Chaos Eater

Prologue- Empty One

'... For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you...' -Friedrich W. Nietzsche

The Empty One hummed to itself as it reclined easily against what had once been a brick wall, eyeing the shivering shape on the ground in front of it. The air responded to the sound much faster than it had before, when he had last visited this corner of his territory, back when the Veil had held it so far away from his skin; where only raw power had been able reach to the Other Side. Now, it slipped between his fingers, currents of wind finer than Fear-feathers. His eyes glittered in satisfaction at the sensation, before he returned his glare to the small, whimpering thing in front of him.

Now what to do about this one...

Echos were usually fairly quick to fade, in his experience; faint, whisper-y things with little-to-no sense in their tiny little heads, and only a care for themselves. Foolish creatures,  trapped in a single moment and complete consumed by it. No real thought other than the pain of, in this case, that wonderful factory explosion. 

Time was a difficult concept, he would admit. How the Quick Ones kept track of such an unrelenting thing was beyond him. But he knew the Echo was most likely old enough no one remained who knew what had caused it to form here, now just an empty memory trapped in time.

But what to do about it...

Honestly, the thing was pretty much useless. If it had moved even once in the last dozen or so years he would be surprised. But there were not many sentient Others here, and he had to make do with what was available. If only there were some Fear-Eaters that had consumed enough to provide adequate conversation. Alas, all that was available at the moment were the hungry little beasts that darted from shadow to shadow, tailing after him in hopes of a free meal.  

They would get no such thing. He himself felt far to underfed to share.

The Empty One hummed again, this time more to himself than to the deliciously close air. The Veil was thin here. All it would take would be one more push, and he might be able to slip threw, to the other side where the fear was so very thick, not just impressions left in stone. Real and wonderful. Although he doubted the pathetic thing in front of him would have anything near the amount of power it would take to push through. And he would most certainly not be doing the work, on the off chance he failed. There simply was not enough energy available to cross over. 

Unless...

The Empty One frowned, eyes narrowing. It would take time, and some effort, but it could be done. Like most things, Pain and Fear went together very well, and both were abundant in a place such as this. Make some noise, and the foolish Quick Ones would come running, bringing with them their fear and anxiety. Something to feed on while the little Echo burned itself over and over again. And when enough Fear spirits had gathered, it wouldn't be hard to arrange for an ... accident. Enough Fear and Death to both break through the Veil as well as feed on.

A black smile spread across his face at the thought, all white teeth and hungry satisfaction. Just a little longer, and he would be able to breath that air himself, gorge himself on all the fear Humans gave off like light from the moon. A prize worth waiting for.

But for the moment, he was hungry, and the Fear-Eaters skittering about in the dark would be enough to sate himself for a time.

'... Empty Ones, like most ghouls, come in varying levels of strength. Unlike most others however, is the fact that even the weakest of them is intelligent enough to speak. They are often the cause of group hauntings, taking a territory and using lesser ghouls and spirits to evoke fear in the living world, which they can then feed on...' - August Ground, Professor of Paranormal Science, Willow City Community College

(AN) So, this is a first, me writing something on a computer. Better than just leaving it in a notebook all my life I guess. I generally prefer hard copies, but I'm willing to try here. Please Feel free to comment, I love it when readers offer ideas, especially when one inspires me. Or just put lol. I know I have a strange sense of humor, so I need some help throwing some in there. I think...

You can tell I've never done this before, can't you?

So, yeah. As a human being, I know some little things out there can tick people off, and I know it sucks to be cruising a story and then something happens and you are left going 'Ahhhh! my eyes!'  so here are some warnings and such for this little monster. 

Language- PG-13. No F-bombs, but shit and dammit do turn up. These are teenagers, and when people get freaked they tend to swear. I don't do Graphic insults.

Character Death- Yes. Ghosts are involved here. A main character is a ghost. That means they died. Dead died. Like 'bleh' and everything.

Graphic Depictions of Violence- ...No. Not like gore anyway. Minor injuries like scratches, maybe a broken bone. No real blood.

Self Harm and Suicide- Mentioned, but doesn't happen in story. One character used to cut, and again, ghosts.

Romance-... none. No really, this story is about bonds and love yeah, but I have a personal pet peeve of romance taking over everything. This story is about platonic and familial love. You want romance, go back to the search button for the moment. If I ever write romance, it will be nothing but romance, because romance is complicated and makes it difficult to write a story and keep everyone as deeply in character as I want without becoming the main focus. That is what fanfiction is for. And I'm not good at it. Yet. Someday...

No Non-con or Dub-con, No Abuse (Not even really mentioned. My story, therefor in my story world, no one hurts my babies.) 

Basically, it's a ghost story with no romance or really graphic stuff. If any does decide to throw itself in there while I am writing, I will warn you at the beginning of the chapter. 

Chris out...