Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 03:49:44 EDT
From: DivineGlow@aol.com
Subject: Into The Darkness

OK, here goes. All the usual stuff applies. Don't read if under 18 or if
you think this will offend you (although in both cases you will read it
anyway and I will get complaints) This story is TOTALLY fiction. I don't
ask where my imagination gets it from and it doesn't give me bad dreams,
mutual agreement. But the point is that this is has not and will not
happen, and is not even based on anything real. An extra warning, this
story does have some religious overtones. These aren't my beliefs nor do
they imply what might be beyond this life. Be an adult and believe what you
want, not what I type. I think that covers everything so I will finish up
by saying that I hope you enjoy the story and let me know what you
think. Be gentle, this is my first time.

P.S. There isn't much 'you know what' yet. I am getting there. I want to
actually develop a story first. Bear with me and I think it will be worth
it. Ok, I will shut up now.



Into The Darkness: Chapter One

Rusty was in hell. But the real tragedy is that nobody knew it except
him. No one would believe it even if he told them. From the outside his
life was almost close to perfect. The only son of very rich parents, he was
constantly surrounded with glamour and class. Anything he wanted, instantly
was granted to him by his "loving" parents. He knew that they were trying
desperately to buy him happiness; after all, money had brought them all the
happiness they needed. They thought it was working. He never complained.
Not like he could even if he wanted to, they were always to busy.

	Because of this, they never noticed what Rusty called the "Change."
The "Change" was a strange and just plain scary occurrence. One that
greatly affected Rusty and he never noticed it until it was almost too
late. It crept over him slowly, and it was very subtle. First it was his
style of dress. It shifted from bright, daytime colors and moved through
the spectrum till it was dark and foreboding. From reds, yellows and
oranges to greens, blues and purples. And it soon became a constant
black. Not long after, it began to affect his room. Everything shifted to
black, the sheets, the carpet, the furniture; he even had the walls
painted. He figured that he just needed a change in style something people
wouldn't expect from a rich kid.

	 It wasn't long before everything he owned was either all black or
just plain dark, even his car. Rusty was enjoying his new style. People
feared him and would part for him when he walked by. They lowered their
voices around him; as if they were afraid anything above a whisper would
enrage the sinister figure he had been converted into. It even seemed like
the room would darken when he entered. Teachers would become nervous when
teaching a class he was a part of.  And for a while he loved the situation
this caused. He liked knowing that people were afraid of him, but it was
one day that he soon became afraid of himself.

	One Saturday morning, he woke up normally. He was planning to stay
at home, as always for weekends. He didn't care to leave his area of the
house very much unless he absolutely had to. And that didn't happen very
often considering the fact that his part of the house was self-sustained,
complete with two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, and home
theater. The whole part of the house was his 15th birthday present; he
couldn't believe that was more than 3 years ago.  He climbed out of bed
wearing only his black boxers and stretched on his way to the bathroom
connected to his room.

	The bathroom he used was almost the size of his bedroom. The entire
framework consisted of black marble, floors, walls and ceiling. On the left
was a large sink area with an equal sized mirror. On the right was a large
shower and a sauna room and between the two there was another mirror, this
one running from the floor to the ceiling. On the side furthest from the
door was an ominous black bathtub the size of a large spa that was set
inside a raised area with a marble pillar on ether side. Adding to the
entire effect, the lighting was also unique, with small spotlights in
various places, including some in the floor. This caused everything in the
room to appear large, almost cathedral-like and there was always an echo of
every sound.

	He entered the huge room going straight for the sink and splashing
some warm water on his face. He glanced casually at himself in the mirror
deciding to take a shower before eating for a change. Grabbing a towel from
the nearby rack, he moved to the shower, dropping his boxers as he walked
across the cold marble floor. After adjusting the water to a comfortable
temperature he moved inside the shower and sat on a bench under the spray
of several showerheads. He sat back and closed his eyes enjoying the feel
of the water on his naked skin and after a long while he almost fell back
asleep before deciding to finish up. Taking little time, he quickly cleaned
himself off and shut off the water.

