Ch.1
I sang quietly alongside the radio while sitting at the food court.
I was in a pretty good mood today, all things aside, as today my schedule was full of events. I take a bite of my burger and look at the clock on the wall. 10:25 it read, in the morning of course. Today was going to be a good day as it was one of my few days off I get a month, and the agenda for today was certainly satisfying to say the least.
After taking the last few bites of my burger I paused the song, took my ear buds out and wrapped them up, putting them in my pocket. Unlocking my phone, I looked at what was next on the to do list when a text popped up on the screen from my friend Ryan, who I was going to meet up with.
“My man Ryan, what’s up?” I asked, standing up from my table.
“Where are you James? The contest is in ten minutes! You’re going to be late!” He said with a raised voice.
I picked up my sports bag which had my costume in it and placed it over my shoulder. With my left hand I pulled out my wallet and took out a 10 and placed it on the bill for the waitress to take. A tip was always nice. “Don’t you worry about me, Ryan, I was just finishing my burger. I’ll be at the expo in a few minutes.”
“Good. Nick and I will be waiting, see you in a bit,” He said, and with that, he hung up.
I slid my phone back in my pocket and began to walk away. Walking down the large corridor I looked outside the gigantic windows. The forecast had read today would be as sunny as Miami Beach, and though it was partially correct, a storm was brewing in the Northwest. I could only hope it would not cross my path for the long drive home on the interstate tonight.
More and more people started to show up to the drawing with every step I took. I walked up to the back entrance and flashed the security guard my ID card that hung around my neck, opened the door and walked in, lowering my bag from my shoulder, letting it hang off my arm.
“Long time no see man!” I hear loudly from my right, then something slammed into my side, arms wrapping around me.
“Nick!” I said, trying to hug back but to no avail. Ryan followed close behind and walked up to us. “Truly has been a long time, hasn’t it?” I asked, while giving Ryan a small hug too. These two were basically my brothers.
“Sure has been,” He replied and looked at my bag. “You should probably get into that. You’ve got a few minutes to spare,” He said, and he was right. The contest was minutes from starting, and all the other contestants were already in their outfits anxiously waiting. I nodded my head and pat his shoulder twice before making my way towards the back room to get changed. I set my bag down on the floor, and unzipped it.
“Thank you mom for getting a bag this big…” I murmured as I took out its components. My ‘costume’ could barely qualify as one, as it was a full set of authentic knight’s armor.
I folded my clothes neatly and placed them in my backpack nicely, making sure to leave some extra space for everything else in there. Out of the back I took out the skin tight black pants and a long sleeve black undershirt to wear under the armor. Heck, I’d be lying if I said this stuff wasn’t a pain to wear. It was authentic after all. Hooking my sheath to my left side, I placed the small broadsword in gently. It was a hassle getting that through security. After getting the armor on nicely I put my backpack in one of the lockers and locked it up and walked back to Nick and Ryan.
While walking up behind them, unnoticed by them, I audibly unsheathed my sword and held it towards them. The two of them perked up and turned around, looked at me, and smiled. Under my helmet I smiled back.
"How do I look, peasants?" I asked, trying to make a medieval accent.
"Elegant," Ryan said while laughing.
"The drawing will start in a minute. Let's see who wins," Nick piped in, motioning for us to follow him. The "drawing" would chose the top two outfits out of the many that had auditioned the day before. The prize for first place was a whopping five hundred dollars, something I needed.
I looked around the three of us to see over forty other people dressed up in their costumes as their respective characters. Taking a gander at a few of them, I saw Samus Aran from Metroid, an ODST from Halo, and Link from Zelda. That ODST was done pretty damn well...
"Attention everybody and welcome to our 4th annual drawings for the Cosplay Contest! The drawing for our top three characters will commence shortly," A booming voice coming from the front of the catwalk. I could only hope I would win at LEAST third or else this whole trip out here was for nothing.
With the announcer calming the crowd down, all of us behind the stage were antsy with anticipation, just waiting for our names to be called.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road, shall we?" She said, her voice portrayed across the room as she was walking up the steps to the front of the catwalk. "Starting off strong we have Steven Williams portrayed in his homemade Orbital Drop Shock Trooper armor from the Halo franchise!" She called out, clapping with the cheering crowd. I looked over to see him fist bumping Link and basically leaping towards the catwalk entrance.
He walked out onto the catwalk and put his plastic yet realistic gun in his hands. With the crowd seeing his outfit for the first time, they erupted in a round of applause and cheer as the sight of his handy work. He eventually got to the end of the stage and gave out a small bow of thanks before looking up to the small woman walking up to him holding a decently sized gold medal. He bowed yet again as she placed the medal over his head and onto his neck. I looked back over to Nick and Ryan
"Could've guessed that guy would win first place, huh?" I asked, a little nervous as the odds of me getting second or third diminishing.
"He did a pretty damn good job on it, he deserves it. Don't worry though, your name is sure to be announced. This armor looks amazing. I'm surprised you didn't get first place!" Ryan put his hands in the air.
