Untwisting+the+World

Untwisting the World

Prologue: Welcome

Mist swirled around my bare feet as I trudged through the darkness. "Boy," I sighed to myself, "Sure was a long day." "Shook that girl to her own death..." A sinister voice whispered, an eerie breeze blowing by. His face appeared through the haze, I saw his eyes were narrowed slightly and his black hair made his face glow a ghostly white before he was swallowed by the mist. Head snapping from side to side I carried on. I felt fear digging its cold claws into my soul. Caught between my indecition of wether I shoud keep on going or go back home, my feet kept on moving so I trusted them and carried on. Two gleaming eyes appeared in front of me and I halted abruptly as the face appeared once more. Fishy smells floated up my nose, maybe I could make a break for the pier. He stared at me with his piercing gaze, "Do you feel it? The gripping terror making your heart race?" Showing me his ghost-white hand I screamed. I saw my own body crumble beneath me as his fingers touched my forehead. "Welcome to the Underworld, let your worst nightmare begin!"

Chapter 1: Soul Seeker

"Come with me." The ghost-white man's sinister voice hissed. "What are you?" I whispered, fearing what he would do if I spoke, barely holding back a strangled cry. "I am what used to be known as a Haunt. Now we are more commonly known as Soul Seekers." The man said, then turned and began walking away, "Now, if you wish for your soul not to be eaten by the Dark One, then come with me." I hurried after him, afraid for my life, then I remembered. I looked back over my shoulder and a chill ran through me when I saw myself lying crumpled on the ground, mist swirling around me. I returned my gaze to the front and concentrated on following the Soul Seeker. The thick mist began to thin out and soon it was gone all together. I found he was leading me through a rocky landscape. I wondered where we were, there were no places as rocky as this where I lived. I glanced around, glimpsing gleaming eyes staring at us from the shadows. The ground sloped gently downward and I struggled to keep up as the Soul Seeker navigated his way down the valley. A reddish glow escaped from between several rocks ahead of us and I vaguely wondered if it were some kind of never-ending flame, but as we neared I saw it was coming from several different doorways. The Soul Seeker led me inside one of the doors and I saw several people gathered in a group in front of another ghost-white man with black hair. They all turned to look at us as we entered. "Ash." The Soul Seeker I was with dipped his head in greeting to the man up the front. "Seth, I see you have our new member." The black-haired man up the front said, "Please, join us for my announcement." Seth led me to stand next to a brown-haired boy about my age, I noticed that the others gathered all had freakishly white skin. "Now that Seth is back, we can begin our meeting." Ash said, addressing all those gathered before him, "The Dark One is becoming restless and we need to work harder to satisfy his wants and needs, so if I hear of any slacking, I will personally deal with the slackers myself. It is time for us to step up to our responsibilities as Soul Seekers. Do not disappoint me. I will meet all of you back here when we next meet. You are dismissed." Most of the Soul Seekers dispersed, but a few lingered. Seth turned to the brown-haired boy we had been standing next to. "Thomas, you get to train the new girl." He hissed, gesturing at me before he strode over to Ash. I hesitated, feeling scared and out of place. "Don't worry, I won't bite." The boy smiled kindly as he held out his hand, "I'm Thomas." "My name's Roslyn, but most people know me as Rosey." My voice was small and slightly shaky as I gripped Thomas's hand and we shook in greeting. "Well, I'm sorry you ended up down here, Rosey, but it'll be OK once you learn what's what with the Underworld." Thomas said. "Thomas... What did Seth mean when he said you get to train me?" I asked, still frightened even though the boy seemed nice. Thomas sighed, "It means that unfortunately for you, you're destined to become one of us." "A Soul Seeker?" I asked, "But doesn't that mean that I have to kill people?!" "It's not really killing someone," Thomas said, "Our job is to seek out the souls the Dark One wishes to have in his realm, and bring them here. Some may still be alive, but most are already dead." "But why am I here?" I whispered. "To be honest with you, I don't know why I'm here either." Thomas took my hands in his, "But I'm going to make sure you don't get hurt, alright?" I gave a shaky nod. I didn't know why, but I trusted Thomas completely. