the day the light died

[steuben]

(author\'s note: let\'s add something new to spectrum of stories of ps.

this story contains scenes of graphic violence and death. reader discretion is very much advised. so don\'t say you weren\'t warned.)

\"there is an old legend. the azure sun keeps the demons away. when the sun goes out, on that day, at that moment they will cross over. as they come, may the gods have mercy on our souls, for the demons will have none on our flesh.\"

alphisto haruumphs, and puts the book back down.

\"mareem, how can you read that stuff,\" he says over his shoulder.

\"cause it\'s fun,\" mareem says from the kitchen. \"now hurry up, or you\'ll be late.\"

\"yes, dear.\" he walks over to her. \"but, i\'d rather you be late.\"

he hugs her. during the embrace he reaches up and scratches the short soft fur behind her ears. she purrs softly.

\"maybe, tonight,\" she whispers.

\"oh, mostly definately tonight.\" he says as he breaks the embrace and leaves.

he walks down the two flights of stairs to street below. it is already beginning to fill up with the activity of the day. their small two room apartment is above one of the lesser market streets of town. they could afford better. but, it was a comfortable distance from the insitute. the nearness of the market meant mareen could pick up a few hours of work a day at the local printers.

alphisto walks across town to the azure institute. the light granite buildings reflect some of the light. the inner courtyards are walled with slabs of polished granite. the reflected fills the yards with shadowless soft light.

he continures through the wide busy hallways. he turns and walks down a corridor. attached to the wall at about eye level is a plaque. on the plaque is inscribed \"solar crystal observatory\". he walks in to a smallish office. placed around the perimeter room are several cubicles. some yliaki are seated in the cubicles. a few look up and wave when he comes in.

\"anything interesting happen overnight,\" alphisto asks.

\"nothing ever happens,\" the lemur says. \"it gets dark. it gets light.\" she leans back in her chair. \"sometimes, i wish something interesting would happen.\"

a  ynnwn looks up from his work.

\"yeah, it would be interesting,\" he says. \"but then we\'d have to explain it. which is too much work in my book.\"

the door to the office bursts open.

\"hurry,\" the messenger says between breaths.\"the observatory. something\'s happening. eclipse.\"

\"finially something interesting,\" the lemur says as she gets up.

\"and we probably  won\'t have to explain it,\" the ynnwn responds.

they rush to the observatory. standing in the observatory are several other yliaki are working busily already.

\"you sure it\'s an eclipse,\" alphisto asks when he gets into the room.

\"what else could it be?\" a dwarf responds. \"it\'s the middle of the morning.\"

\"what does the scope show?\"

the lemur is already at the scope examining its image. the scope is a series of lenses held in place with brass wirework. the image of the crystal is projected on to a sheet of white paper.

\"not much,\" the lemur says. \"just that it is dimming.\"\"

\"take notes. this will probably be the first measured ecplise.\"

\"yep. we\'ll have to explain it, \" ynnwn says as he sets to work.

alphisto walks over to the scope.

\"talad damn you,\" the lemur snaps with out turning her head. \"get your hands out of the light path.\"

\"they are...\" alphisto trails off as he catches sight of the image. he turns to look up at the sun. the image on the paper is there on the crystal. he looks back at the paper. the image of four fingered hand reaching over the crystal is there as well.

\"this isn\'t an eclipse,\" alphisto says.

the dwarf had since come up to the scope.

\"you sure,\" he says. \"what else could it be?\"

\"because that would have been described.\" alphisto gestures towards the now clear hand over the sun.

in the waxing light latterns and torches are being lit. all over town there are appearing yellow points of light. in the observatory a few lanterns are lit. on the paper the last few shards of blue light are slowly occluded by the fingers. the last shard seems to flare as it too is covered over.

alphisto walks out on to the blacony of the observatory. in the whole of yliakum the only light is that which is cast by torch or lantern.

[Phinehas]

I like it. Very good. Needs help with spelling and capitalization, but the writing\'s good.

[Under the moon]

A nice twist, Master stueben. Very good mood setting. Dark and disturbing. By all means, continue.

*laughs at Phinehas telling stueben to use caps*

\'twil never happen, me boy.

