Colin's posts

"....good lord..." Hal said in a hushed tone.

He then sighed, and snapped his fingers, causing all the spiders to disappear from where they were. He sent them to a special room that he knew was empty... and it was sealed in such a way that living things couldn't get it. Like a contamination unit.

He didn't want these spiders around and out of control, but he didn't want to kill them. Not unless Anya was aware of it, and could give consent to it.

After that, he looked at Anya.

"Anya? Say something! Anya?" he asked.

No answer.

So he took out his cell phone, and called Angela.

"Angela, I'm on my way to the medical wing, and I'm bringing Anya with me." he told her, before ending the call.

"....." he was then silent again, before awkwardly picking her up in his arms, and starting to carry her down to the medical wing.

Hal was taken aback by this sudden development.

He hadn't even had a chance to respond to her, before the spiders surrounded him and started to swarm him.

But he wasn't panicked at all.

With amazing speed, he snapped his fingers, and each and every spider was surrounded by a deep pink aura, causing them to freeze where they were... before they slowly floated down to the ground.

But they weren't dead. Anya would be able to sense that.

It was more that they were in a state of suspended animation... but a mana-based version.

"Anya, are you all right?" Hal asked her.

Again, Hal was stunned for a moment.

"Anya, I can take care of myself." he told her.

"Please... Anya... let me try and help." he went on.

"It's clear that you're scared... and going through some kind of crisis... please let me help." he continued.

"I'm your friend. I want to help you."{/b] he said.

[b]"You shouldn't be alone right now. Not when you're so scared." he then reasoned, keeping his voice as calm and soothing as he could.

"NO!" the necromancer shrieked, as the cavern started to rumble and cave in.

"Let's go." Ryker said, grabbing the man by the collar, and running with him. As he ran, noticed something and raised an eyebrow.

"Hm?" he muttered, grabbing it as well and seeing it was a jacket.

Eke's jacket.

"Neato!" he said, as he and the panicking wizard exited the cave, Ryker throwing him off to the side, and dropping the jacket.

"Why!? Why did the darkness betray me!? I was controlling it! It was mine!" the man said.

This caused Ryker to chuckle.... very darkly, before turning and walking over towards him.

"...you think you own the darkness? You're nothing more than a mere fool that got a taste of what it is... and then thought you had the whole meal." he continued, lifting him up by his neck.

"Meanwhile, I lived in it all my existence..." he continued, the demon taking over fully now. "I understood it... I respected it... I learned it. I lived it." he went on, his grip tightening around the man's throat, as he threw him against a nearby boulder, pinning him there.

"The darkness betrays you... because it belongs... to ME..."

"..." Hal was stunned for a moment.

He'd never seen Anya like this before.

Yet here she was... she was acting scared, alone, and frightened... and he could guess as to why.

He'd check on Jake after, but right now, Anya seemed to need help.

He finally took a small breath, and lightly cleared his throat.

"Anya?" he addressed her, his voice quiet.

"It's me. Hal Sharp." he said.

"Want to talk?" he asked her, trying to keep his voice as calm and soothing as possible He didn't want to do anything to potentially freak her out or startle her. He had no idea how brittle the eggshells he was walking on were, so he wasn't taking any unnecessary risks or chances.

"Got it, thanks." Hal responded.

"You deal with what you need to deal with." he told her.

"Sorry for the interruption." he apologised.

About 5 minutes later, Melissa was at the security check at the front, and Hal was making his way to the roof.

"...all right, Anya." he muttered.

"Let's see if you're still up there." he said.

He then reached the door to the roof, and opened it.

"Anya?" he asked loudly, looking around.

"...." Hal was silent, before groaning and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Never mind." he said.

"I was about to ask if you could take over for Jake, as it seems he's... indisposed at the moment." he told her.

"No, I don't know how, or why, but the info came straight from Angela." he said.

"If you can't do it, what member of security CAN?" he asked her.

"I need to know ASAP, before I go hunting for Anya."

"......got it." Hal said after a moment.

"I'll be in the med wing for answers later." he told her, before hanging up.

He was then silent, before bringing out his cell.

He scrolled through his contacts, and sighed.

"Mira... let's hope YOU'RE okay." he muttered.

He then found her contact number, and dialled her.

Jake was silent for a moment.

"Anya..." he said.

"We... we were on the roof... lunch..." he continued.

"She... she started to freak out... couldn't remember who I was for a moment." he went on, before coughing.

"Before she remembered... her spiders... so many different spiders... they swarmed me... all over me..." he continued, his voice getting more and more quiet.

"She tried to stop them... they wouldn't listen... they acted... on their own-" he went on, and then coughed again.

This time far more violently.

To the point where a glob of blood was hacked onto the floor.

"...I do." Hal responded.

"Thank you." he said once more.

-A little over a week later-

The hallways of the Unit were unnervingly quiet. Mostly because everyone was either affected, or scared of being effected. It meant the med wing was busy, however... but at least it was quiet.

Angela was about to step out of the med wing for a drink from the cafeteria, when she heard footsteps. They were heavy, uneven, and unsteady... like someone who could barely move at all.

Before she could do anything, the form rounded the corner... and she saw it was Jake.

And he was covered in hundreds of bites of various sizes... some of which were bleeding badly.

Hal blinked for a moment.

"I..." he stammered.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Yes, I can grant that." he said.

"Admittedly, I'm not sure what form of knowledge the wish will take, but... here goes." he finished.

He then brought his hand forth... and snapped his fingers.

"..." Hal didn't say anything at first, but he then smirked.

And snickered.

Before it turned into outright chuckling.

"You're right." he said.

"We've faced superhuman challenges in the past, and we've survived." he admitted.

"We can face this as well!" he declared, before looking at her.

"Thank you, Rylie." he said, gratitude in his now-changed tone.

"I hope so as well." Hal responded.

"We have no idea what this is, or what to do about it." he went on.

"And I've heard some of my staff are even having symptoms that mimic Alzheimer's." he then said.

"But that seems to be a severe case of 1 or 2." he continued.

"However, I'm concerned that whatever this is... is progressive, and practically nobody is safe." he then admitted.

"If we can't do anything about it... and everyone gets worse... this might be the end of the Unit, Rylie." he lamented, sounding helpless and disheartened.

"......." Hal was silent, before slamming his fist down on his desk.

"Damn it!" he cursed.

"Damn it, damn it!" he repeated, before sighing.

"I apologise." he said.

"Thank you for telling me this." he went on.

"I just can't believe this is happening. Now key members of this organisation are falling victim to whatever this is." he went on.

"This just keeps getting WORSE!" he exclaimed, before looking at her.

"What about you?" he asked.

"How are YOU faring?"