A Real Pillar of the Community (RB Vs. The Shadow God, Chapter 5) · 2:46pm Jun 30th, 2022
Previously, on The Shadow God:
Darkness with a capital D!
And now:
We begin the chapter with Mark and Craig finding each other in the Dark World.
Suddenly, Mark and Craig touched, with their hands clenching tightly together.
“Mark?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Craig and Mark embraced each other, patting each other on the back as they hugged.
Ooh, spicy!
Neither of the boys wanted to reveal the what, why, and how, they were here in the Dark World. They thought it best to leave out information that didn’t need immediate attention.
"Why" and "how" I can understand, but "what they were here in the dark world" seems like an error.
Given that the two of them are there, the boys speculate that Todd is probably around there somewhere, too. They decide to go look for him.
“Give me your hand,” said Craig, grabbing blindly for Mark’s hand. “I’ll lead you.”
Ooh, double spicy!
Eventually, they hear Todd's voice faintly in the distance.
Craig knew that it was Todd’s feeble voice. “TODD! WHERE ARE YOU?”
“O-over … h-here …”
Craig was comically reminded of Scooby Doo, but in the seriousness of the situation, he threw the thought aside.
I am forced to admit my own inadequacy. I've been trying to come up with a joke to make about this line for the last five minutes, but I just can't think of anything that can top the line itself.
Mark began to laugh, and then Craig joined in. “Dude,” said Craig. “We have no fucking clue. I call it the Dark World.”
“That’s a damn good name for it,” said Mark. “But we should call it the ‘Dark Empty World.’”
Todd chuckled, though his laughter was cut short from the pain in his body.
Mark, on the other hand, is quite clearly a comedy genius. Maybe he should be the one writing these instead of me.
Todd decides that this is all a nightmare.
“It is a dream!” Todd yelled.
“Okay, Mr. Know-it-all,” said Mark. “How do you explain where we are and what we’re doing here?”
He just said he thinks it's a dream, Mark. He's already answered your question.
Craig tells both of them that they're probably there because he wished for them to be there. Todd and Mark tell him that's bullshit.
Each of them wanted to say that they were inside the blue light, but none of them wanted to admit they had even seen such a thing. It was a bit humiliating to think that such things existed, let alone were affecting their lives.
You're all trapped in a world of complete darkness, one of you has just witnessed a murder, and another one of you almost was just murdered. I don't think this is the time to worry about being embarrassed.
Craig, in this moment of crisis, decides to tell them about the letter he received from his father earlier. He's come to the conclusion that this and his father's dreams are related. I don't know how he came to that conclusion, but he's probably right.
Craig then fills them in on what's happened to him since arriving in the Dark World.
“And then I wandered around for a while,” Craig went on. “And then I met some kind of blue-colored apparition.”
Goose bumps spread across Mark and Todd’s skin at the mention of the color blue. The color was frightening to them. Now.
As previously stated, blue is the spookiest colour.
The boys decide to look for the pillar that Craig's demon friend told them to look for. As they set about doing so, the cold wind begins blowing again. The narrator keeps referring to it as a "zephyr". So does Todd:
“What the hell is that?” said Mark.
“Feels like a zephyr,” said Todd.
“Well, what in the hell is that?” said Mark.
“A zephyr. Like every one of us should know what the fuck a zephyr is.”
Todd explains that it's a gentle breeze, which is weird, because from how the narrator was describing it, it didn't seem gentle at all.
The boys keep walking for an hour.
“You said this place doesn’t want us to leave,” said Mark. “What if we never find the pillar? What if your ghost lied to you? What if we’re stuck here forever?”
Todd reached out into the darkness and swung on Mark. As planned, his fist connected with Mark’s body. “Shut your stupid mouth! We are going to get out of here! We are going to get home and back to our normal, routine, everyday lives! Whether you like it or not!”
Then a few paragraphs pass, and:
“Craig, I don’t think it’s here,” said Todd.
“Would you shut up!” yelled Mark. “It’s here. It’s got to be!”
Would you people make up your minds?
Suddenly, Craig spots a faint light in the distance. As they make their way towards it, they hear the rumble of thunder. Lightning cuts across the pitch black sky. You would think that would illuminate the world, but apparently it doesn't.
Eventually, they reach the light. It's the pillar.
The wavering light was, indeed, a translucent, vertical tunnel that rose seemingly endless into the dark sky, emitting a hypnotizing flood of blue-tinted light. It was as if they had passed through a portal and the large cylindrical shape appeared out of nowhere.
As they marvel at the thing, it begins to rain. The three worry it might be acid, which it clearly isn't because they aren't being dissolved by it.
None of the boys said anything about the blue light; they were still too frightened and embarrassed to speak of it to one another.
What is so goddamn embarrassing about a little blue light?
Craig and Mark head for the pillar. Todd is reluctant to go near it, but quickly caves and follows them. They get close to it and the rain stops.
“Well,” said Craig, looking up at the blue monstrosity. The enormous round pillar was definitely something someone would expect to see in a science fiction movie. “Maybe we should touch it,” he said.
“And get shocked like a motherfucker?” said Mark.
“We’ve got to do something,” said Craig. “We can’t stand here and look at it forever.” He looked into Mark and Todd’s blue faces and found no rejection.
“I’m not going first,” said Todd. “I know that much.”
“Nobody asked you to,” said Mark, stepping forward, volunteering himself.
Craig reached out and grabbed Mark’s arm. “Mark, wait!”
Mark looked back at him. “I can’t let you go first,” said Craig. He glanced at Todd. “You either.” Mark pointed to Craig.
“You want to?” Craig shook his head.
“I don’t understand what you want, Craig,” said Todd.
“We all should go at the same time,” Craig suggested. The boys looked at each other as if tossing the idea over in their heads. It didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Friends till the end. No matter what.
Mark nodded. “Let’s do it!”
Great idea! Now, if it turns out that it kills you if you touch it, you'll all die and the story will be over! I'm totally on board with this plan.
They hold hands (ooh, triple spicy!) and jump into the pillar on the count of three, disappearing into the light.
They were lucky to find the pillar this time. The next time the Dark World would have a few extra surprises waiting for them. A means of escape would be nonexistent.
Good to know in advance, I guess.
That's the end of the chapter, folks. Stay tuned for more tomorrow.
See you then.
The best word for this seems to be “dreamlike.” Surreal, disconnected, following logic that doesn’t make sense in the waking world, full of what may be deep symbolism or just random brain sparks…
And I feel like the author got humiliated by a blue lightbulb at some point in the past.
Bluuuue is the spookiest color that you'll ever doooo~