[steuben]

... caps? which font is that?

anyways back to the story
---------------------------------

alphisto watches the dark for a while. the shadows move with the occastional flickering flame. the shadows while seeming correct, appear slightly wrong.

\"i\'m heading to library to check something out,\" alphisto says.

he leaves the observatory. he works his way to the library. the halls were also occupied with the confused and panicked yliaki. the darkness combined with the poor illumination slows his travel.

the door to the library is ancient and appears heavy. the stone work of the library walls is older and different from the that of the institute. it is as if the library was always there, and the institute grew around it.

he pushes on the door. it swings open easily. he walks in to the foyer. the foyer is lit by the soft yellow light of several laterns. the foyer is well lit.  but the stacks extending off of the foyer are cloacked in relative shadow.

alphisto walks up to the desk on the left side of the foyer. he looks around for a moment. the librarian comes out of the stacks to his right.

\"looking for information about eclipses master alphisto,\" the librarian asks.

\"yes, he responds.

the librarian always seems to know what you are looking for. even if you do not know. he had semmingly been there for as long as the institute, if not longer.

\"hmm,\" the librarian pauses for a moment to think. \" ah, yes. i know of a few books that may be interesting.\"

he heads behind the desk. from underneath he pulls out a wooden box worn smooth by time. he places the box on the surface of the desk. he removes the top. nestled in cradles of thick felt are twenty pale blue crystals. he picks one out and hands to alphisto. he cups it in his hands and gently blows on it. the crystal begins to glow with a pale blue light.

\"a glow crystal?\" alphisto looks at the librarian as he replaces the box. \"we\'re going that deep?\"

\"yes,\" the librarian says as he straightens up. \"i\'ll come collect the crystal after.\"

he walks out from behind the desk.

\"come. we have a bit of  distance to cover.\"

the cross through much of the library. they stop in front of simple wooden door. the door is locked with a lock of an iron and platinium alloy. the librarian opens the lock a simple iron key. when the door is unlocked it silently swing inward.

\"to keep the books in, or people out?\" alphisto says.

\"yes,\" the librarian responds as he enters the room. alphisto follows him in.

th eroom itself is medium size. in contrast to the exterior the walls are made of rough hewn stone. the bookshelf and the table are made of thick unfinished oak. only the chair and the small stand on the table are finished and smooth. the shelf holds roughly a dozen large books.

\"there are only four different books.\" the librarian gesures towards the shelf. \"the rest are translations. they\'re a bit wordier then the originals. but, can be considered as the original for your purposes.\"

alphisto walks overs to the table. he places the crystal in the stand. the pale blue light works to fill the room. but, some of the corners remain shrouded in shadow.

\"just pull the door to when you\'re finished.\" the librarian says as he turns to leave.

alphisto takes one of the books off the shelf. placing it on the table he opens it

\"when the hand covers the sun... the gates of the night shall open...\" alphisto turns around. \"are you sure these...\" but, the librarian has sinced vanished.

he turns back to the book and begins to study. he blows on the crystal occastionally to maintain its glow.

the demons are repulsed or killed by the light of the azure sun. the books are not clear on which it is. they want to come to our world to own it or destroy it. again, the books are not clear on which it is. there is one point the books are clear on. the demons abhor our lives. if they could they would enter the light to extinguish us.

despite the bulk of the books, there are a few scant pages about once when the demons came over before. their time of horror was ended by a single small drop of the sun. it spread its light across all the lands. it drove the demons back to the relms from which they came. but, the pages reveal little beyond that.

alphisto places the books back on the shelves. he gathers up his notes and the crystal from the table. as he leaves he pulls the door cloased. it shuts with a metallic click. the click systems to echo down the hallway. he works his way back to the foyer. initially he finds he way by the tracks in the dust. later, it is by the more familar surrondings.

as he approaches the foyer, he begins to pull the crystal out of his pocket. he angles his path to the desk. he pauses in the middle of the foyer. he looks down at the crystal in his hand. he considers the librarian\'s words about collecting it. he puts the crystal back in his pocket. he walks out of the library.

the moment he steps through the doors of the library, the near total darkness stops him. he pulls the crystal out of his pocket. it casts a blue light into the corridor. he heads through the now deserted hallways back to the observatory.

as he approaches the door to the observatory he can see a faint yellow light through the frosted glass. he pockets the crystal. he opens the door and steps in. he pauses on the other side of the doorway. he smells a coppery, metallic tang in the air.

