Happy Blog Day Everyone!
We have a new face in Short Diversions...Well, technically, she isn't new per say, but this is her first Short story appearance on the blog, along with a very special guest. Before we get onto that though, time to check in with the Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz!
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
I don't know quite what Riz is putting into that coffee but I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be putting that much in. Guess he won't be told though. Hope he's paying for it!
Short Diversions: Abyssal Gaze
Today's story comes to us from the Phantom Dawn stories, where Rose wanders the post apocalyptic wastes in search of herself, but maybe there's someone out there with answers...
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Abyssal Gaze
Rose stood tentatively on the edge. Kurz hadn't even had chance to tie the emergency rope around her yet.
“What the hell you doing!” He yelled angrily. “If I can't stop you from going down there, at least let me make sure we can haul you back up!”
“Oh, sorry,” Rose replied, a little absentmindedly. She stepped away from the precipice, though she didn't break her gaze with it.
It had been someone in the last town they'd visited who pointed out the mysterious fissure in the earth, where the planets skin had been rent in whatever process caused the world to turn inside out. This someone told fanciful tales of people who ventured into this hole, coming away with vast secrets, though what happened to them afterwards was a bit vague. Neal, ever the wise leader of the group advised against the excursion, but relented quickly as Rose continued in her push for answers. Both Mason and Kurz stepped forward to accompany her down but their requests were dejected.
This is what led to the current situation.
“You have any problem, any problem at all, tug on the rope and we'll get you back up,” Kurz sighed.
“Thanks,” Rose smiled. “I'll call for help if I need it.” She walked back to the edge, staring down into the swirling void. She hesitated to say it was pitch blackness, on effect, it looked like there was a void of all known colours.
“Are you going to climb down or…?” Mason asked without thinking.
“What else would she do?” Kurz questioner, the pair hadn't realised that Rose, had already jumped headfirst. It took them a few seconds to recognise the sound of the rapidly dwindling rope, causing them to fall over themselves in an attempt to secure it. The men looked at each other and then both turned their heads to the abyss where Rose had disappeared, concern written on their faces.
For Rose, time became meaningless. She didn't know how long she twisted alone in that strange space. While she had dived in head first, she now found herself floating right side up. The rope hung limp around her waist, but she certainly didn’t want to leave this place just yet. She knew that there were answers to be found here. From above her, or was it below her? There came a pale light that she recognised. It started off small before getting slowly larger, and larger till it dwarfed her completely. Looking at the swirling mass of hatred and malice, Rose perfectly identified it.
“The Phantom Dawn.. “ Rose quickly looked around, to see if It was really possible that she'd ended up in the sky somehow, despite her blind leap into the depths of the world. However, there was nothing else around, no storming clouds, no surface to speak of.
“Were you expecting some grand vision? Your old memories returning with a song?” A male voice called out. Rose's blood ran cold. While she didn’t recognise the voice, something deep within her told her to fear this voice, to fear whatever person was about to appear before her.
“Who…Who are you?” She called out, getting only a laugh in response at first.
“You don't call, you don't write, you don't visit? What else am I to do but stage an intervention.” The Phantom Dawn simmered and a man emerged from it, brown hair and crystal blue eyes. His attire marked him out as different from anyone else that Rose had met, and there was a wicked smile on his face. From Rose's perspective, he was floating the wrong way round, but showed no sign of discomfort with it.
“I’ll ask again, who are you?” Rose tried to increase the distance between them but found herself unable to move, not even her rope was giving any movement.
“Didn’t Void or the twins tell you my name? Did you not ask who their master was? I’m deeply hurt by this. Suppose it’s to be expected given the state of your memories. My name is Gabriel. By the way, aren't you bothered that you're upside down?” Gabriel said, gesturing. Rose's perspective shifted almost immediately, putting her the wrong way round again. She contorted herself into the right position, once more, staring into Gabriel’s smirking face..
“I know you?”
“You did, in fact, we were in the middle of a riveting conversation the moment before you ended up here. You’d left your cousins for dead and had even managed to keep Void at bay. It was an impressive sight for sure,” Gabriel’s eyes seemed to be scanning Rose, her every reaction and hesitant breaths.
“Who am I then? If we were talking, you should have all the answers I want.” Part of Rose wanted to jump for joy, this Gabriel offered her a once in a lifetime chance, answers to everything. However, this was tempered by the strange sensation that overtook her, one of revulsion.
“Would you like me to tell you your real name? Not the fake one you’ve been running around with?” Gabriel started drifting closer to her.
“No,” Rose’s words came out by themselves like a self defence system. Her eyes betrayed the shock she felt, but Gabriel wasn’t bothered with the negative response.
“Oh really? So, I take it you don’t want me to tell you about your family. Your mother, your father? Or even, your twin brother?”
“My brother?” Rose broke down, her heart pounding with the revelation.
“You had a loving family, till, well, you know. Hey, I’ve got a idea. Why don’t you come with me, and I can reveal every little secret locked up in your head. I can tell you who you were before. Wouldn’t that be nice?” Gabriel held out his hand towards Rose. “Family is supposed to help each other isn’t it?”
“You sent those monsters after me didn’t you…” Rose muttered, again, trying to put more distance between them.
“Monsters? Oh! Void and the twins! Yes, I sent them to retrieve you. I knew you would be out here, in this world, all alone.”
“And all those people they killed?”
“I have to let them have their fun. It keeps them in line. You want to stop them, join me and I’ll let you deal with them.”
“No!” Rose recoiled, again that dissenting voice getting stronger, pushing the feeling that Rose would want nothing to do with the man.
“You can’t even think of a reason to say no can you? Have I given you a reason to distrust me? Think of what I can give you…”
The surroundings turned into a tempest, howling winds and a suffocating atmosphere fell on Rose.
“All you have to do is say yes, and I can help you, in so many ways…” Gabriel was only an inch away from her now.
Rose didn’t know the point where she had tugged on the rope with everything she had. She was dragged away from Gabriel. With one breath, he was there still offering all the help she could want.
“Rose!” Kurz shouted, and everything went black.
In his dark dimension, Gabriel sat on his dark throne, smirking all the same.
“Did it go well then?” Void asked as he slithered forward. “Would you really have told her everything?”
“Void, I would say it went splendidly. As for your second question. I would have told her what I needed her to know. It wouldn’t have changed the crushing truth she would have to face.”
“Then why not grab her while she was within your grasp?”
“And succeed where you failed? I move like that and everything will fall apart. I’ve come too far to let things fall now. Things will be all the more interesting now I believe…” Gabriel started laughing.
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That's it for this week!
Till next time,
Keep on writing!
Peter James Martin
Quick Links
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2
Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1
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