"He's right, James. I'll put twenty down saying you get second place," Nick added in, dangling a twenty in the air.
"You smarta-" I was cutoff by the announcer.
"Congratulations once again to Steven here for first place," She said as Steven began to walk backstage. "Without further ado, it's time to announce our second winner, James Cambell!"
"My twenty!"
"That's what I'm talking about baby!" Both Nick and Ryan yelled in my ear.
A smile spread across my face from ear to ear as I embraced both Nick and Ryan into a hug. Not wanting to keep the crowd waiting, I started to walk towards the catwalk. The others cos-players clapped their hands as they recognized I won, and I waved back.
Walking out to the catwalk I was given a welcoming applause. Nearing the end of the walk the announcer stood up and placed the silver medal over my neck. Giving the crowd a nice bow I turned on my heel and started to walk backstage. A man in black standing at the entrance to the back handed me an envelope with what I assumed was my prize, a nice two-hundred-fifty dollars. I muttered my thanks and met back up with Ryan and Nick.
"Let's make that two-seventy Nick, pass it on over!" I yelled at him, a shit-eating grin plastered all over my face. He spew out a cuss and reached into his back pocket, handing me the paper bill.
“Congratulations man! What did I tell you?” Said Ryan.
“Thanks guys. Winning this means a lot to me. I still think I shoulda been first place if you ask me,” I said, nudging him.
“Hey James, what do you say we go out for a little fresh air and take some pictures with people?” Nick piped up.
"You know what Nick? That sounds like a great idea."
~
Ryan, Nick, and James had spent the remainder of the day walking along the sidewalks outside the large building, taking pictures with a lot of people outside. It had gone into the late hours of the evening, the sun was just about to go down, and the young trio were casually walking along the sidewalk.
Nick was the first to speak up, “Well James, it’s been nice seeing you again, but I gotta end the night short, I need to get home to watch my little sister tomorrow. Family’s goin’ away for the week.”
“Don’t worry about it bro. Just seeing you guys for the first time in a year, even for a day, was all I wanted. How olds your sister by the way? James asked, holding back the smile forming at the corner of his mouth.
“Wh- You fucker!” He laughed, holding his stomach, then gave James a deadpanned look. “Yeah better luck next time bud.”
“Anything’s worth a shot!” James said, holding up both of his hands.
“You guys are starting to act like children.” Said Ryan, joining in. “Unfortunately while you two men were having your little conversation, Serena texted me. We have a dinner reservation in thirty minutes…” He said, looking down. James stopped walking and put a hand on both of their shoulders.
“Like I said to Nick. It was great seeing you guys again. Shame it couldn’t be longer, but there will always be time to see each other again. I don’t live too far away." James said, putting his hands down to his sides. "I'll be in touch soon."
~
Both Nick and Ryan had walked together to the parking lot directly in front of the building. Lucky them, I thought. Both of them lived not 15 minutes from here, while I was a mere two hundred miles away. I had parked a few blocks away in a semi-abandoned parking lot. Hope my cars not towed... I thought, beginning the short trek to my car.
Lightning cracked overhead a few minutes into the walk. Since leaving Ryan and Nick, I noticed it had gotten considerably darker outside, and that storm formation was almost over top the city now. Alongside the chafing I was contracting, I certainly didn't want to get rained upon, so I put my legs into second gear.
Coming up to my car, I opened the back left door and tossed the bag in the seat closest to me, unzipped it fully, and began to take the armor off. I took the helmet off first and placed it gently on the floor, that was to go in last, followed by the gauntlets, shin guards, and finally the chest piece.
Setting the armor into the large bag nicely, I popped the trunk and set the set in. The armor wasn't the only thing in the trunk though, as I had my two favorite items stored nicely in their own respective cases. I picked up the small box first, and began to open the two latches on each side. Just as I opened the lid, I heard a faint shifting to my left side. Setting the case down, I took a short half-step back from the trunk and looked towards the noise. Nothing. All that was there was a black sedan.
Another shift rang to my right, and I whipped my head to the sound, my eyes meeting those of another man, standing behind his car. What is this?I thought. I took the step back to the trunk, slowly taking the pistol out of its socket and arming it.
"I'm not looking for any trouble," I told the man. His response was to squint his eyes in anger at me.
"But we are!" A voice yelled from my left. The pistol was in both of my hands in one second as I flung it up to the voice, but was too slow. He swatted the gun away from himself, and unsheathed a weapon a knife from inside his jacket. As I was resetting he swung his arm over his head in a stabbing motion. Before it could meet its mark, my left hand held his arm in place as I hit his head with the butt of the pistol.
The blow had stunned him a great deal as he tripped over himself, holding his face in agony. Footsteps had shown themselves from behind me as I turned around to meet the shrouded man. As soon as I turned around he was already in my face, knife already drawn, and jabbed it straight into my side. I was too stunned by the immense pain and dropped the ground in a heartbeat, clutching the wound and loosening my grip on my pistol.
