Vertithia

Fear. There are two types I know of. The first will keep you on your toes, alert; a good fear. In this town, with these crooked cops and gangsters, fear will keep you alive. I survived a war because of it, and excelled in my duties as a sworn officer of the law because of it.

But there is another, the detrimental kind. It's the eyes of a thousand corpses that stare back you when you close yours. It's their collective voices saying, "here we are" and their breath you feel on the back of your neck as you turn to face darkness. Only fools think it is ever really gone. But it is there, waiting. They are waiting.

I'd seen a fair amount of shit in the war, and back here on the streets. The world is cruel place, and society's built a facade around it, making it feel civilized, denying the monstrosity beneath. The cliffs of Saipan and what I saw there will never leave me. How could it?

My wife was here for me when I got back. Without her, I'm sure a bullet would have found its way into my mouth. After a year or so, we had us a little girl, and I was in the LAPD. I walked my beat, got into it with some hoods here and there, but I stayed safe. My family did that. I was too afraid to leave the ones I loved be- hind.

Now I can't say my partner Nick the Dick has experienced fear much like I have. You see, they call him "The Dick", not only because of his obvious profes- sion, and the absurd nature of his penis, but because he's an asshole. I've known him several years now, and from not-so-subtle observation, I'd deduced he simply did not give a shit about anything or anyone but himself...and me. He was born with a golden spoon in his mouth to match his hair, and not so much of a smile, but a constant smirk. He had all the money in the world already, but he couldn't care less about it. So he became a cop, because he was bored. How do you trust someone like that? Yet this is the dick I got paired up with when I became a detec- tive.

It was a cold, rain filled morning when we responded to an armed robbery in the downtown corridor and got there just as the men blasted out of the door. Three of them, wearing dark coats and masks, saw us and opened fire. Like they were waiting for us. The bullets screamed past us as they tore through our wind- shield, how we weren't hit, I simply can't tell you. My hand found my gun, but as my grip tightened, so did the grip around my neck...I closed my eyes, and saw the other thousand waiting for me, screaming with the bullets.

Getting yanked out of a car may peeve some people off, but when your in the middle of a goddamned terrifying near-death experience, it's quite welcome. I opened my eyes to be staring straight at Nick's icy blues. It was the first time I ever saw him serious, but here it was, in his eyes. Didn't take long for that smirk to find its way back to that pretty-boy's face.

"I got you", he said as a hand pulled me up.

The fear was gone, replaced with the other. Now I knew we would survive. We had the cover of the car while the suspects took their shots from the cover of theirs. The rain was pouring down thick as a torrent. When the thunder rolled, the hail began. The suspects took this for a time to reload, we took it as one to fire. I dropped the one in the hat with shots to the chest, shoulder and neck, and then continued to shoot (with my trained precision) two of the tires, rendering their ve- hicle immobile. Nick's wild firing was accompanied by a wild hooting, which was oddly calming. He hit another of them, with one with the Thompson.

The third man ran down the alley, with fortunate timing, as our backup was just arriving. Nick dashed after the suspect, while I turned to report the situation to the oncoming officers. I heard several shots from what sounded like a single gun. When we got to Nick, he had a confused look on his face, and could only shrug.

"I swear, didn't shoot him. I took cover behind that corner over there", he said, pointing down the alley. "He was shooting in the other direction though. Jesus, what the hell happened?"

Unsettling would be a good word to describe that day. One of the forensic guys got hit in the head by hail with a little rock in it. Blood, a concussion, no one wanted to deal with any of it, so everyone cleaned it all up quick, and no one stuck around to ask the right questions.

Nick and I were being transported back to the station, when I heard a whisper amidst the banging of the hail and I gazed out the window. I saw something that day, something I can't forget. FEAR was there that day, personified on a roof. I saw him, and even though I couldn't see his eyes from that distance, yet I knew he saw me too. He turned his back on me, and raised his hands toward the sky. As the thunder boomed and the lightning crackled, I felt compelled to not say anything to Nick and the officer driving the car, yet only to stay fixated on the figure on the roof, arms still outstretched. He spun around quickly and seemed to looking right at me as he jumped. He fell gracefully from the building like the woman and chil- dren killing themselves in droves in Saipan. I didn't say anything because I thought the fear was leaving for good. But it never leaves, don't you see?

-Seven years later...

Overcast. The angels that look down on their namesake are hidden behind a veil of clouds. Nick had people to see at at City Hall, and there I was minding my own business looking up at that building and the dark sky behind it. The Dick didn't have many friends left, what with all the gambling debt he'd racked up over the years. His fortune was gone, and now he was stuck in the pocket of someone in the Hall, and I was along for the ride.

