The Nocturnal Vol 1 : The Awakening

Presentation - Prologue

French author of 35 years old.

I have imagined "The Nocturnal" when i was in hight school.  

After 15 years, i suggest you enter the Remi's dreamlike universe in order to share his adventures. 

I'm only posting 6 chapters to get some feedback.

So please, come and discover the world of Overthere. 

Prologue 

- 'Show yourself!' the young boy vigorously shouted at me despite his apparent fatigue.

He could barely stand up. The heavy slamming of each of his steps on the tiles, to come to me, let me think that he was already beyond his physical limits.

- 'I tremble with fear', I ironically said before lowering the velvet hood that masked my face.

I've been waiting a long time for this moment. So long that I wanted to fulfil this muffled desire and introduce myself to him in all my splendour, and here I am.

- 'It's impossible...' he breathed pallidly as he discovered my face.

I could feel his gaze running through my features, my high forehead, my prominent cheekbones, my straight nose and my voluntary chin. I sensed the fear creeping into him, slowly, sinuously, and enjoyed the suffering it caused. Suddenly, I saw him face the facts and admit that we were similar in every way, up to the little dimple we were sharing on the left cheek.

- 'What is it, Remi? You look like you've seen a ghost,' I smile with sadistic pleasure. 'You no longer seem to like the idea of having a twin. You who have always waited for someone like you, who understands you, are you not pleased to see me? Why don't you come and hug me?'

- 'Shut up, you don't know a thing about me!' he enraged.

My words and inflexible attitude seemed to destabilize him. I was relishing it.

- 'Oh, but on the contrary, I know everything. I'm much more than just your reflection in the mirror. We've been playing together for over sixteen years now, or rather, we've been playing against each other.'

I drew a circle with my left hand and made a chess board appear floating in front of me.

- 'Look where all those nights of clashes have led us. Your last pawns are in a very unfortunate position.'

My black coloured pieces predominated largely on the board and each of them was strategically placed, ready to strike him, mercilessly.

- 'Look, Remi, at the pitiful state of your game! I'm ahead of every move you make. My victory has been assured for a long time now, but why rush it? Patience is a virtue!' I rejoiced as I detailed the features of his tormented face.

His temporal vein was starting to pulse. I felt his anger, his rage, but also his powerlessness overwhelms him.

- 'It's over! I released the Opalmea!'

He may have hoped to startle me with this news, but he seemed to ignore that I knew the laws of this world better than anyone else.

- 'Oh, please! The scales have already tipped in my favour once, and I will turn the tables again. It's only a matter of time.'

I really couldn't care less about the Opalmea, my goal was elsewhere. Beyond anything he could have imagined.

- 'Did you know that each of the remaining pieces on the board represents a person you care about?' I asked him as I slowly walked towards him. 'Here we have Erwan the fool, Vaness the queen and Eva the tower.'

I smiled as I touched each of the corresponding pieces.

- 'Be assured that I will delight in making them disappear one by one, as long as you stand against me...'

- 'Never! I will stop you,' he cut me off violently.

I could feel the blood quivering in his veins, only to explode. Would he live up to my expectations? Remi made a blue fireball appear in the palm of his hand and threw it at me. His gesture was imprecise and his energy weak. I had no trouble dismissing his "attack" with a wave of my hand. Pitiful. He tried to throw more projectiles at me, each one as ineffective as the next.

What a disappointment.

Trembling and as if at the end of his strength, his body showed obvious signs of fatigue. Was that the full extent of his powers?

- 'Don't make me laugh," I sneered. 'So that's all you're capable of? You seriously think you're protecting your friends or anyone with that? Maybe you're holding back your blows? If only...,' I said holding my chin with a thoughtful expression. 'You're a weak creature, Remi, look at you.'

I raised my index finger slightly with my hand and instantly threw him against the cold, damp stones of the wall.

- 'Can you feel that sprawling force crushing you?'

I saw him struggling to get free, but he was unable to do so, caught in the vice of my power.

- 'This is power, Remi.'

I intensified the pressure of my gesture to weigh further on his frail little body.

- 'Perhaps you are in pain?' I asked him falsely worried. 'Oh! Please, say yes!'

- 'B....b...'

- 'Are the words stuck in your throat too?' I laughed.

I was enjoying the physical, but above all moral, suffering I was inflicting on him.

Unable to attack me, to fight, or even to speak, plunged into my shadow, censored by my power, Remi was nothing.