\"what have i told you guys about eating in here?\" he says as he closes the door behind him. \"especially kran food. though talad only knows why you\'d eat the stuff. you know what it does to some of the equipment.\"

[steuben]

alphisto takes a step into the room. he steps in something thick and sticky.

\"this why, guys. now who is going to clean this up?\" alphisto says.

he pauses. he looks around slowly.

\"guys?\" a note of concern enters his voice.

he begins to wander through the observatory. the single candle hides more in shadow then it illuminates.

\"ummm, guys?\" fear begins to replace concern in his voice.

he spots a yliaki sitting in one of the cubicles against the far wall. he walks over. when gets there he puts a hand on the shoulder. he shakes it gently. the head lolls back and around. the face between the eyes and the jaw has been ripped off. the lower jaw hangs open. the shadows cast by the candle and open jaw exaggerate the extent of the injury.

alphisto takes a step back in horror. he releases the shoulder convulsively. the torso falls forward. the head bounces off the desk. the impact jars some brains through the hole.

as he steps back, alphisto trips over an out stretched arm. his notes go flying as he falls backwards. landing hard on his back, the crystal slides from his pocket.

the bluelight reveals the scene of carnage around him. he scrambles to his feet. he turns slowly around, observing the room. he pauses when he sees the scope. the wirework has been bent and twisted. several welds on the frame have been broken.

he crouches down to picks up the crystal. as he does so, he see the body of the yliak he tripped over. the ribcage from stomach to the collar had been ripped away. the exposed organs glisten in the blue light. he picks up the crystal.

he straightens quickly. he gags. he runs from the room, slipping slightly on the partly congealed blood. outside he slams his body hard against the wall near the door. he takes a deep shuddering breath. he bends over and collapses to his knees.  the crystal falls from his hand. he begins to vomit.

after finishing, he sits back. he wipes the bile from his mouth with his sleeve. the crystal sits where he dropped it during his fit of nausea. it is not quite out of reach. but he will have to move to retreive it.

when the light is almost extinguished he hears a faint skritching sound, like a clacker moving over stone. the skritching is faint enough to be thought rather than heard. except the floors are wood, a still funtioning portion of he mind thinks. the light of the crystal is a mere ghost of itself. it barely illumitates itself, no light is cast on the surrounding floor.

dazedly he reaches for the crystal. he picks it up. the skritching is still quiet, but now clearly audible and getting louder. he sits back. he looks at the crystal in his open palm. the skritching stops. it has been replaced by silence, but not an empty silence. it is the silence of something close by not making any noise. he blow gently on the crystal. it flares brightly to life. he shuts his eyes reflexivly against the sudden brightness. squinting he opens his eyes. in the pale blue light, the corridor is empty.

alphisto stands up. he starts to walk dazed through the corridors. the bright light of the crystal occastionally illuminates congealing pools of blood. he walks by them woth recognizing what they are.

he steps out of the institute and into the street. half consciously, he turns in the direction of home. as he walks through the deserted streets he passes what at first appears to be a pile of stone. he brushes the pile with his leg as he goes by. the pile settles slightly. a kran head roles out of the pile. the body had been pulled apart at every major joint, and few minor ones. alphisto continues on with without really seeing it.

he wlaks past the mouth of an alley. a hand reaches out of the alley and clamps over his mouth. a second hand places itself over the crystal. it pulls the crystal and alphisto\'s hand against his body. together the hands pull him into the alley.

the black ichor on the hand covering alphisto\'s mouth burns and freezes at the same time. the of smell it is of blood and rotten meat. the taste of it matches the odour. but, there is a sweet note to it. though the hand does not cover his nose, the smell makes it had to breathe.

on the hand, covering the crystal, the ichor is bubbling and begining to smoke. the smoke has a nauseating acrid odour to it. between the smoke, the smell, and the taste. his empty stomach begins to churn.