With my body on the ground, blood seeping freely out the wound, my hand clutched the weapon even tighter as I forced myself to bring it up to his chest. The whites of his eyes showed themselves as his pupils shrank significantly, and I squeezed the trigger twice. He cried out as his face shriveled up in fear. Dropping his knife and holding both hands to his chest, he fell down, unmoving from the spot.
A gasp came from behind me as scuffling on the ground could be heard. The man I hit in the face began to stand up, anger in his eyes evident. Not wanting to be at an even higher disadvantage, I wearily stood up. I brought my hand up to see it drenched in my blood. I balled up my shirt where I was stabbed and held it tightly against it. Looking back at the other man, I raised my gun and aimed at his chest. He began to slowly walk forward.
“P-Please don’t,” I sputtered out. My hand was very visibly shaking now with my legs about to buckle.
“You killed him.”
“He wa…was goi-“ I coughed before I could finish, spewing up a small amount of blood.
“YOU KILLED HIM!” He yelled, picking up the pace.
"Stop now or I will kill you!" I yelled back, only hoping he would reason with me. He continued to walk forward. “Stop!”
He stopped a few feet away, staring daggers at me. I slowly brought the pistol down to my side, however, he took that moment to go into a dead sprint.
I brought the gun back up, and let two shots loose straight into his chest, his fell just like his friend. I stood still for a second, the gun still raised at chest level.
“I’m sorry.” I looked at the gun in my hand and staggered back against the open trunk of my car. I yelped in pain when I sat against it and tossed the pistol next to its case and put both my hands against the wound. My eyes began to get heavy. I looked at both of the bodies and sighed deeply and could only think of one question. Why?? A single tear dripped down my cheek.
Why me??
“Fucking Hell!” I yelled and stood up, openly sobbing now. It had taken a few seconds to close the trunk, and when I did, I began to walk to the door using the car as support. I had had to have lost a lot of blood by now, and needed to get to the hospital above all. The police could wait.
As I sat in the driver’s seat and closed the door, I felt a wave of nausea flow all over my body, with a major headache surfacing. I felt like I was five-hundred pounds and I groaned loudly in agony and sheer pain. The adrenaline had almost worn off by now and my body was taking the price of the wound. I looked down to it and my eyes widened at what was there. I was soaking in my own pool of blood, it covering my torso and making it down a large portion of my thigh. I fished for my keys and shakily put them into the ignition and tried turning the car on, only to find I didn’t even have the strength to turn the keys. I slumped back into the seat and looked out the windshield into the night sky.
And what a sight it was. The storm that was a few miles away from Comic-Con a few hours ago was now circling overhead, swirling madly across the sky with mad blasts of lightning scattering across the view with thunder booming. A very heavy rain fall followed after the bowling pins had fallen, obstructing visibility greatly. Not that it would matter, of course, I couldn’t move.
My eyes darting across the vast darkness that was now the storm, I focus on a small part of sky which is slowly turning to a bright white light as invasive as the sun. The throbbing pain in my side was beginning to agonizingly fade slowly away as a strange buzzing in my ears. Was it the regular tinnitus kicking in? Probably not, my case of it was usually a faint ringing, never buzzing.
A headache of a thousand suns started its brew inside my head, and I couldn't breathe. Looking at the sky again my eyes find the ever so blinding yet beautiful light. It began blinking at a slow pace but picked up rapidly as a brazenly bright light boomed across the sky, like a very large and very powerful night light.
The last thing I heard before I slipped into unconsciousness was a deafening crack.
~*~
She had been awoken from her deep, peaceful slumber, panting and gasping for air. Trying to regain her composure, she placed a hoof to her chest to feel her ecstatic heart rate, sprinting a million miles a minute. In what had felt like minutes, was only a mere few seconds as the feeling had completely vanished as she fell back down on the bed, her heart beating at a normal pace.
The white alicorn had risen from bed and walked out onto the balcony, standing shakily and took a few deep breaths in and out. She gazed upon her beautiful land, its residents sleeping peacefully in the night.
Night... Luna! She thought
As soon as she whipped around to find her sister, a series of banging wracked at her chamber door. The blasting had continued for a few seconds as the door flew open revealing the Princess of the Night, in a fast gallop to her sister with her eyes wide in fear.
"Tia! I felt-" She began to say but was cut off from Celestia.
"I felt it too, Luna. Air was swept from my lungs, I could barely breathe. Fortunately, it was over quickly." She said, walking over to Luna, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder.
"I was walking the halls of the castle, doing my rounds, while my body had seized, and I fell to the ground gasping for air. It.. it was also over in seconds for me. I came to tell you..." said Luna, looking down.
Celestia put a hoof to her chin in deep thought, "Nothing like this has occurred in the past thousand years, Luna. And you remember what had happened last time we felt a power such as this one," She she trotted to her balcony, motioning for her sister to follow.
"Luna, alert the guard captain. Safety Alert Level Four. We must be certain before we raise the level."
"Of course, sister," Luna replied, nuzzling Celestia as she galloped off out of the room.