Story of Andonte`
I slept deeply that night, deeper than ever before…Perhaps I knew what was to befall me in my sleep as I turned off the light switch and plunged myself into the dark abyss of sleep. Darkness. It surrounded me, became one with me, until I again held the human form. I was a boy, in a town that was broken and fading, crumbling beneath it-self. And I was a son, my father was certainly a man of importance, but this irrelevancy means nothing in this tale. An Evil One had come for me, and I was trapped by Him, though, I cannot recall how, brought into His home. I cannot remember any completely enclosed area, other than the property itself, surrounded by the barrier of crumbled building walls, entrapped within a dead grass courtyard.
I tried to escape, I know this, but He was too powerful, this man, this evil who stands present within my every fear. I believe He wore a robe of a dead gray brown, with evil symbols embroidered upon it and I felt a silent laughter that emanated from within him.
My father came for me, and though I heard no sound other than a deathly low hum, I knew that he demanded that I be released at once from my imprisonment. I cannot remember any clarity, the colours were dull, dead, without life, and I could see the anger upon my father’s face as he was denied. And somehow we both understood what was happening, and that he would not be allowed to leave this prison alive. I understood what was happening as he violently brushed passed my captor, making his way hastily for the exit.
Ever so slowly the Evil One pulled a hood over his head, shrouding his face in darkness. And even as he did so I heard softly above the growing hum the repetition of an evil chant that grew louder and louder: “A dark hood is twenty-six evil eyes, a thousand lost souls staring at you.” My father reached the pathway towards the large steel exit and halted as eight dark hooded figures surrounded him, the chanting was almost unbearable, as if all the voices of hell were crying out in one loud chant, “A DARK HOOD IS LIKE TWENTY-SIX EVIL EYES, A THOUSAND LOST SOULS STARING AT YOU!!!”
My father with anger and fear on his face again violently brushed passed the two blocking his only exit and started sprinting for the door. The chanting was now akin to sharp claws scratching at a chalkboard, or rather the interior of my brain, crushing it within itself. I could no longer see anything but the outside of the door, two tall menacing steel doors, and as the chant became one loud voice saying “NO ESCAPE, NO ESCAPE, NO ESCAPE!” I saw blood, spill through the cracks surrounding the doors, dark, lifeless blood, showering onto the crumbling, city street.
And I was alone, there was no help for me anymore, no help but myself.
Years passed and my slavery continued until one day, I was allowed to escape. But he was still following me, this I knew, and I ran, ran for days upon days, ran until I could run no longer, until eventually my story was heard and I had found some friends who felt an urge to protect me. They traveled with me, for I always felt the urge to keep moving, as far away from the Dark Hood as possible. We traveled until we reached a wooded clearing, and I heard faintly a chant, a chant of evil that had only one meaning for me.
I warned my friends, I told them we had to run, to hide, to leave before it was too late. One of them ran into an old shack that was erected near by, but even as he did so I saw a dark hooded figure enter into it at an incredible speed, as if he were floating. I heard a scream escape just before I saw massive amounts of blood spilling out of the shack. Silence, hardly peaceful, surrounded me and Andonte` came upon me, stretching out his hand…
I awoke from my slumber drenched in a cold sweat shivering as if I were a terrified child once more, and slowly I felt the words forming in my head: “A dark hood is twenty-six evil eyes, a thousand lost souls staring at you.” And forever after that night, when I turn out the lights, I can almost make out the form of a dark hooded figure standing over me. And as I slip slowly into the dark abyss of sleep, I feel His presence awaiting me, biding its time, until it can return to haunt me once more.