[steuben]

a voice whispers in alphisto\'s ear, \"i am going to uncover your mouth. \" the voice is smooth, controled. \"you will not shoutout.. \" the unspoken threat clear in the voice. \"then you will put the crystal in your pocket.\" the voice moves back. \"don\'t nod. simply do.\"

the hand lifts off of his mouth. alphisto\'s hand moves to his pocket. it goes in without sheding any light. alphisto bends over and tries to vomit. only bile comes out. he straightens and wipes the bile and ichor from his mouth.

alphisto turns around to face the yliak. much of him is concealed in a grey cloak. the hood is thrown back revealing a human face. or atleast revealing as much as the near dark can.

\"so are you lucky or skilled?\" he looks alphisto up and down. \"i doubt skill. and luck doesn\'t stretch like that.\"

\"and which are you?\", alphisto responds.

\"bound to do this, \" he responds.

he looks at alphisto.

\"why did you pull me in here?\"

\"you were headed towards a group of them.\"

\"of who?\"

\"the demons\"

\"the de...,\" alphisto trails off as his recollections of what he read in the library surface. \"but, they\'re not... i thought they were a--\"

\"myth. no they\'re real. real enough to bleed. real enough to die.\" he brings his right arm out of his cloak. the ichor still glistens in the nearby torch light. he gestures in the directions alphisto was traveling

\"they would have done a bit more then just pull you into an alley... where were you headed?\"

\"home, i think\"

he looks at alphisto for a moment. he shrugs.

\"as good a place as any.\"

\"but, the other ways a probably just as blocked.\"

\"not really,\" he shakes his head. \"they\'re favouring the main streets. they don\'t seem to have any co-ordination yet.\"

\"it amounts to the same. i live off this street.\"

\"i may be able to arrange somthing.\"

he walks out of the alley.

\"wait here,\" he says without turning his head.

outside the alley he turns in the direction alphisto was heading. alphisto waits in the alley a moment before heading to the mouth. he looks out to see the yliak\'s cloak billow out. in the dim light he looked like a dark angel, descending for venegence.

shapes of dark liquid shadow move towards the yliak. he draws his sword. the sound of steel on leather has the note of a fierce beast moving for battle. with part of the same motion he draws the sword through the first shadow. it opens up, splitting like an over-stuffed sausage. organs spill out far more then the wound should allow. the organs seem to splash when they hit the ground.

the shadows reach for him. he moves among them, his sword moving through them. the limbs of the shadows reach for him. they form a variety of claws. in their attacks, they come close to him. but, they always miss, sometimes by very small amounts. some of those limbs are severed. they lay twitching on the ground. the stumps ooze black ichor before they seal over. a new limb sprouts from the stump.

after having defeated the shadows he collapses to one knee. the sword is driven tip down between to cobblestones. he clutches his right side. alphisto rushes over. the ylaki rises. he put some weight on the sword, standing he sheathes his sword. the hiss of leather on steel has a restrained note to it. he winces as he does it.

\"are you alright?\" alphisto asks as he runs up.

\"i\'m fine,\" he says.

he takes a step forward he begins to sag to the ground. alphisto catches him.

\"maybe not,\" he says.

\"come. my place isn\'t far. we\'ll take a look at things there.\"

\"yes,\" he whispers. \"that may be a good plan.\"

they progress through the deserted streets of the market. they work their way up the flight of stairs. the bounce occastionally against the walls of the stairwell. alphisto opens the door. he helps the yliaki through. he kicks the door closed.

\"you\'re home,\" mareen says. \"i was getting...\" she pauses as she see the stranger draped over alphisto\'s shoulder

\"who\'s this?\" she asks, some suspiciousion in her voice.

\"\" the stranger says in field accented enki.

\"hardly,\" alphisto says. \"he was injured clearing my way.\"

\"it\'s just a scratch.\"

\"some scratch,\" mareem says. \"i can smell it from over here. come here, and let\'s have a look.\"

mareen and alphisto manage to get him seated at the kitchen table. alphisto unclasps the cloak. mareen brings over a lantern.

