Beautiful Darkness

[Deleted]

Melissa: "But from where from i stand, you guys are smarter"

::These words seemed to come out of the darkness, out of the nothingness that filled screens around the world. Bandwidth being wasted by the thousands in the name of a single entity. The Children of Nephilim. The video had been labeled when it was released and now it was played in home on three coninents and into the mind of a million men, women and children.::

Melissa: "But...from where....i stand..., you....guys are smarter...."

::The second time this message played it was slower, a bit distorted and on the screen a image began to appear from the darkness. Wavering in it's awesomeness and unfocused in it's nature. The image was blurred but clearly a person.::

Melissa: "B...ut.....fr.....o....m.....whe......r....e.....i stand....you gu...y....s.....are....s....m...ar....t....er..."

::The video the third time slowed down to such extremes that it almost sounded demonic in nature and on the screen the image became more and more clear. It was a city park and the people seemed to be moving at the same blurred pace that Melissa's voice was. flashing around a single solitary figure. A figure that while he stood in the middle of a brightly lit, beautiful day seemed to be masked in shadows.

The man had on a simple pair of faded black jeans and a black tank top with a blue and silver silk shirt hanging over his large upper body. Black wavy hair hung down over his face like a mask showing the the hints of a mouth and eyes and of course, the beard. The figure of none other then the Messiah of Decay, The Harbinger of Destruction, Joshua McBride.

The tape however was clearly recorded and placed on fast forward, until he stepped forward. Perhaps, most likely, some kind of trick editing but as the people flashed around him at what appeared to be super speed Joshua stepped forward one step at a time, slowly, almost as if he took his deliberate time. When he got to the very center of the camera frame his head lowered and in that eerie whisper he said.::

Joshua: "But where i sit, you guys are smarter....then absolutely no one."

::The wealth of hair that hide that hideous smile only briefly and then to the sound of his breathing everything....simply went dark. The sun stopped shining, the birds stopped chirping, the people simply vanished and all that was left was an empty city park at the dead of dead and Joshua himself, standing where he had been before the exact same posture, nothing about him had changed.::

Joshua: "Pathetic. Irrelevant. Interfering little shrew."

::He leaned forward then and stared into the camera then as if he were looking at someone and whispered.::

Joshua: "Yes, you in the black outfit....with the fake smile, fake control and even faker backbone. I am speaking to you."

::He didn't move away from the camera then, simply stayed where he was so all you could see was his eyes.::

Joshua: "You stand with them. Amongst them....but safely tucked away inside your little cocoon of estrogen and you think...what?"

::The eyes staring into the very soul of those watching blinked and then he said very softly.::

Joshua: "That....it will protect you? How can they protect you from something which they cannot even protect themselves?"

::Joshua leaned back until you could see his entire face and he seemed to suck in a breath filled with what sounded like glee and then said in a very exurberent tone.::

Joshua: "Oh how the meet believe they are a match for the mighty. How the sheep stand before the pack of hungry wolves and cry their defiance to the moon."

::Again Joshua leaned forward until only his eyes filled the screen but this time as he did so he did so, so quickly that for a moment it may be feared he would slam into the camera but instead he stopped and simply whispered.::

Joshua: "You know what happens to arrogant sheep who stand before a pack of hungry wolves don't you?"

::Joshua laughed softly, though no one could see the smile and then said loudly, almost yelling.::

Joshua: "THEY GET EATEN! AS WILL YOU!"

::Joshua then stepped back fully so you could see his entire body and threw his arms up into the air and cried to the heavens.::

Joshua: "Oh, how i will enjoy watching the wolves tear apart your sheep protectors! How i will sit back and laugh at their cries of pain and torment! I will dance in the very flames of their own self destruction! I will lean over and drink from the very life's blood that fuels that misguided hatred and defiance and THEN!"

::Slowly his arms dropped to his sides and his head that had once been lifted in exhilaration lowered and he laughed very, very gently. Speaking in a whisper through the laugh.::

Joshua: "....i come for you."

::And Joshua smiled that sick and twisted smile of his and seemed to offered nothing but silence for a few moments and when he did finally break that silence his voice was small, soothing even. As if he were speaking to a small child.::

Joshua: "K.I.S.S. cannot protect you. One is so degenerately high she doesn't know left from right and the other...well she has her own secrets...doesn't she Bethany?"

::And then Joshua threw up his hands as if he had forgotten something.::

Joshua: "....Jeszika Gautier....Oh wait...."

::Those arms came down and Joshua whispered softly.::

Joshua: "No, She can't save you either im afraid. Sorry Melissa....you....should have really kept your mouth shut."

::Joshua finished with Melissa there. His warning intended. His warning delivered but then his lips curled into a mocking smile.::

Joshua: "Miss Jeszika. Oh, misguided....sad...it's rather pathetic actually. You give some mighty speech about how you are all figuring me out...and you think you are...why again? Because i didn't open the shed this time? Did you ever stop to consider i didn't open it....to be merciful? To you and your brood of malcontents. That maybe i simply wanted to spare you that final indignity....no, that can't be it. It must be something far grander and far more sinister.

So with that in mind Jeszika please tell me....what exactly have you figured out about me? What do i want? what is my end game? why am i really doing this? Do Jeszika, you know nothing about me. You and your friends know exactly what i want you to know, nothing more and nothing less. You know i took Brody and you think he's either dead, escaped or turned....the key word there is THINK, my little Puppet"

::Joshua then came forward again and once more his eyes took over the screen.::

Joshua: "You are you know. my pretty little puppet. You do exactly what i tell you to Jeszika....you even gathered you all in the same place. Exactly what i wanted. My Children were so close to you they could have licked the sweat from your face. Tasted that delicious terror and dread that gripes your very soul."

::Joshua's voice dropped into that eerie whisper once again as he continued.::

Joshua: "I have no power of you....this is what you claim, oh but i do Jeszika. You can doubt it all you want to but ask yourself this. If he has escaped....why hasn't he called any of you? Why....hasn't he gotten in contact with someone, anyone, to let them know he is safe and whole. What you and Bethany are doing is call pipe dreaming. Hoping so badly for something to happen....but it never will.

You require proof that he is in my care.....i have given it. You should be asking now for proof that he ISN'T....but your simply to stupid to know it."

::Joshua walked from the camera once more and stood with his back to it as he finished.::

Joshua: "You did what i wanted, as you always have, but i see now you require another lesson in that...has been made abundantly clear so at Searing Agony i shall show you all again that you do what i want you to....and that your fight is both frivolous and pointless."

::Joshua paused a moment and then took a deep breath before speaking the final word.::

Joshua: "Sunday."

::And then like a flash the sun was back. The birds were chirping and the people walked by at normal speed going about their daily lives, but Joshua was simply....gone.::