	Stepping out of the shower he felt refreshed and ready to face
another day. He began to dry himself of without thinking. As he worked, he
looked over at the huge mirror and his reflection with a smile. He was
proud of himself. He had everyone he knew at safe distance from him. He was
invulnerable to everyone on the planet. He had achieved isolation in the
middle of an overcrowded world. It was then something odd distracted
him. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he moved closer to the mirror,
staring himself in the face. At first it seemed like a trick of the light
in the room, but the closer he got, the more real it became. He was staring
at his own eyes but also at the eyes of a person he didn't recognize. What
he should have seen was his trademark green eyes. Eyes so green they put
emeralds to shame, but instead he saw only blackness. His entire iris had
gone black, so black he couldn't even see his pupils. Needless to say this
frightened Rusty deeply. He stumbled backwards slipping on the puddle of
water from where he stepped out of the shower and fell to the cold marble
floor, knocking himself out.

	For what was an unknown amount of time Rusty felt himself floating
through an inky blackness. He knew he was dreaming but he was still scared,
scared of what this all meant. There was a voice in the background yelling
at him, screaming as loud as it could even though it only sounded like a
whisper. Still it never gave up, it just kept screaming at him over and
over. Soon it became louder and closer, constantly gaining volume and
momentum. Rusty was staring in the direction the voice was coming from,
trying to see what it was that was charging him. And the closer it became
the more he noticed that it sounded like his voice and the more he could
make out what it was saying.

"Why?! How could you do this to me?! I was your friend! How could you
betray me!? I did everything you asked!? Everything?! I wanted you to be
happy with me! But you still did this! You gave me up! You let them win!
Why?! Why!? Why!? DAMN YOU!!!!"

It was with those last words that Rusty could finally see something moving
at him. But it was moving so fast that he couldn't tell what it was before
it flew into him, hitting him dead in the chest....

	"Ahhhh!" Rusty sat up with a scream to find himself on his bathroom
floor. He looked around quickly, afraid that "thing" was going to fly at
him any moment, from any direction. Soon he started to accept that it was
only a dream and stood up. He merely stood there for a moment as if afraid
to even move. It was then that he remembered his eyes. "That's what started
this."  he thought. He slowly moved back to the mirror with his eyes
closed, each step echoing loudly in the room and in Rusty's head. He kept
his eyes closed until he was right up against the mirror, his nose only
inches away from the chilling glass. He swallowed loudly before he opened
his eyes slowly and saw the same pools of blackness that had caused him to
fall in the first place.


	Over the next week Rusty fell deeper and deeper into depression.
Three days after the incident Rusty stopped going to school. His parents
actually tried to talk to him, over their cell phones because they were in
New York on business. Rusty decided that he would just tell them he was
sick sense they wouldn't be back for another week and a half. He didn't
feel up to arguing with them. In fact, he didn't feel up to anything. He
just sat around lost in his own pit of misery. Sure, he ate when he needed
to, but it all added up to about one meal a day. By the end of the week,
Rusty eventually found himself in his bathtub with a razor blade near by.
He stared at it, considering his current situation. He came to the
conclusion that from here it couldn't get any worse. It took less time than
he thought for the water to go from clear to red, and about the same amount
of time for him to fall asleep for what he thought would be the last time.
But it didn't take long for the room to fall into silence.............

	When Rusty opened his eyes, for some odd reason, he somewhat knew
what to expect. After all, he just killed himself, what could really
surprise you after that? You die, and you either go up or down. Simple
right? So he wasn't as shocked as most people would have been in his
position. That doesn't mean that he wasn't a bit stunned, just that he
didn't scream. He was lying stark naked in a tunnel, almost like a giant
pipe only with a flat bottom. The floor was made of grates of various
shades of gray growing darker and darker the farther they were from where
Rusty was standing. When the teenager stood up and looked down the tunnel,
he saw only darkness, not unlike the normal darkness in a tunnel, except no
light on the far side. He wondered why he was hopping for a light. He
stared into the darkness for a few moments before he began to wonder where
he was. It was then that he was distracted by something moving in the
darkness. He couldn't tell what it was but it didn't take long for the
memory of that first dream to return to him.