\"we\'ve got to get his shirt off.\"

mareem starts to pull it up.

he winces. \"just cut it off,\" he says. \" i can always get a new shirt.\"

\"alph, get me a knife, \"she says.

he rushes off and returns with a small, sharp knife. she runs the blade down the front of the shirt. next she runs it along the sleeve. the fabric flops away.

the latern reveals as much of the wound as it can. several of the ribs appear to be broken. a few seem to threaten a compund fracture. the skin and over laying muscle are deeply torn. blood oozes rapidly from the wound.

\"\" mareem mutters.

\"by the grace of talad,\" alphisto whispers.

\"i walked away,\" the stranger chuckles. he winces. \"you should have seen the over guys.\"

\"we can\'t do anything for him here,\" mareem says. \"we\'ve got to get him to a healer.\"

\"no,\" he says. \"it\'s too dangerous. i have something that will help.\" he reaches in to a pouch on his hip. he pulls a glyph out and places it on the table.

\"neither of us knows how to use a glyph for anything the serious,\" alphisto says.

\"don\'t worry. it does.\" he closes his eyes. \"press it face out it your palm with your thumb.\" he recites. \"hover your hand over the wounds. focus on the back of the glyph. don\'t push. let it do the work. stop when it pushes back.\"

\"ok,\" says mareem as she icks up the glyph.

she holds it over his side. she concentrates. a blue nimbus flickers and steadies around the glyph. the wounds shift slightly as the ribs reposition themselves. he winces and grunts slightly as they move. the nimbus starts as she starts slightly. the blood flow and reduced to a trickle.

\"but, you\'re not fully healed,\" she says.

\"it won\'t,\" he replies. \"it\'s meant for trauma only. the rest, i\'ll have to take care of,\" he passes out.

mareem presses her paw against his neck. he tenses as she does so. after a moment she removes. he relaxes.

\"he\'s still alive. but, he\'s burning up,\" she says.

alphisto damps a cloth and passes it mareem. she folds it and places it on his forehead. they bind his side. they carry him to the bed.

\"don\'t go quietly into the night,\" he mutters. \"rage against the dying of the light.\" he sudders. \"need more than rage,\" his voice subtly different. \"only fills the dark. light, light pushes it back.\"

they leave the room. unseen by either of them, a black ichor slowly seeps through the bandages.

[SuburbanPlankton]

Must have more.

Please.

[steuben]

alphisto sits down at the kitchen table. mareem walks over to the counter. she starts up the fire glyph. she places a kettle on it. alphisto pulls the crystal from his pocket and places on the table near the gylph. mareem joins him at the table.

he looks up. \"they\'re all dead.\"

\"what?\"

\"everybody in the observatory. not just simply either.\" he swallows and closes his eyes. he immediately opens them again. \"by whatever why ran into in the street. whatever came over when the sun went out.\"

she reaches over and places a paw over his hand.

\"i\'m sorry, you were all so close. but, how did you escape?\"

\"i was in the library, researching when...\" he shakes his head.

the sit in slience for a while. the kettle comes to a boil and begins to whistle. mareem gets up and prepares the pot for tea. she pours the water over the leaves. letting it steep, she gets out two mugs. she pours the tea from the pot. she puts one infront of alphisto. she carries the pot and her mug over to the table and sits down.

\"did you see it happen? the sun go out, i mean,\" she says.

alphisto sips at the tea. he nods. \"it was like the shadow of a giant hand covering the sun. but, there was no hand. it just blocked out the light.\" he sips at the tea. \"the light is still there it\'s just covered.\"

she nods. she reaches for the crystal. its light faintly visible.

\"a glow crystal.\" alphisto sips his tea, nodding towards the crystal.

she picks it up.

\"just blow on it gently and it will brighten.\" she blows on the crystal bit before finding the right strength. the glow brightens until she stops. the cold blue light is now about as big as the lantern on the table.

\"where did you get it?\" she asks.

\"the librarian. he uses them when we go deep into the stacks. safer then a lantern with all that paper.\"

she nods, and places the crystal back on the table. she sips at her tea. she considers something a moment.

\"did you notice hhis enki accent?\"

\"plains, i think.\"

she nods. \"there\'s more then that. the tense he used. it\'s old. i\'ve only ever seen it in history books. noone who\'s learned enki in the past hundred years uses it. and he used it fluently.\"

she shrugs, and sips her tea. she puts the mug down and stands up.

