Insania, Act 1

Insania, Act 1: Prologue

Two men armed with their own shovels, digging into the moist earth; tearing into the thick wet soil. The sound of thrown dirt echoes off the stone walls of the cavern. Tearing out more of the scarred earth, one of the shovels hits an obstruction that stops its sharp tip from plunging ever deeper. One of the diggers hears the high pitched ring of the impact and puts down the shovel. Using his hands, he pushes aside the dirt as his partner stops and watches. Underneath the soil a cut gem slowly begins to faintly shine in between the caked on grime. Firmly grasping the gem, the man lifts it up into the air; the other marvelling at its brilliance.

“Professor, I found something!” Adrian yells out from the dug hole.

An old man turns away from the nearby wooden table and walks to his assistants to bear witness to the discovery; the two young men having already brushed off the grime of their find to present to their aged mentor. The old man takes the gem from the dirty hands and smiles with glee.

“Well done Adrian, Joshua!” He exclaims with excitement. The assistants’ faces glows with accomplishment of what they found and unexpectedly unleashed onto the world.

The old mentor shuffles his feet as he makes his way back to the table but stops partway. Trembling quietly he remains silent. The two assistants notice the unusual silence. Josh climbs out of the hole, grabs onto the old mentor’s shoulder and pulls him around. He flinches in fear at what he sees.

 The gem, alive and with dozens of tendrils flowing out from the depths of its shine, stabbing the man with them, gradually digging into the flesh in his chest. Josh rushes to attempt to pull it off but his efforts are fruitless. Cutting into the deepest cavities of his body, the blood spilling from the wounds bleeding fatal amounts that would kill any man but… the old man remains standing with his head down despite his afflictions. The old man swings his arm and hits Josh in the chest; sending the man into one of the stone walls of the cave with a crack of broken bones.

The old mentor looks up with a twisted expression. Letting out a grin red with the blood from his mouth; chuckling at everyone’s horror. The old mentor picks up a small pickaxe from the table and walks up to Joshua. He raises the tool and brings it down onto his head, breaking through the skull. Adrian recoils from the sight of his brother’s death and tries to climb out of the hole to escape. The demon quickly closes the distance between him and his other victim.  Before Adrian can gain his footing to run after climbing out, the monster drives the tip of the pickaxe into his gut, breaking through the skin and shattering the ribs underneath.

Adrian screams and falls over back into the pit, twitching with incapacitating, burning pain. The demon laughs at the suffering body and it turns its head, catching the sight of the faint light of the moon at the entrance to the cave. It slowly lifts its aged legs towards the light it had not seen in countless eras. The plan it has set out to fulfill has begun. With the knowledge of its host, it holds out its hand and snaps its bloody fingers. The pent up energy surges and glows with god-like power as he walks towards the pale light. He paces to the edge of the cave and looks at the shimmer of bursting stars. The creature grins with glee as it steps through the damp canopy of leaves and into the clearing beyond the trees.

The bells of the school day ring again and signal the end of the day. The many students across the campus all eagerly and joyfully pack their bags with excitement for the celebrations ahead of them; the commemoration of the men who gave their country freedom from the weak government of yesterday and the exile of the weak leaders from the United States of the West. Amongst the many youth leaving one of the classes, two girls, Jessica and Hazel, also leave to prepare for their own plans for tonight.

Strolling outside beside the courtyard, Jessica nudges Hazel in the shoulder. Hazel, apparently in a trance returns to the reality and looks at her old friend. “Hazel, what are you planning tonight? Me and Andrew are planning a get together at our house for everyone! Want to come?”