	Rusty was positive that his apprehension was clearly chiseled on
his juvenile face but he wasn't sure there was anyone that would care.
Except for that thing moving in the darkness. Suddenly Rusty noticed
something even more odd. There wasn't something moving in the darkness, the
darkness itself was moving. Now that surprised him. It looked like liquid
and was moving on its own accord. Despite how much this insight scared
Rusty, when it started to reach out for him, he found he couldn't move,
couldn't run, and couldn't even look away. The larger mass stopped moving
as it sent several arm like extensions towards Rusty. Some looked like
normal hands, but most looked clawed or even less human. Some even looked
like tentacles. Rusty was frantically fighting a loosing battle with his
body in an endeavor to flee, nothing was responding. The best he got was a
small tremble.

	When the first extension touched the terrified boy, it felt like
ice. The type of chill that goes straight to the bone. It was an evil
looking, three fingered, clawed hand that lightly caressed his face, almost
gently. Rusty wouldn't have minded too much had it not been for the
situation and the coldness of the touch. It wasn't long before he felt the
chill in several other parts of his body. If he was terrified before it
only became worse when he realized this, this thing was molesting him.
They were all over him touching him in places he never let any other living
thing touch him before. There was some running through his hair, some
viciously groping his rear, some rubbing his abdomen, some stroking his
legs and running across his lips. Some even began to toy with his nipples,
causing them to harden with their icy touch. Rusty some how managed let out
a scream when one, without due consideration, went across his groin area,
whether it was for pain or pleasure he was unsure. Had he been able to move
he would have fallen to his knees at that moment.

	Soon, with no little amount of horror that Rusty noticed he was
moving. This thing was pulling him slowly towards the larger mass. Rusty
knew not what awaited him inside but he wasn't about to find out. With a
newfound mental strength, boosted by adrenaline, he willed his body to
move, to fight for that basic human need. Survival. Rusty kicked, screamed,
yelled battle cries, and fought with his very heart and soul against this
creature threatening him. He managed to cause a few offending limbs to
retreat in shock, but it didn't take long for the appendages to restrain is
arms and legs adequately. The extensions then resumed their attack on his
person with increased intensity, leaving no part of his body as sacred,
violating every spot of skin they could find with their icy touch.

	 At about this point, the flash of light was unexpected by all
those involved. It was a pure blinding light that began to slice its way
through the mass of arms. The only other sound heard was a deep, resonant
voice yelling, "You can't have him!" The arms that were still left and the
large mass of darkness made a quick retreat back down the tunnel, dropping
the young body to the tunnel grates as they left. Upon being freed, Rusty
quickly curled into the fetal position, as if it would effectively defend
him from another assault from it. For a time he sat there crying, his skin
still chilled from the cold hands of the evil, which was not far from
removing his sanity. It was a warm hand on his shoulder that brought him
back to reality.

	When Rusty looked up he saw what could only be described as an
angel, literally. It was exceptionally tall, a good foot and a half almost
two feet taller than Rusty's five foot eight height. The whole body rippled
with raw, mystical power and it was covered in perfectly defined muscles.
Not huge, but obviously strong enough to hold their own against any foe. It
sported huge white wings on its back and in its right hand it held a
glowing sword that even from a distance appeared to be razor sharp. On the
top of this massive frame sat a face to die for. Toped with perfectly white
shoulder length hair and graced with eyes of solid gold. The face would
have fit perfectly on an average teenager frame under normal circumstances,
but this was by no means a normal circumstance. Had Rusty not been so
emotionally distraught, he would have noticed the fact that the being was
for one, not wearing a thing, and for another, well...nevermind.

