes danced through the air to their partners, her foster parents. The jester, smiling, made his way quietly to the far side of the bed and perched himself there, thoroughly enjoying the show.

Her foster father opened his mouth to speak but Emma simply gestured for his silence causing his voice to go mute. “Words are not needed,” she said as she tapped into a pool of knowledge that had just formed in her mind.

“The girl you knew as Emma has changed, has become something more, a being which is sorely needed in this world. I am the new Arbiter and you are to be judged for your actions.”

The globe began to throb and pulse with light as it expanded in front of the man cowering in the corner. He tried to avert his eyes but could not; they were transfixed on the hypnotic globe. His eyes widened as images began to form within the globe, images pulled from his very essence through his eyes.

“These shinning globes that you see are Soul Gazers. They are your defenders and prosecutors. They cannot be lied to. Not only do they show the truth, but their very hues display the emotions you were feeling at the time each act of consequence took place.”

An inaudible gasp escaped his lips as his life began to take place within the globe for all those in the room to witness. A tear rolled down her cheek as she witnessed all the vile acts that this man had delivered upon so many innocents. Anger swelled up as it culminated with the last images of this man on top of a tear streaked, pain filled, shame stained girl… Emma.

“By the light of your Soul Gazer we can see you took much joy and pleasure in your actions, even believing that you were giving joy and pleasure to others. Now you will see what those actions have wrought you. You have been found GUILTY. Your taint shall no longer infect the innocents of this world.”

A smile appeared on Emma’s lips as she thought of his punishment. Her silky chant filled the room as liquid strands of silver reached for the condemned man from his Soul Gazer and pierced through his skin. Spasms of pain wracked the man as the silvery threads attached themselves to his tendons. A cool liquid covered his skin as the pulsing sphere enveloped him. His mind screamed in agony as his body began to contort, his skin started changing texture, and his body began to shrink as if in a body vise.

His wife noticed none of this as her eyes were transfixed on her own Soul Gazer. The images showed an innocent who was tainted at a very young age. An innocent who was abused by her own “monsters” physically and emotionally, eventually making her one of them; the person she could have become shattered and lost in a forest of pain and shame. Emma felt pity for that little girl who could’ve been so much more, who could’ve sparkled. She could tell even the jester mourned inside his heart for the lost little girl.

Chanting filled the stillness of the room as the Soul Gazer pierced her foster mother’s eyes with a burning light, filling her mind with burning sunspots. The pulsing sphere engulfed her body as unconsciousness claimed her.

“It is done,” Emma said to the jester. “Her mind has been wiped clean and her body rejuvenated. May she become the sparkle that she was meant to be, but now that she is that little innocent girl again, who is to care for her properly?”

The jester gracefully made his way to the young little girl lying asleep on the floor and pulled a piece of golden chalk from his pocket. He then drew a small door on the wall along with three runes and chanted. The outline of the door shimmered and then it became real.

He gently knocked on the magical door. A moment later a young couple opened it. The couple looked at the jester, then down at the young blond girl sleeping on the ground. Smiles lit their faces, “For us?” they asked. Their eyes then fell on Emma, they immediately knelt on the floor in reverence. “Blessed Arbiter, we are honored to be summoned.”

The jester smiled, “She has been given mercy and is to be your daughter if you should choose to take on all the responsibilities that come with being true parents.”

“Yes!” the young woman cried out as she gathered the sleeping child in her arms, tears of joy spilling forth. Her husband looked at the jester and Emma “I don’t know the words to express just how much this means to us…”

“Just care for her like I know you can, that is all the gratitude we need,” the jester said with a smile as he sent the happy family back through the disappearing door. “As for you,” he said looking down on the ground next to where the little girl was sleeping a moment ago, “now you shall truly bring children joy!”

On the floor was a beautifully detailed toy marionette jester with silvery strands attached to his limbs. Inside, the tainted spirit of the man that use to be her monster, silently screamed in agony as his new toy body was lifted off the ground by the silvery strands attached to his ethereal tendons.

Through shiny onyx eyes, he sees the Arbiter’s face as she speaks to him. “For each life you have ruined, you shall spend a lifetime in your new body. No longer shall the innocents be the ones tied down and mute, from here until the end of your sentence it is they that shall control your body, and while each pull of your strings shall bring them joy and pleasure, you will feel the pain that you inflicted on others.”

With weaving hand, she creates another globe, filling the room with a soft silvery blue light. “You shall come to fear the very sight of children, anticipating the pain you will receive while they smile and laugh tugging your strings. It is no more than you deserve.” With a wave of hand the new globe drifted down, engulfing the marionette and rose into the air, drifting to the open window like a hot air balloon with a present inside.

“But fear not, when your time in your new prison is at an end, your spirit shall be set free into the Everlife for judgment eternal,” Emma said, making her way to the open window, watching as the globe began its journey through the night sky. “Then you shall truly know what fear and pain is.”

“What is to come next?” Emma asked, as the globe disappeared in the night sky.

“There are others to judge,” the jester replied, slipping out the window, holding his hand out for Emma to join him. “By the way, where did you send him?”

“To a place where he’ll bring much joy and pleasure,” she said with a smile, exiting the room and joining him outside. “To Harmonies Orphanage on the other side of town.”

Soft musical laughter filled the night air as they headed towards their next destination.