He came down the stairs of the hall with that trademark smirk and a piece of paper in his hand.

"This is where they want us to go" , he said.

"I know where this is, but whats there?"

Nick gave an uncertain shrug. Since the shootout at the jewelry store, there was trust, but not unconditional.

"You gotta give me more than this, Nick, I can't walk into an ambush 'cause we didn't think it through."

Nick sighed, but didn't lose his smirk, "It's for one of the studios, they want to keep it under wraps." His icy blues sold me.

On the way over to the warehouse, it began to rain. It made me think of the robbery; the similar weather. I was here because I trusted Nick the Dick, but some- thing felt wrong. A draft brushed along my neck when Nick turned onto the block to park.

"You think an actor OD'd or something?", said Nick, settling a fedora onto his golden blond hair.

I popped my coat's collar to make sure the wind didn't kiss my neck and briskly said, "I don't give a shit. Let's do whatever we gotta, and get home."

We got out of the car, and walked down the street, while the heavens dropped more rain than I'd seen in a South Pacific jungle. When we reached the doors of the warehouse, I grabbed Nick's arm.

"Wait." I unholstered my gun.

"Your not going to need that, it's not goi-"

"Why did someone from a studio meet you at city hall?

Nick's face lost it's charm at that moment, and he looked utterly confused. His eyes looked up, then down, as if searching for an answer, which never came.

"All right, guns out, " he said. "City Hall..."

It'd been several years since i had felt terror, and I'd grown emboldened by it. I heaved my shoulder into the door, using all my body's energy. The choking cold took hold immediately, and why wouldn't it? It was torrential outside and in here the floor, walls, ceiling, were all covered in ice, as if emanating from the altar in the middle of the room with the corpse on it. A stalagmite of ice jutting through his neck twisted his head to a distorted angle, while the one protruding from his chest held him up in a grisly tableau. Several more shards of ice were littered through his body, piercing his legs, arms, and genitals. Yet the only blood that could be seen anywhere was where his heart had been brutally torn out. Only then did I notice the corpse's jaw, slung open in horror, and his eyes, frozen with despair.

I couldn't breath, but I heard Nick's shouts faintly, as if he was across a busy street, when he was only a few feet from me. Vertigo struck quickly and my knees began to falter. I hit the ground convulsing, watching my tangible breath escape my mouth. FEAR itself stepped from behind the altar. His arms were raised, and from beneath his cowl the grey, dead eyes delved deep into my soul.

"YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL," he spoke, directly into my head.

"DOOMED...DOOM...dooooooom..." I heard it, but it wasn't reality.

Nick grabbed the man by the wrists and brought them down behind his back as he cuffed him. He ripped off the hood to reveal a gaunt figure, with hair as white as snow, which fell to his shoulders, but was bald on top. He wore an elongated and pointed beard of matching color, and his skin was a grey and dead as his eyes. Through his arrest, he never broke his gaze.

The pitter-patter of rain and a distant thunderclap melded with the sounds of the city to create cacophony in my head. I rubbed my temples and occasionally looked out the window to see where we were. The man, the thing handcuffed in the back seat disturbed me greatly. I had not seen his face, the day I saw him on that roof, but i knew it was him. I've known as long as i can remember. My very first memory was from back on the ranch, watching a coyote maul our dog. The way its eyes glared into mine with the gore coating it's snout has stayed with me forever, and i knew if i turned around the same eyes would be waiting for me. But i had to face him sometime.

With not a word spoken the entire way, Nick arrived at the precinct, and all seemed quiet there. I sat in the passenger's seat breathing heavier than normal as Nick got out and took our prisoner out of the car. Several moments passed before I looked over to see them enter the building, and right then the gaunt man turned my way. My gaze was averted, our eyes never met. There is some power in his eyes, I was so sure of it.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle when i stepped out of Nick's car. I thought it odd that it was slightly cooler inside the building. Nick was ushering our new guest down a hall, a desk sergeant was at his desk minding his own business, and a woman was waiting on a bench, reading a newspaper. She flipped the top portion down and I was captivated by her face. She had porcelain skin, with piercing blue eyes, and hair as black as the night outside. Her face was lean and petite, with a mouth to match. She gave me an inquisitive look, and knowingly said, "you must be his partner. I work for a few mutual friends on Sunset. Thank you so very much for acquiring this...man for us."