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did. There was something about him that couldn't possibly make him a bad person. "We'll need to get you the Soul Seeker uniform." Thomas said as he led me outside and we entered a doorway that was opposite us. It was then that I took the time to notice that he was wearing a long black cloak with a large hood. An emblem that appeared to be an ouroboros ring with two lightning shaped 'S's in the centre was placed on the left. I looked around and saw that we were in a relatively small room with a counter set into the far wall and a few changing rooms at the side. Thomas led me up to the counter where a short lady stood, seemingly waiting for our arrival. She flicked her blonde hair out of the way of her brown eyes as she sized me up, "Small black leggings, medium black crop top, series seven Soul Seeker cloak with one four four six eight alterations and Soul Seeker shoes size eight." She called out to someone I couldn't see, then added as an after thought, "Better make those shoes eight and a half." There was much shuffling and stumbling heard from somewhere hidden behind the counter as Thomas came to a stop and dipped his head to the lady, "How are you, Christine?" "Pretty pissed off actually." Christine replied, "The newbie is clumsy and spaces out easily. I can see several reasons why people would want her to be with me, but I've got enough on my hands as it is." "Well, when she's properly trained and has had experience then you'll have more time to yourself." Thomas said, "Though I can see what you mean." "Hmm," I mumbled, "This new person you're talking about sure reminds me of-" Just then a pile of clothes stumbled into view and a familiar voice said, "Sorry it took me so long, ma'am, I had trouble finding the right cloak." "Amanda?" I exclaimed, I'd know that voice anywhere. The person carrying the clothes dumped them on the counter and, sure enough, her blue eyes found mine, ginger hair framing her face as usual. "Rosey! Oh no! They got you too?" Amanda seemed just about ready to cry, but stayed put behind the counter. "Oh, go on." Christine muttered. Amanda leaped over the counter and embraced me in a tight hug which I returned. "I'm so sorry," She managed to choke out between sobs, "You never should have ended up down here." "It's not your fault." I told her, "This world is just so twisted. You shouldn't be down here either." Amanda sniffed as she pulled back, "Well, the least I can do is help you with your clothes, so if you ever need repairs or anything, come see me and I'll do them personally!" I thought I heard Christine mutter, "She's useless with a needle and thread." Under her breath, but I could be wrong. Thomas gestured to a curtained off section on one side of the room and I headed over there with my new clothes. It only took me two minutes to get changed (what can I say? I always got out of the changing rooms at the pool the fastest, heck I could win a medal!) and I went to go look at myself in the tall oblong mirror that was set into the stone wall next to the counter. "Those clothes suit you." Amanda said before she had to tend to a customer that wanted a rip in his shirt mended. I had to admit, I looked pretty BAMF. All I really needed was a gun and some shades and I'd look like the female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger wearing a cloak for a disguise. I'm not saying I'm super strong or anything, though I //do// know how to get someone on the ground and break and arm or two in the process. Not that I've done that before. Arnold Schwarzenegger thoughts aside, It was time to get back to whatever reality was left in this messed up place. "So what do we do now?" I asked Thomas, slowly getting used to the fact that this was actually happening to me. Thomas pulled out what looked to be a pink post-it note, "We find out when and where we're supposed to be, and whose soul it is we're seeking." He showed me the post-it, "Looks like your first soul will be a Sven Partins at 3:30PM by the Minray Lake." "What's the time now?" I asked. "There is no time in the Underworld." Thomas answered, "We go through portals to get to where we need to be." "Oh, alright then. If it's that easy then how many souls do we have to collect every day?" I wondered. "It depends on what kind of mood the Dark One is in. Today you'll probably only have to collect two at the most." Thomas told me.