	Rusty found himself being lifted to his feet by a single massive
arm. Standing on his own power again, all Rusty could do was stare into the
eyes of his savior, his hero. In a move that surprised Rusty just as much
as it did his larger companion, Rusty threw his arms around the being in a
big hug. All the being could do was look down on the boy whose head only
barely came to his chest, and return the hug. They stayed like that for
sometime, holding each other as Rusty's sobs soon began to return.
Eventually the larger of the two broke the embrace and moved to its knees,
causing them to be at about the same height.

"Rusty, I need you to listen to me very carefully there is a lot I have to
tell you, but fortunately we have some time." The beings voice sounded
almost like music to Rusty, reminding him of a song he heard once. It was a
lot lighter and younger sounding than the yell he had heard earlier.

"Who, or what are you? Are you an Angel?" Rustys voice was still somewhat
shaky from its earlier workout. The larger being merely chuckled at the
questions, the small laugh oddly enough also sounded like music.

"My name is Nicodemus. And yes I am an 'Angel', but that is one of many
names for us."  Nicodemus grabbed Rusty's hand in a firm but gentle
grip. "First lets go back to the neutral area."

	Rusty followed the Angel down the end of the tunnel opposite from
the darkness. On this side of the tunnel was the opposite of the gloom
behind him. On the far end of the tunnel was a bright, pure white light. It
was not so harsh that you couldn't look at it, it was almost perfect. Rusty
noticed that the grates in this direction grew closer and closer to white,
opposite of the grates heading to the dark end. In between the two extremes
was a grate larger than the other and it was a perfect shade of gray. Rusty
assumed that it was the neutral area and at the same time noticed that the
grate was farther down towards the light end than where he started.

"Where am I?" Rusty asked as the reached the neutral area. The angel
motioned for him to sit. Rusty took a seat on one side of the tunnel; the
Angel sat across from him resting his sword against the wall. Nicodemus
cleared his throat before responding.

"This is almost like purgatory. Your soul had been corrupted while you were
on Earth by the Darkness. They tainted your soul unfairly. They are not to
take a direct hand in things on Earth. It is normally a person's own
actions that dictate which side they go."

"So let me get this straight. The Darkness is like Hell and the Light is
like Heaven. The evil guys cheated while trying to take my soul. That about
right?"

"Yes, that is one way of saying it."

"Why me? What do they want with me?"

"Your soul is special. It is very powerful. Even on Earth you can affect
many changes. But it is also wild and hard to control. If not watched it
would cause a great amount of damage on Earth and here." Rusty thought for
a moment trying to piece things together.

"So is that your job? You watch over my soul?" The Angel smiled thinking to
himself how quick this young one was, and then he remembered that the soul
helped that fact.

"Yes. I guess I am almost the proverbial guardian angel in this case."

"So you know everything about me, right? All the good and bad things I have
done?"

"Yes but don't get your hopes up. I am not Santa." This caused Rusty to
chuckle a little bit, something he had not done for quite some time.
Nicodemus was glad to add a little bit of humor to such a serious
situation.

"Do you know about the dreams I have had?" The Angel only nodded a yes in
response. "So you know about that dream I had in my bathroom when I fell?"
Once again the Angel nodded. "What was that thing that screamed at me and
flew into me?" The Angels face grew dim for the first time since Rusty had
seen him. His voice lost its musical quality and became very flat.

"It deeply saddens me to tell you this. That, Rusty, was your soul trying
to talk to you. The sad part about that is it was telling you that it
doesn't like you anymore. It blames you for the taint the Darkness has put
on it and it won't work with you at all." Rusty felt like he was about to
start crying again. His own soul had turned against him. He was desperately
trying to hold back sobs.

	The teenager never felt so young or inexperienced in his life. Here
he was, at 18 years old, in the middle of "purgatory", being told that his
very own soul hates him. He looked up from the floor at the being in front
of him. He could feel the tears beginning to sting at his still blackened
eyes. He was absolutely lost. Looking into the golden orbs that were the
Angels eyes, able to see his on face in their reflection. It was then that
he knew there was only one question left for him to ask...