"excuse me?" i said, intrigued by this beauty.

"As I'm sure you're well aware, you will be handsomely rewarded for handing this man over to us."

" I'm grateful for the offer ma'am, but im not my partner, and this guy is tied to some fucked up shit.", i said, leaning my face directly into hers. She was a cold and calm as her icy eyes. How did she know where to send us? Who...what are these people? I got out of her face and began to walk away.

"Then I suppose I shall have to teach you a lesson."

"Pull all the favors you got,I don't give a shit. I am going to find out what the fuck happened there, and who was involved, starting with you. What's your name?"

"You know me," she said before motioning with her eyebrows down towards the interrogation room, "Speak with our friend. May he enlighten you."

Before I could say a word, she spun on her heal, and walked out. I was happy to be rid of her. I was ready to face the man, ready to look him in the eye. Fear was just a thing, a concept. All it takes is the will to face it. I strode down the hall with a sense of purpose and walked straight into the interrogation room. Through the window I could see nick with his back against the wall, lighting a cigarette. My hand grasped the door handle a turned.

The gaunt, grey man was waiting for me. His pupils were a light grey that were only slightly darker than the whites of his eyes. They clasped onto mine in a way I can barely fathom. I was emboldened by a sense of courage I haven't felt in years.

"Who are you?" I said, not breaking his gaze. His skin looked dead, and he was as still as a corpse. but his eyes were alive, and they did not reveal anything. Silence permeated the room a little longer before I tried again, "What do you know about the body?"

. What I heard did not come from his lips. It was directly in my head: a calm- ing, deep voice spoke in me, "I am sorry. You have stumbled upon this. nothing can save you. I tried to stop her. I have done it before. You have doomed me. She will come for us. You have doomed us all. She will come for everything. Why have you done this? I could have saved you. I could have saved you...I...could...have..."

Have you ever been plunged into icy water? The cold takes hold of your in- sides, and your body is paralyzed. the despair of your most basic instinct, breath- ing, being replaced by a foreign sensation sliding down your gullet. on your most natural level, your body fights to live. But flight is still an option. sometimes, the despair is so bleak, you can't move, and you watch your doom look you in the eye. She was at the door, though it had not opened. Her eyes, were no longer just blue, but orbs of ice, glowing with a deathly blue hue. Her mouth widened unnaturally into a grin until her cheeks started to tear, and her white flesh fell away like a cob- webs from a skeleton, as the one lie beneath. She began to levitate and her hair turned white as snow, as it began to float as if she was submerged. I was screaming at this point, but i could not take my eyes off of her. She raised her hand and lifted a single finger, and something materialized from nothing, and darted through the air.

my hands grasped at the nothingness clasped around my thoat. i was lifted in the air, and turned around, and there was a corpse, impaled to the wall by a spear of ice. Where there once was a face, now only a ring of a pinkish mush remained. arms and legs hung flaccid and fallen.

"You were in need of a harsh lesson this time. Why can you not see? I have al- ways been here or there, and throughout all. I have bore witness. And now so have you."

Where the door was, something else opened. An oval shape, and beyond it was somewhere else entirely. A cold blue light emanated from a frozen lake that seemed to be in a cave. Screams and moans that hadn't existed just before joined in chorus with my own. The man who had been on the roof was being dragged across the floor by some invisible force, all while the woman floated midair and moved her arms like a sorcerous puppet-master.

That was when the other officers found me; alone, shrieking in a room with my partner's face lacerated, and nothing more. No witness, no woman. I was confined to an institution. My wife, who had kept me alive through hard times, had left me. Why am i still alive? I have a new woman. The one in my dreams. She won't let me die. She likes to use me. She's in my head, and she's shown me how to get into yours.

It's been years since the last update, but I'm excited to share that I'm working on a complete rewrite of “The Vertithia Chronicles” series.

The story follows a group of adventurers who find themselves caught in the middle of an ancient prophecy. As they journey through the mystical realm of Vertithia, they'll uncover dark secrets and face challenges that will test their bonds of friendship and loyalty.

I'm currently working on the first book, “Echoes of the Void”, which introduces our main cast and sets up the larger conflict that will span the entire series. It's a tale of magic, mystery, and the power of choice in the face of destiny.

The world of Vertithia is one where magic flows freely, but it's not without its costs. The “Void” - a mysterious force that threatens to consume everything - looms ever present, while various factions vie for control over ancient artifacts and forgotten knowledge.

Stay tuned for more updates as I continue to develop this world and its characters. I'm excited to share this journey with you all!