\"best check on him.\"

she takes the lantern as she heads to the bedroom. she pauses as she steps away from the table.

\"do you hear that?\"

he looks up, \"hear what?\"

\"like someone walking on claw tip on stone.\"

he shakes his head. she shrugs, and continues on to the bedroom. alphisto picks up the crystal and blows on it to brighten it up. he moves to place it back on the table.

from the door to the bedroom comes a hiss of alarm and terror. he stands up, pushing the chair rapidly back. he reaches for the sword. his hand pauses before it closes around the hilt. the sword comes out of the sheathe with the simple sound of steel on leather. he rushes to the bedroom, sword in one hand, the crystal tightly clenched in the other. mareem is standing in the doorway. she drops the lantern. it falls to the floor with a clatter. her claws are out, ears back, and hackles up.

in the room the stranger is wrestling with a pool of dark shadow. atleast it appears to be shadow until it opens its mouth. the mouth opens broadly revealing rows of sharp white teeth. the mouth continues to grow until it appears to almost cut the top of head off.

there is a sickening crack from the melee. the stranger bends back one of the shadow\'s arms. he twists the arm and digs it in the shadow\'s belly. the skin bursts open as he drags the claws along. he leaps backwards, throwing himself hard against the wall.

alphisto clumsily throws the sword. the sword flies point forward towards the stranger. he catches it by the hilt reversing the motion smoothly. the tip of the sword goes through where the shadow was.

\"light,\" he gasps. \"i need light.\"

mareem reaches down for the lantern. alphisto looks down at his clenched hand a moment and opens it. the blue light rushes out and fills the room. the light seems to catch the shadow and throw it against the wall. it begins to evaporate. the vapour has a nausating acrid odur.

\"that,\" he says, breathing slightly heavily, \"was a demon. but only... show me that crystal.\"

he steps toward alphisto. he takes the crystal from his hand. he examines it a moment in his fingers. he cups it in his hand and blows on it. the crystal brightens slightly.

\"if it did that to one of them. maybe we could-\" mareem says.

\"bright enough to see your bones through your flesh. to etch your shadow into stone.\" the stranger shakes his head. \"it still wouldn\'t be enough.\" he returns the crystal to alphisto\'s hand. \"the light is cold. they would just hide in the shadows. only the light of the sun will do. where did you get that crystal?\"

\"the librarian,\" alphisto says. \"back at the azure institute. he uses them when he has to go deep into the stacks.\"

the stranger nods. \"probably has several of them.\" he waves his hand dismissing the answer. \"but, perhaps we can sit down to discuss things further?\"

the three head out to the kitchen. mareem gets out a third mug. the stranger picks up the sheathe and slides the sword in. the steel sliding against leather has a relieved note to it. he places it back next to the chair and sits down.

\"your sword,\" alphisto says hesitantly, \"is it magic?\"

he stranger shakes his head. \"you can\'t magic iron.\"

alphisto looks at his hand. when he had grabbed the sword, he had had an image of an animal. he couldn\'t describe it exactly. except to say that it had teeth and claws. it had sleek honey brown or ginger fur. it seemed caplable of taking on nearly anything. it looked at him with intelligent and apprasing eyes before it vanished. he shakes his head.

\"no. i guess not,\" he says.

mareem places the mug on the table and fills i from the pot. she sits down. she picks up her mug. it trembles in her hand, threatening to upset its contents. she places it back down on the table.

\"so we\'re all eventually be killed by those things,\" she says.

\"if things stay as they are, yes,\" the stranger syas.

\"isn\'t there something anybody can do?\" alphisto says. \"we can do?\"

\"we?\" the stranger raises an eyebrow. \"perhaps. but we\'ll have to go outside.\" he looks out the window. \"back through them. because we\'re going to need more crystals.\"

[Farren Kutter]

Very very very good! It caught me from the start, the whole thing about demons and such... Naturally, the grammar and spelling and such is bugging the crap out of me, but that\'s because I\'m a grammar and spelling freak.

[Shooree]

ooh! revival! do carry on, dear steuben!