"So... now what?" Rusty looked to the dark end of the tunnel. "Should I
just start walking and praying?" Nicodemus took on a tone of absolute
seriousness when looking at the young mortal.

"Rusty, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that 'the powers
that be' have decided that due to the unfairness of the situation, you
don't have to walk down that tunnel. You are going back to Earth soon."
Rusty instantly stopped crying out of shock. He couldn't believe what he
had just heard. The shock soon faded when he realized there was a catch.

"What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that when you go back, you have to live your life just
like you normally would, except for the fact that the taint on your soul
will remain." The Angel saw the look on Rustys face and held up a hand to
let him finish. "I know, I disagree as well, but that is the way it must
be. You are being given a chance. Your life will continue as normal and
will go the full length, whatever that length may be. Depending on how much
taint you have left will determine how you are judged just like all humans.
Don't think that you are different. Everyone dies with some black marks on
their record. It is just a matter of how many have some white ones to go
with it, to reduce it to simple terms." Nicodemus once again read the
teenagers face.

"I know what you are going to ask and the answer is no, I can't tell you
how to get white marks. I can tell you this much, there is a way for you to
remove the unfair taint on your soul and hopefully gain its trust again.
What you have done is isolated yourself from everyone. When you did this
you isolated your soul as well. Your soul became lonely it had nobody to
share with, nobody to listen to it. This gave the Darkness ample room to, I
guess invade, your soul. Your job now is to reverse the process"

"How in the world do I do that?"

"Think logically. What is the opposite of loneliness?"

"Togetherness?"

"Exactly. You are on the furthest edge of being alone so, what is the
furthest edge of being together?" The light went on in Rusty's head.

"Love.... You're telling me I have to fall in love?"

"Yes you have to balance out your soul. Counter one extreme by using
another."

"How am I supposed to fall in love with someone when I am projecting all
this darkness?"

"That is something you are going to find out for yourself. I do hope that
you remember the statement that 'love is blind'."  Rustys face dropped into
his hands.

"I'm so screwed."

"Don't get that attitude!" Nicodemus raised an accusing finger down the
dark end of the tunnel at the same time that he raised his voice. Rusty
almost jumped back in he face of the Angels anger. "That is the exact
attitude they want you to have! If you start thinking like that you might
as well walk down that tunnel right now!" Nicodemus noticed the shadows of
fear on the teenagers face. "Oh Rusty, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to
scare you. Its just that I care so much about you that I can bear the
thought of losing you to them."

"Care so much about me? We just met, plus the fact you could have only been
watching me for 18 years."

"Your soul is much, much older than 18 years. Almost 1210 years to be
exact. I know because I have been watching your soul ever since it was
born."

"Wow. I guess I can understand why you feel that way."

"Yes...but now it is time for you to go back." They both stood up and
stretched from sitting so long. The Angel stepped over in front of Rusty
putting his large hands on Rustys shoulders.

"Rusty, you have a long and hard journey ahead of you. I will be watching
over just like before except now I have permission to counsel you if you
are in need. All you have to do is call for me and I will contact you. Just
remember to take things one step at a time and to be careful, the Darkness
also knows what the situation is and will do everything it can to finish
what it has started. It cannot take a direct hand in your life, but it can
use others that it has tricked. So be on your guard. Have faith in your
self and you will win your soul back."

	Nicodemus bent over and placed a small kiss on Rusty's
forehead. They looked eyes for a moment before the Angel whispered, "Take
care...my love" Rusty felt himself falling asleep in the large beings arms
and barely heard the end of the sentence before slipping totally into
unconsciousness....

End Chapter One.

OK that's it for now. I hope if you got this far you will stay with
me. Give me an opinion on it if you want me to keep going. Write to
DivineGlow@aol.com. If you are going to insult me, don't bother. I feed
flames to my Great Dane: The Devourer.